I painted the first jester painting, “Dancing Free Above the Darkness”, in the early days of my life in Madrid, New Mexico. If someone had asked me, then or even now, what do the jesters mean, I would have to confess that an answer to that has eluded me. At best, all I can say is that the jesters were a response to an alienated world, where it has seemed that our livelihoods had become divorced from anything spiritual, or in the context of community embracing nature. The spiritual had long ago withered on the vine and now we wait for a spring thaw, for new growth, a new narrative to bear fruit. Well, that’ll take a long time, maybe a hundred years. Meanwhile, the jesters keep us company and help us avoid the spiritual shysters and distractions. Yet, you ask me, what do the jesters mean, and I can only suggest that one could go fishing with a jester.