"Art is and should be the act of an individual. Willing to say something new, something not quite familiar. It is that collection of those singular personal visions transformed from within the minds-eye to the public, which is throughout time, throughout our history come to form a definition of who we are and in a way, why we are. It is a dialog with not only our peers but with people in time both before and beyond our time. For all though each of us can be defined by the brief physical time that we as individuals exist, we have the ability to make that time extend far beyond our physical existence. We are apart of a collective consciousness, connected through one another through time by our works, images, thoughts and writings. We communicate to future generations what we are, what we have been, hopefully influencing for the better what we will become."

Stated by Maya Lin, known for her design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., during her Doctorate Speech at Yale University.