148 
KERAMIC STUDIO 
(Treatment p. 155) WAX BERRIES 
npHE type of realistic work that is offered this month to 
A the readers of the Keramic Studio, will be found 
void of the theatrical effectiveness which pleases many of 
our artists, and every care has been taken to exclude such 
color and technique, as would diminish the 
natural beauty of the work. The dominant 
-£> J" note * n these realistic studies, is simplicity. 
We all appreciate the fact, that the simplicity 
of nature is infinitely complex, and that her 
beauty is transcribed through a perfect weld- 
ing of many parts, none of which asserts itself unduly. This 
artistic attitude is admirably illustrated in the work of our 
best realistic artists and we offer the following pages to the 
many readers of this Journal, who have mastered the tech- 
nical difficulties of our art, hoping they may aid in pro- 
moting the best interests of an art, that has suffered and is 
still suffering from a want of proper standards. The work 
has been chosen as a pursuit by many persons who have no 
real artistic feeling, or understanding, and rather an indiffer- 
ent acquaintance with the technical side of their work. 
Reviewing the pages of the Keramic Studio during the past 
five years, there is ample evidence of sound and serious study 
among our young workers, and a desire for creative effort, 
with due regard for modern feeling. It is somewhat the 
fashion to depreciate realistic work, but its influence is still 
with us, reflecting the thought and earnest effort of many of 
the best artists in ceramics. 
We have read in some out of the way place, that orna- 
ment on pottery had its origin in the ages gone by, in an 
attempt of men to escape from the weariness of hard labor. 
It is more reasonable to believe that it was an expression of 
pleasure, in the hope of power and usefulness, which pleasure 
did not fail the artist. Things grew beautiful under the 
workman's hands in those days, and they did not know how 
to make things ugly. A piece of work of that period will 
bring a vast sum of money now, work done by some one 
who believed the earth to be like a flat dish, and that the 
sun went around the rim, with the city of Jerusalem exactly 
in the center. The workers were not the toilers of the 
present day, carrying the brush as a grievous burden, with 
which a great amount of work must be done, the money 
collected to pay Studio rent at $10.00 per square foot, and 
other essentials to modern existence, too numerous to men- 
tion here. On these terms, and under these conditions, it 
is hardly possible for an artist to express in her work great 
beauty and intelligence. The essence of beautiful work 
is the delight and pleasure felt by the worker which the 
artist feels and gives expression to. It is really a question 
of art and the joy of the artist in the work, or a tired worker 
and a lack of artistic expression. The sordid weariness 
inspired by' fear of a want of supply for every need, destroys 
the imagination, and the creative force is dulled. Let us 
take time for rest,*and recreation for the mind. Let us 
produce beauty only, and while our surroundings must be 
clean, orderly and artistic, it is easy to find someone who 
takes pleasure in doing what to us is drudgery, and who is 
not likely to ever enter the field of art. Free the mind of 
worry, fear, and the effect of toil. Fill it with joy, and the 
effect that freedom, culture, and pleasure in existence offers. 
We do not intend to say that all of our work is accomplished 
through anxiety, but the pleasure rather consists in making 
the work subservient to time, which must be made to turn 
in money at so much per day. This is no doubt business- 
like and commendable, if out of the fullness of the heart 
we can impress upon the work itself the token of our love 
for it. Jeanne M. Stewart 
