A COLORADO INDUSTRY 
T O THOSE who live in the quiet cities 
of the East, who enjoy the life and art 
with which they pulsate, Colorado Springs 
seems very far away in the West; and real¬ 
izing how dependent most artists are upon 
environment and upon contact with fellow 
workers for the inspiration which brings 
forth the best within them, it seems incred¬ 
ible that this little town, barely thirty years 
old, shadowed by the Rocky Mountains, 
shelters an industry which has already taken 
a place in the world and which is full of pos¬ 
sibilities for the future. And yet, as one 
gazes at the rich colors in the rocks, at the 
soft velvety greens of the mesa, at the wealth 
of flowers under the intense blue sky, this 
pottery, this earth refined and made to glow 
and live through the fire, seems in harmony 
with the wealth of nature surrounding it. 
Four years ago Mr. Artus Van Briggle 
of Cincinnati came 
to Colorado Springs 
in search of new 
health and strength, 
like many another 
pilgrim paying the 
penalty of tireless 
study and experi¬ 
ment. For many 
years connected 
with the Rookwood 
Pottery, spending 
his days over pots 
and his evenings 
and Sundays in 
study, he finally 
found his way to 
Paris, where he 
spent three happy 
years in painting. 
It was during this 
time that his inter¬ 
est in the old Chin¬ 
ese dead glaze was 
awakened and he 
grew to think that 
some approach to 
it might be made 
in modern pot¬ 
tery,—an idea which seems to have taken 
root in various European minds about the 
same time. With this thought in mind he 
returned to America in 1896 and began ex¬ 
periments in his own studios during the rare 
moments snatched from a busy life of paint¬ 
ing and pottery, only to win success at the 
expense of health. During the first months 
in Colorado life was merely existence, but as 
strength began to return the eager search 
commenced again in the corner of the labor¬ 
atory of Colorado College, where he was 
permitted to work through the courtesy of 
Professor Strieby. To find a good clay body 
among the Colorado clays was a matter of 
almost endless experiments; and when at last 
one was found which came up to most of the 
requirements, the glaze had also undergone 
changes and was much finer and richer than 
the one worked out in Cincinnati. The 
firing was done 
under difficulty, in 
an assayer’s muffle. 
Conviction that 
pottery could be 
made here was the 
result of the win¬ 
ter’s work ; and the 
summer found Mr. 
Van Briggle on a 
comfortable cattle 
ranch spending 
many hours each 
day under the 
cottonwood trees, 
in the midst of 
the fresh prairie 
breezes, fashioning 
with brain and fin¬ 
gers the models for 
the vases which he 
hoped to create. In 
the autumn of 1900 
he sent home for 
his little gas kiln 
which was set up 
in the College lab¬ 
oratory, and grad¬ 
ually the vases 
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