Talented people can make our hearts stop, no matter what material they use. Working with a lot of uber-talented sculptors you quickly realize that they either have it, or they don't. A millimeter of difference can take the ordinary into the extraordinary. The tilt of a head, the roundness of a shoulder, the tension in the tendons of the neck.... you can't teach that. And the artist could be using high-tech materials and the latest hydraulic dentist-drill supersonic tools, or simple clay and a handmade tool.
That's true in every aspect of our lives. Think of the graphic artist, the painter, the textile designer. Even a mom who bakes cookies, some cookies are delightful, balanced, artistic, and the very essence of cookie-ness. Others look like clown barf.
Not every day you get to work the word barf into a conversation.
Joanie