It is a sad fact that most art teachers have been trained as painters or designers and very few of them as sculptors. Most schools do not in fact teach sculpture as such. At Portobello High School near Edinburgh I have taught carving in both wood, stone, sculpture in cement-concrete, clay modelling, mosaics, papier-mâché, drawing and painting. While doing it I learned a lot myself and for that I must say an honest thank you to the school, for the support and understanding from the teachers and pupils.

At the same time at home I got involved with my own children who at the age of 3 started either drawing or wood-sawing, cutting and carving. After playing in the garden they happily did art activities and I just as willingly taught and supported them.

The pupils in my Portobello class made, according to my design, an eighteen feet by six feet (548 x 183cm) large panel to celebrate the centenary of the school. In several exhibitions in Edinburgh I have included the work of my school pupils and the adult students from my studio class. I have always taught them to go their own way, be individualistic, at the same time as they learn the skills of the craft and gain knowledge of the art.

Always strive towards quality. If the cultural elitism means believing in the highest quality and perfection which stands above any trend, fashion, then be an artist-elitist.

The history of art, cultures, civilisations, the knowledge of composition, anatomy, perspective, theories of form and colour have to be learned before they can be ignored; they are the grammar of the language of art, no matter how elementary or primitive or involved they may seem. Inspiration should come, not from commercially mass-produced images of films or comics, often banal and grotesque, but from daily life, folklore, idealism, dreams or sheer imagination.