"Probably the most common question people ask about craft is how it differs from art. In terms of numbers this is a narrow question; professional artists form a mere speck of the population, whereas craftsmanship extends to all sorts of labors. In terms of practice, there is no art without craft; the idea for a painting is not a painting. The line between craft and art may seem to separate technique and expression, but as the poet James Merrill once told me, ‘‘If this line does exist, the poet himself shouldn’t draw it; he should focus only on making the poem happen.’’ Though ‘‘what is art?’’ is a serious and endless question, lurking in this particular definitional worry may be something else: we are trying to figure out what autonomy means—autonomy as a drive from within that impels us to work in an expressive way, by ourselves."  By  Richart Sennett