Technique does not constitute art. Nor is it a vague, fuzzy romantic quality known as beauty, remote from the realities of everyday life. It is the depth and intensity of an artist’s experience that are the first importance in art.

–Grant Wood

I am featuring the quote above from Grant Wood (1891-1942) mainly because I just want to show off a couple of my favorite pieces of his work. But his words resonate for me as well.

I sometimes speak or write of the different processes I employ in my work. They are important tools in conveying whatever constitutes the emotional message of a piece. Hopefully, they create an image that has some form of aesthetic beauty as well. But, as Wood points out, they are secondary to the emotional input from the artist that has been formed by experiencing and observing the world around them.

That’s a message I have passed on to students and student groups I’ve spoken with in the past. It is important to learn all sorts of technique and to hone the abilities of your craft. But more it is even more important to educate yourself– to learn, read, listen, observe, and feel the world around them with intensity, all with the goal of making oneself a more complete human being.

That is the thing that moves work from craft to art.

I believe that might be what Mr. Wood was saying.

Anyway, let’s look at his work while listening to a tune dedicated to and titled for Grant Wood at the bottom from the Turtle Island String Quartet. Good stuff.