Why art? Good question. To answer that we must first know what art is. Art is painting. Art is drawing. Art is writing. Art is expressing. A quick Google search will tell you that art is any given number of things, such as "the various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, literature, and dance," or "a skill at doing a specified thing, typically one acquired through practice." So why art? It's because we are a creative and emotional species, and we need a way to express our feelings in a creative way. That's why art exists. It is a vehicle of our creative expression. It is also why "art" has so many different definitions and forms. Anyone can be an artist, just as anything can be a form of art. 

So what then is the role of an artist? This agin entirely depends on what "art" is to you, and is therefore highly subjective. But for ease of argument, let's stick to the traditional connotation of the word art: Art is paintings, sculptures, texts, and other visual pieces created to provoke thought and to be appreciated for their inherent beauty. In that case, an artist's role in society may seem pretty simple: all he or she must do is create something "beautiful" for the rest of us to appreciate. But art is more complex than that, and being an artist requires something much deeper. Art helps us understand our humanity and the historical conditions in which we live,and it is the artist's responsibility to ensure that these themes are captured in the artwork. The artist must also act as an advisor/observer, helping the general public by commenting on contemporary issues and acting as both a catalyst for cultural, political, and societal change and as a mouth piece for the oppressed. 

This ever-vigilant watchdog mentality is especially common in the language arts. Many of the greatest books of all time were written as social commentaries. Take, for instance, the scholastic staple Brave New World. It contains a clear warning about the dangers of Utopian ideals and promotes individualism and free will despite the suffering that may accompany it. The language arts allow us as a species to explore issues and ideas in depth in a way that other forms of art don't really provide for. Language arts are important as they function as a forum for intense philosophical discussions, such as the duality of man. 

I am an artist in the broadest sense of the word. I express myself creatively through creative avenues, such as writing my papers or a debate case or by using my own style. But I'm not an artist in the traditional sense. I'm terrible at drawing and sculpting and painting. Absolutely awful.