My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok

I could have sworn I started a thread on this already but apparently not. It's about a truely gifted artist torn between his art and his religious beliefs. Fairly fitting for an art board imo :).

There's a lot of appeal, not just in the story Potok tells, but in the writing itself; it is its own work of art with clean lines and tasteful simplicity. The central character speaks so rarely that his life must be illustrated with a balance of action and inaction and the few words he says have a way of just slamming into you.

In any case, it's a great book and I think artists would appreciate it :).

"Become a great artist. That is the only way to justify what you are doing to everyone's life."