Vol. XX, No. 2. 
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK 
June 1918 
E call attention to the competition 
offered below by one of our real 
friends, who has come to the front 
to relieve the stress of battle. 
Keramic Studio feels that the least 
it can do is to also offer prizes for 
design competitions on its own ac- 
count. We must all do what we 
can to keep up the interest in good 
design work, with the hope that 
we will see before very long the end of the distressing condi- 
tions which have prevailed during the last two years. 
* * * Again thanking you for your kindness, and hoping that neither 
the war nor anything else will "down" our Keramic Studio, I remain— No, 
wait a minute! What do you think of having another competition? This 
time, a snappy, cheerful design to decorate an individual set for the tray of 
the "Sick-a-bed" lady or gentleman. I have a check ready to donate for 
the first ($15) and second ($10) prizes, with the. hope that the designs will 
appear in the next October number. I will mail my check for $25, whenever 
you are ready for it. Respectfully yours, 
MARTHA FIELD BLAIR. 
Competition No. 1— Designs to decorate the china set of 
an invalid, lady or gentleman. First Blair Prize $15. Sec- 
ond Blair Prize $10. Competition will close September 1, 1918. 
Competition No. 2— Best sheet of designs for "Little 
Things to Make/' especially for Christmas, adapted to shapes 
that can be procured in our stores, china or pottery. First 
Prize $10. Second Prize $5. Competition will close Octo- 
ber 15th. 
Competition No. 3— Best sheet of designs for glass decora- 
tion, adapted to existing shapes. First Prize $10. Second 
Prize $5. Competition will close October 15th. 
For particulars see advertisement on back cover of the 
Magazine. 
K K 
LOOKING FORWARD 
Henrietta B. Paist, Assistant Editor 
/^VN every hand one is met with the sincere questioning 
V-/ of artists in all branches of art, as to their justification 
in trying, in the face of such a world catastrophe, with the 
fate of Nations hanging in the balance, to keep the fires of 
"Art and Culture" alive. 
Early in the war our President said in answer to a query 
from an educator— "By no means should our schools and 
colleges be closed during the period of the war or general 
education be neglected. Never in the history of the world 
have educated, cultured men and women been so needed as 
they will be to carry forward the work of reconstruction and 
peace." This certainly does not apply only to general edu- 
cation. The world will need men and women of vision— with 
ideals— to inspire and hearten the workers, and to record 
achievement. Art and Science, like Science and Religion, 
are ever converging. There is no longer "a great gulf fixed," 
it is already spanned by invisible threads which art has spun. 
The Industrial arts represent the methods by which the mind 
applies feeling and knowledge. "For action", as Will Comfort 
says, "invariably follows to fill the matrix of the thought." 
We would not minimize the splendid courage and self- 
sacrifice of those geniuses who have dropped pen-brush and 
chisel and have taken their places in the front ranks of 
action. Their courage and sublime self abnegation are proofs 
of their sincerity and their high ideals; but these must re- 
main sufficient seed in the cultural and aesthetic pursuits for 
another yield and there must be husbandmen to till the soil 
and garner the crops. We have an example in Germany of 
what science minus moral aesthetic and religious ideals can 
accomplish. 
Art in all its departments blazes the way for Science. 
It prepares the soil of the mind by repeated prophetic visions, 
it is the heart of humanity; science the brain. It is intuition, 
science deductive; it is inspirational and prophetic, science 
corroborative. It was Tennyson who first voiced the ideal 
of "The Parliament of Man, the Federation of the World." 
I think it is Edward Carpenter who says "Art expression 
is one of the means by which humanity is freeing itself from a 
local point of view, local doctrine and prejudices and seeing 
the organic unity of mankind." 
The value of the aesthetic ideal lies in the fact that it 
"fulfills the double condition of optimism and purity. It 
creates in mankind a confident mentality", a desire for the 
best. We believe in the survival of the highest as opposed to 
the "fittest" according to Germany's idea of the "fittest." 
I would not presume to put up this argument in defence 
of any one craft or department of art. Ours is a very small 
part of that world known as the Art World, the larger world 
may well be able to dispense for a time with art objects — 
the products of artists and craftsmen; but it cannot for a 
moment dispense with the ideals with which art has inocu- 
lated the human mind and which it will help to preserve. 
The world, at this crisis, is learning that the art of living is 
not by absorption, but by expression, by the output of 
our deepest convictions coupled with action. It is learning 
the lesson, which in times of peace, would, if universal, bring 
universal happiness. This is the secret of the hold which art 
has on its devotees. When we can all learn to look upon all 
necessary activities as a means of expression, as parts of a 
language by which we communicate with each other, and not 
as an end in themselves, it will free us from the bondage and 
drudgery of the physical performance and give us that sorely 
needed sense of values. This is when the relation of art to 
economics becomes apparent. We need to learn to make a 
wiser expenditure of our time and talents, not to eliminate or 
even conserve, too much. 
There is a type of layman, without vision (we, all know 
him), who prides himself on being practical, as opposed to the 
dreamers and theorists. But is he? Is he not the dreamer, 
living subconsciously, by proxy so to speak, absorbing instead 
of expressing, while the poets, painters, sculptors and philoso- 
phers are awake, alive, to the real things of life. Are they not 
after all the "sentinels," the " outlooks" in the watch towers 
of the world? Are they not the eyes, the ears, the very hearts 
for the "practical" ones, seeing, hearing and feeling the truths 
of nature, "holding the mirror up to nature," that all may 
see the reflections. They "go to the God of the wood, to fetch 
His word to men." 
When this great tragedy overtook us America was just 
awakening to the need and desire for nationality in art. The 
war will probably bring out all latent talent, all the creative 
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