The commencement address that Dana Gioia, poet and chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, delivered to Stanford University graduates on June 17 is a lament on the position of the arts in today's culture. Fortunately, it is also a persuasive and passionate argument for why the arts are important and why his audience of new graduates should make a conscious decision to live lives that are arts-engaged.

Gioia's main point is that we live in a culture that barely acknowledges and rarely celebrates the arts or artists. "There is an experiment I'd love to conduct," he says. "I'd like to survey a cross-section of Americans and ask them how many active NBA players, Major League Baseball players, and American Idol finalists they can name. Then I'd ask them how many living American poets, playwrights, painters, sculptors, architects, classical musicians, conductors, and composers they can name. I'd even like to ask how many living American scientists or social thinkers they can name."

Gioia asserts that today's culture is all about entertainment, the purpose of which is to market things to buy. "American culture," he says, "has mostly become one vast infomercial." While he admits to enjoying film and his big-screen TV, Gioia cautions that there is a price. "The role of culture must go beyond economics," he says. "It is not focused on the price of things, but on their value. And, above all, culture should tell us what is beyond price, including what does not belong in the marketplace. A culture should also provide some cogent view of the good life beyond mass accumulation. In this respect, our culture is failing us."

I felt eager to share his message, because there may be a time when you must make the argument to a friend or to a son or daughter about why art is important, or to a school board about why a curriculum rich in arts is essential, or to your local newspaper about why coverage of the arts is vital, and Gioia's parting words may be of some service (you can see the entire transcript here):

"Art is an irreplaceable way of understanding and expressing the world--equal to but distinct from scientific and conceptual methods. Art addresses us in the fullness of our being--simultaneously speaking to our intellect, emotions, intuition, imagination, memory, and physical senses. There are some truths about life that can be expressed only as stories, or songs, or images.

"Art delights, instructs, consoles. It educates our emotions. And it remembers. As Robert Frost once said about poetry, 'It is a way of remembering that which it would impoverish us to forget.' Art awakens, enlarges, refines, and restores our humanity."

Well put.

French impressionist painter/sculptor Edgar Degas would be 173 years old today—imagine all the other great works he could’ve put out into the world with another 90 years to spare (he died at 83). For a little inspiration today, tour The National Gallery of Art’s online feature on some of his dancer paintings.

For those of you itching to get your hands on our December issue, in which we publish the Greatest Pastels of All Time feature, rest assured that Degas will be in there—how could he not?

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” —Edgar Degas

With the latest Harry Potter movie opening on Wednesday and the much-anticipated final book due for release on the 21st, you have no doubt been hearing and reading a lot lately about Harry hysteria. The Pastel Journal blog and magazine may have been one place where you didn't expect to see coverage on the topic. Well, you won't find me adding anything to the heated debate over whether or not Harry dies in the finale, but--in the middle of all the excitement--I couldn't keep from revealing that we're working right now on a feature about Mary Grandpre, the illustrator of the Harry Potter series, for our December issue.

In addition to her work for Scholastic and many corporate clients, Grandpre has also illustrated a number of other children's books, including Chin Yu Min and the Ginger Cat, The Thread of Life: Twelve Old Italian Tales, Plum, Pockets and The Sea Chest. The artist told The Pastel Journal contributing-writer Deborah Secor that pastels have been her medium of choice from the start. “I actually started with big, soft sticks of charcoal," she says, "but I’ve done pastels since I was five years old and was given some as a gift. Even as a kid I liked the immediate contact I had, getting involved physically with the pastel. It’s an extension of my hand."

The December issue ships to subscribers in early October and hits newsstands October 30.

In honor of the Mexican artist’s 100th birthday, the home-turned-museum of Frida Kahlo and husband Diego Rivera unveils a collection of photos, drawings and other personal items today. Read yesterday’s Washington Post story here. Find more articles on Kahlo’s birthday celebration here, and here, and here.

Since a portion of the items—found in a trunk and unused bathroom three years ago—includes puppets and a puppet theater, we found it fitting to share an image of Anne’s Frida doll that lives at her desk. And check out Anne and Sarah’s mesh tributes to the tortured artist, which they picked up in Albuquerque while attending the International Association of Pastel Societies convention in May.

“I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration.” —Frida Kahlo