Vol. XV. No. 8. 
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK 
December 191 3 
E present this month the first prize 
work in the Autumn Competition. 
The supplement by Mrs. Henrietta 
Barclay Paist is not the applied de- 
sign in the set for which the prize 
was given but belongs to another of 
the submitted sets. While the Wild 
Rose study was more thoroughly 
carried out according to specifica- 
tions and for this reason was awarded 
the prize in Class C, we considered this applied design 
in color of Black-eyed Susan rather more satisfying. The 
design is quite effective on the white china as well as on the 
brown tint, and could be carried out also in other colors with 
good results. Blue or violet flowers with the green leaves 
would be particularly attractive on a white ground, also with 
a fine tracery in gold or faint color in the background. The 
Wild Rose Studies were executed on the same dull brown 
backgi'ound as the supplement and made very attractive 
color schemes. 
The study of the Bluet flower with details which ac- 
companied Mr. Heckman's prize study in Class B. was not 
the careful study of a flower that many of the other 
studies were, but from the nature and simplicity of the flower 
itself there was not much to tell in drawing, and, as the con- 
ventionalized units and applied designs were far and away 
the best and most varied of any submitted, we considered them 
for our purposes the most deserving of the prize. We feel 
as if the designs accompanying the study will be a veritable 
gold mine for many of our decoratois for they can be either 
used as they are or taken in part and simplified for little things 
for Christmas. 
We are publishing also for Christmas use a lot of Holly 
and Mistletoe designs that we have gathered in the past year, 
which should also prove helpful to our hohday workers. 
We have received from Florence Levy, Editor of the 
American Art Annual a reprint of an article published by 
the American Federation of Arts, entitled "The Importance 
of Art Museums in our smaller cities" by Robert De Forest, 
one of the Directors of the Metropolitan Museum. The 
article is strong and to the point. He insists that the function 
of an Art Museum in a small city is inherently quite as im- 
portant as a public library from an educational standpoint, 
and if the editor of Keramic Studio may be allowed to say 
anything so in variance with the accepted ideas and so opposed 
to the Carnegie creed, we would add that we consider it far 
more useful to the community^ for we believe the public library 
of to-day is a pubhc nuisance and a hindrance to the making 
of manly men and womanly women. That sounds icono- 
clastic but as a matter of fact we have too many books in the 
public libraries and for the serious minded the way is made 
too difficult in selecting the most worthy of study. Time and 
strength are wasted in reading much that is unnecessary and 
more that is misleading, while the conglomerate mixture 
and mass of fiction is making of our youth and maidens vis- 
ionary book-worms, their minds filled with a fantastic melange 
that they live from day to day in a dream of unrealties, de- 
vouring the pages of one book only to rush to the library for 
another and it is almost impossible, when the habit becomes 
fixed, to get them out into the open for fresh air and exercise; 
and as for practical or useful information, they have acquired 
such a distaste for real work that one would wonder what 
will become of our future generations if we did not know that 
when conditions in any line become unbearable, the race will 
rise in its might and find a remedy. We trust that all books 
will not be consigned to a universal bonfire but some drastic 
weeding out should certainly be done. 
To return to Mr. De Forest's brochure. It certainly 
is time that the American public began to receive the culture 
that should follow education, and for culture a fairly clear 
insight into the arts is necessary. Painting, Sculpture and 
Music of course, but we would like to add a plea also for the 
art crafts in our Museums. For, in the first place, to bring 
art into the home, the articles of daily use should be well 
designed and inspiring in color, form and execution. The 
articles of ornament and decoration next should be choice 
in material and inspiration. Art has too long been associated 
in the public mind with painting and sculpture alone, the 
choice examples of which the poor or the comparatively poor 
cannot hope to personally possess. Any one can learn to 
appreciate objects of art in some line of the art crafts and, if 
not to make them himself, to love them well enough to man- 
age to possess himself of one or more examples. Then if 
each art Museum would show not only specimens of the great 
art crafts of ancient times but consider it necessary to have 
an example of the work of every worth while contempoi-ary 
art craftsman, a greater impetus would be given to art appre- 
ciation than could be obtained in any other way, for in the 
present day the craftsmen of inspiration are discouraged 
from doing their best because of the almost absolute lack of 
a market for their best efforts, and in these days of high cost 
of living, the moments are so precious as they fly that we 
dare not use many of them for executing one's ideals when 
bread and butter must be eai^ned. The opportunity for 
comparing modern work with the best of ancient art, more- 
over, would by contrast stimulate the craftsmen to greater 
effort. So while we heartily endorse the appeal of Mr. De 
Forest for Art Museums in the smaller cities, we would add 
even more heartily an appeal for representation of modern 
handicraft along with the ancient objects of art, not only in 
the smaller cities but in the greater ones as well. 
CHICAGO CERAMIC ASSOCIATION 
An interesting illustrated account of the fall exhibit of 
the Chicago Ceramic Association has reached us a little too 
late to appear in this issue. It wfll be published in January 
number. 
LITTLE THINGS TO MAKE 
We are rushing through our new book of "Little Things 
to make." containing a number of excellent designs for small 
pieces and five color supplements. As this book will be most 
useful for Christmas work, we will try to have it ready as 
early as possible in December. 
