Few things are of greater importance than art.

During my undergraduate studies at Northern Michigan University I had a class with professor Paul Lehmberg who taught us many phrases that have carried with me as a writer in the years since, but none of the phrases were more important than “Truth with a capital T.”

And that phrase perfectly captures the reason why art is so important.

Art — be it a painting, a photo, literary writing, music, film or whatever else — tells the Truth (note the capital T).

When society is such that the Truth is shunned or even dangerous, art is there to speak it. It may not say Truth outright, but it says Truth all the same and gets it on the historical record.

And when history is too brutal to recount, art tells it in a way that is digestible, with Truth at the forefront (even if it is “historical fiction”). Night by Elie Wiesel has some graphic accounts of the Holocaust, but it’s also literary.

As humans, we have created art to speak and to tell stories. We still know of the ancient Greek way of life through their art (writings and sculptures). In fact, our religions are based around the art of people who have come before us — Jesus spoke in parables, writings in the Quran are considered poetry by many, and the Bhagavad Gita (part of the Mahabharata) is written in a narrative format.

And art often outlives ideals. Look at the art of the Ancient Greeks — the world still reads about their polytheistic religion, the entertaining stories of their Gods.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, and to a lesser extent Henry David Thoreau (though not of lesser literary importance by any means), used his art to further transcendentalism, a religion that’s not widely followed only 135 years after Emerson’s death.

Through art, the artist lives on.

While many of us can name most presidents of the United States (full disclosure: I can’t), most of us could only tell you what a dozen or so of the 45 accomplished during their tenure. And that’s the highest elected office in the country. We know even less about our past governors, and less still about our past mayors. Business owners, no matter how prominent they may be in their communities during their lifetimes mostly will end up being a name without a face or story.

Even our own distant relatives are forgotten.

Einstein, Tesla, Franklin and others are so prolific one only need mention them by last name, but many scientists and inventors are simply forgotten. Name the person who invented the brake pads you use on your car every day, or name the scientist who discovered the first Tyrannosaurus Rex fossils. Name the inventor of RAM or the hard drive (we use both of those daily… most of us). Now name one musician who had a song on the radio this year, one author who is still active, and a present-day actor.

Artists, we remember. And it’s not just the art we remember — we remember their names.

William Shakespeare, Claude Monet, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Virginia Woolf… we know their names. Most of us can name at least one author of the Bible’s New Testament (and many can name all of them). In some cases, we have a short version of the artist’s biography memorized.

Yes, art is important. It’s so important that there’s big money in it. The “Golden Arches” logo of McDonald’s was created by an artist (and likely approved by a marketing team). I look out my office window right this second and I see different fonts on each business and organization’s windows.

The Vidette, too, is known by its sign (aside from its journalism).

The wooden sign hangs over the sidewalk above the front door. The Old English font proudly proclaims our newspaper’s name.

We’re housed in the oldest commercial building in the City of Montesano, and we proudly report the Truth. We report it in a general sense in our news reporting, and we report the history of our town and county through our artful reporting in columns and editorials. I sometimes get carried away with artfulness while writing profiles.

If somebody is walking down the sidewalk, or driving down West Marcy Avenue, they see that sign and know The Vidette is here. I’ve watched people notice the sign, stop, and then read the historical placard on the side of the building.

The sign over the past couple of decades has become weathered — the tan paint flaking and metal bracket rusting.

It is with our highest appreciation that a quartet of seniors from Montesano High School agreed to build a new sign for The Vidette.

Under the direction of CTE instructors James Wark, Jeff Wetzel and Roger Records, the students spent weeks designing and building a sign that mimics the aged sign almost exactly. The new sign looks so much like the old sign, one might assume they just repainted the old one (I’ve seen them both side by side, so I know that’s not the case).

In this building, we maintain archives that go back more than 130 years to 1883. This particular editorial will most likely be archived.

So to repay these four artists and the original artist, it’s now our aim to have them live on, not only in the sign, but also in our archives.

The original sign was made by Deanna McFeely (her name has since changed to Deanna Fountain).

The new sign was put up on May 10, 2017. It was built by Montesano High School seniors Matthew Johnson of Central Park, and Joel Dillard and Ben Lopez, both of Montesano, and Roy Moe of East County.

Drive by our building at 109 W. Marcy Ave. to admire their excellent work.

Thank you for the wonderful new sign.