DEVELOPING CRAFT

Technique: learning to use tools (e.g., viewfinders, brushes), materials (e.g., charcoal, paint); learning artistic conventions (e.g., perspective, color mixing). Studio practice: learning to care for tools, materials, and space.

Most often, the default belief seems to be that all we need to teach is craft, as if craft is what art is. One of the reasons this studio habit is useful is because it helps teachers see that craft is important; it's one of the eight studio habits, but it's not all that's important. It's not the most important. There are seven more habits in addition to craft. So if all you are doing is teaching technique, craft, the principles and elements of design, you are missing a lot of what is important about developing an artistic mind. And just as craft requires skill, learning to use that pencil, or getting that structure to stand up, there's also the inclination to use craft. I want the kids to be driven, to need to pursue good craft, inclined to do another draft. Why? Because inadequate craft diminishes the artwork, the craft needs to read as intended. The work needs to speak, and craft is how we make materials speak.
A lot of times, not always, but a lot, artists work with developing craft in relation to the studio habit "Express." You go back and forth, developing craft to express, trying to express with your craft. They kind of tug on each other, and then both dispositions grow. (From http://www.everyarteverychild.org/​)