I believe that Artists are in some way Historians...that their work saves something from becoming forgotten. And, artists tell stories all the time in their art, words, visuals. Moments.The year 2018: On a political front was great for the USA and our midterm elections. A more even balance is been established. On a general overview of the art world in LA things seem to be expanding and moving faster. Each day there seems to be another show being posted on facebook filling up every weekend and eating into the weekdays-evenings with openings. Artists are being cautious with where they show, asking the important questions for them, the why the money, if there is insurance, how to move forward, the how to be seen. Curators jobs are getting more intense and artists are becoming more forward with questions of who, what when where why how. The importance of keeping a job-job to support the art habit and the struggles of foregoing the safety net... the full scope of being an artist is being questioned and reevaluated. On more personal level artists are getting older, seeing the world differently, participating in their passions and focusing on leaving something for the up-coming generations... art, environment, social political, learning the power of participating and the greater good. Making statements that are more in-your-face look at me. Writing the journeys to transform points of view and ways of being human. A way of humanity that seems to have been put by the wayside... for now.Featured Artists from around the World: Karen Karlsson, Jean-Luc Sanhes, Nathalie Tierce, Nidhi Agarwal, Jeff Hilbers, Sudrak Khongpuang, Freddie B., Jacqueline Steimke, Jacki Apple, Chuck Feesago, Jack Reilly, Karin Skiba, Cristina Paulos, Alison Wright, Marjorie Trandem, LaJon Miller, Barbara Kerwin, Evvie Kyrozi, Angeline Straatman, Lisa Manifold, Siori Kitajima, Niamh Ni Chearbhaill, Silvia Traistaru, Michael Maas, Daniella Smith, Aliza Bejarano, Disha Dua, Pascaline Doucin-Dahlke, Elena Mary Siff, Mohan Sundaresan, Kirk Shiflett, Nicola Anthony, Wendy Lee Gadzuk, Karen Boissonneault, Gauthier, Alexandra Rutsch Brock, Skye Amber Sweet, Christie Shinn, Ginger Van Hook, Eva (Tcz.) Sterlich, Heather Scholl, Nirali Thakkar, Christopher Heltai, Susan Lizotte, Jill Carol, Michael McCall, Tina Dille, Heather A. Wallis Murphy, Karrie Ross. _______As always, this is my art-book-project, entry is free and most submissions are accepted as long as they are on track with the focus of the book. I price the book just enough to make it into Amazons library system, and once on Amazon, books seldom get deleted...so these will live on as long as amazon.com does.Thank you for being a part of this journeyKarrie Rosshttp: //www.karrieross.comhttp: //www.artistartandstory.com_____________________________Note: The artists are listed in the order if when they submitted their stories. I appologize if I left anyone out anywhere or misscoppied anything. The book has not been edited or proofed by me, so spelling, grammar and sentence structure is purely of the artists own words and adds to the quality of the sharing. Thankful ...I appreciate all the stories submitted, I really like to have a big book, and therefore even the stories a little off-track have been included. A big hug and many thanks especially to the Artists that kept to my requested focus of the year 2018