[Woodcarver] How artists define success... Joe Dillett

Thu Aug 12 15:04:07 EDT 2004

Bill I stand up an applaud you-- 
You have truly grown & are growing into what God will say 
well done good & faithful servant-
I will say ahead of His that will mean the most to you
"well done"

Most of what I carve is given away--
I love giving to others when I see that it blesses them--
Last night I went with my daughter to give her 1st Afghan
away to an old man that's closest relative is a cousin.
If you could of seen what my daughter saw feet what she felt  
She is successful & if God has your my carving & giving them away to be a part of that last night Ha, I'm a successful carver--
Thanks for sharing your heart with us Bill-
if not here in heaven lets do lunch...

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bill Judt 
  To: [Woodcarver] 
  Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2004 1:14 PM
  Subject: [Woodcarver] How artists define success... Joe Dillett

  To make a DONATION to the Mailing List using PayPal OR regular mail, click this link: http://wwwoodcarver.com/WWWList/WWWList.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Joe:

  Such an interesting question!!
  Do you stay awake at night formulating these questions for us??? <grin>

  It is serendipitous that I read your email message after this mornings devotions, here at the lake, because what I read in Luke 2:22-40 speaks to your query in a rather profound way. 
  I recently carved a relief on Luke 2:29-32 [go to my website at: http://wwwoodcarver.com/AssortedWebPages/myhome.html and look for the link to the "Simeon" carving]. 

  This carving was an attempt to capture the wonder and amazement of an old man who discovers once again, in his old age, that God is a promise-keeping God. He had been blessed to live long enough to see the Messiah of God. Holding the babe in his hands he proceeded to proclaim that his life was complete. Now he could die in peace.

  Simeon defined his life by God's promises and faithful obedience to God's will and purpose for him. Nothing else mattered. Simply to be of service in God's kingdom and to see the Savior was all the purpose he needed.

  Like Susan Irish, my goals for carving have changed over the years. And so they needed to change, for at first they were selfish, then shallow, then short-sighted, then awakened to the possibilities, and in my later years they have become more mature and focussed on what really matters. As one gets older it seems one is able to reduce the meaning and purpose of life to what is essential.

  There was a woman my wife and I knew in Grande Prairie that we both admired. I asked her one day what it was that motivated her to do the many remarkable things she did - community service, leadership, raising a family, modeling integrity - and her answer came without a second thought. She said "I am motivated by the desire to make a difference". That stuck with me.

  When I first started carving as a hobby, my intent was to "carve all of scriptures". It seemed a good goal to pursue. That goal has been transformed from an innocent and unattainable goal [after all, to carve all of scriptures would mean having to also carving Leviticus and Numbers <grin>] to a goal which is not only attainable, but most desirable.

  Remember that I am a preacher, so if this sounds a bit "preachy" forgive me. But it is where I am at. This is what motivates me. It is a choice I've made. It is the bedrock of what I do as a carver, as a husband, as a father, as a Canadian, as a man.

  As my awareness of God's activity and calling in my life have started to come into focus, I wish now only to make a difference in the Kingdom of God... to be a model citizen, a faithful ambassador and a true witness to Jesus. All the carvings I do, and all the teaching I do have this one goal and purpose in mind. If what I do pleases Jesus, it is worthwhile. If my work serves Jesus it is worthwhile. If my work witnesses to Jesus, it is worthwhile. In the end I desire to hear Him utter the words "Well done, good and faithful servant." Anything done for reasons other than to faithfully serve Jesus is worthless.

  I was in Red Deer last week, teaching at the Summer carving workshop held every year there. Christ White, one of Fox Chapel's authors and the gifted carver, whose book "Parables" took our breath away when it first came out... he was teaching at Red Deer too. I had an opportunity to go for lunch with Chris and discovered that he shares the same motivation and purpose in life that I do. Everything he does, he does with Jesus in mind.
  His is the mind of a servant who is honored to serve and it is a wonderful thing to behold.

  Part of my devotions this morning also took me from the biblical account in Luke of Simeon to Paul's works in Phillipians 4, where Paul defines his life in the words "To live is Christ, to dies is gain." I desire that my walk with God and faithful service to Him are what define everything else about my life.

  Joe, I don't know if or how you will be able to use this at the SEA conference.

  And for the rest of the List community, I hope you receive what I've said with gentle hearts.

