“The painful truth is that if you want your great idea to be expressed it must be through the mechanical skill of your craft. You will simply have to learn how to manipulate the wood before you can expect the wood to manipulate your idea into art. An artist friend of mine has a succinct definition of craftsmanship: “it means I can put the paint where I want it.” That little statement is colloquial, but there is a lot of meaning hiding in it.

Some fools worship skill at the expense of its partner, creativity. Others make the opposite mistake. They are both wrong. Your skill should let your idea come out. Skill without creativity is nothing. It is polished and dull. On the other hand, good ideas poorly executed are a crime against nature. You owe it to yourself and to your viewers to develop the ability to be able to do exactly what you have in mind. If not, you must stand around and tell everyone how good it would have been if you could just have captured the image of your mind on the wood. I personally believe in craftsmanship. If the piece is not well done it is marred.”

                                                                                    Cecil Carstenson

                                                                                    The Craft and Creation of Wood Sculpture

                                                                                    Dover Publications, NY, 1981