  Blessings and Peace (abound)

  Bill
  List Owner

  W.F. Judt,
  46 Harvard Cres,
  Saskatoon, Saskatchewan,
  S7H3R1
  PH: 306-373-6649
  Email: bjudt at sasktel.net
  Website: http://www.wwwoodcarver.com

  On Aug 12, 2004, at 7:00 AM, Joe Dillett wrote:

    To make a DONATION to the Mailing List using PayPal OR regular mail, click this link: http://wwwoodcarver.com/WWWList/WWWList.html

    How do you define success?
    Fellow Carvers,

    I need your help. I'm on the board of the SEA Conference (Self-Employment in
    the Arts) and I'm working on ideas to help organize another series of
    practical talks to help artists get started and stay in business. The idea
    I'm working on is that sometimes we need to peal away all the layers of the
    necessary day to day activities, that surround our art, and define or
    redefine what we call success.

    I feel it is important, especially in our art, to have a clear idea of how
    we define our success. If we don't have a clear definition of our success we
    'll never know if we are successful. I'm not talking about the achievement
    of all your goals but rather some target you aim for as a level you would be
    happy to achieve. I feel it is important to define what we feel would make
    us successful. If we don't have a clear idea we have no idea were we are
    going and we can't develop a map on how to get there. I also feel it
    important to our self-esteem to celebrate our success when we have achieved
    it. As our art matures so does our definition of success. That is why we
    need to periodically redefine success and recognize when we have achieved
    success.

    For most of us, success is one or a combination of the following goals. 1)
    make money, 2) find your artistic voice, 3) being able to do what you like
    as often as you like, 4) to be proud of your work and have the courage to
    share it with others, 5) being able to show your work in exhibits, 6) to
    fill your world with things that you love to do or people that you love to
    be with, 7) to leave a legacy that hopefully touches people in some way, 8)
    to promote the advancement of your art through teaching, 9) to break into
    and have an influence in the "accepted" world of art, 10) to become famous,
    11) to use your art to spread a message 12) to just be able to carve that
    one object, and many more goals you may want.

    ****** What I would like to know from you is how did you defined success
    when you began carving and how do you define success today. ****** This
    would be helpful for me to develop ideas for the SEA Conferences. Most of
    the attendees are college seniors or recent art graduates hoping to learn
    about business. The next largest group is the professors and art teachers.
    Then there is a smaller group of struggling artists wanting to improve their
    business. These kids have a Mega portion of talent, filled with dreams,
    ambitions, high energy, a burning desire to make their mark on the art world
    and a hope of not having to get a regular job to pay off their student
    loans.

    When I began carving as a kid my only goal was to be able to whittle that
    toy gun or that toy sword. They were very short-term goals with no thought
    of art in mind. As I grew so did my goals. I found I liked carving so much
    that wanted to sell a few carvings so I could buy more tools. That worked
    out so well that I thought I would like to be able to carve full time
    without having the family suffer. In the last 6 to 8 years my goals have
    gotten more into improving my art skills as well as promoting the art of
    woodcarving. I found as I set new goals, revising my definition of success,
    that it was important to celebrate achieving the old goal before I embarked
    on the journey to the new goal. These celebrations of success, I feel was
    important to build my self-esteem, which is so important to fueling my
    enthusiasm and energy.

    I would love to hear your ideas on how you defined success in the past and
    how you define your success today. I would like to hear your ideas if you
    just started carving or if you've been carving a long time. We all have
    ideas of success. This would be very helpful for me to come up with a core
    idea to build our seminars for the upcoming year.

    Thanks for your help.

    Joe Dillett
    The Carving Shop
    645 E. LaSalle St. Suite 3
    Somonauk, IL. 60552
    (815) 498-9290 phone
    (815) 498-9249 fax
    http://www.thecarvingshop.com
    jdillett at thecarvingshop.com
    http://www.carvingmagazine.com Carving Magazine web site and Readers Forum
    http://community.webshots.com/user/joe_dillett
    **************************************************

    _______________________________________________
    Woodcarver mailing list
    Woodcarver at six.pairlist.net
    http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/woodcarver

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  _______________________________________________
  Woodcarver mailing list
  Woodcarver at six.pairlist.net
  http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/woodcarver
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/woodcarver/attachments/20040812/ced51ede/attachment.html