Vol. Ill, No. 7 
NEW YORK AND SYRACUSE 
November 1901 
HERE seems to be, in all studios, more 
activity than usual at this season of the 
year, which argues well for the work 
everywhere. Classes are rapidly filling 
with pupils from all quarters. We will 
not call them (as yet) students of kera- 
mics, because the majority have no aim nor plan other than 
visiting the different studios, asking to see work, much in the 
same manner as those seeking new styles in millinery, and if a 
vase or plate suits them in one studio, a few lessons are asked 
for, and again a few lessons in another studio, perhaps to copy 
a stein or tankard, and so on, ad infinitum, without much re- 
gard to any underlying principles that pertain either to 
Keramics or decorative art ; the one idea seems to be to have 
something in a material form to take home. 
Consequently, going to various teachers, who are all using 
different colors, and instructing in different methods, is the 
most confusing thing a pupil can do, to say nothing of the 
extravagance of it. 
We are often appalled at the utter waste of money and 
time of those who have worked so hard and saved in 
order to come to New York to study. Our advice is 
frequently asked, and we are always impressed with the aim- 
less plans which are presented. One ambitious aspirant wished 
to study roses with a certain teacher, violets with another and 
dark backgrounds with still another and perhaps design with 
some one else. It is well to emphasize perhaps, as DESIGN is 
usually the last thing thought of, but it is encouraging to 
know that STUDY invariably brings the desire for a knowledge 
of it, and therefore the utmost patience, interest and tact are 
necessary in order to bring pupils to this frame of mind. 
It is infinitely better to go to one teacher for color until 
his or her method is understood and acquired, and if this 
teacher should be only a naturalistic painter, a knowledge of 
design should be obtained elsewhere — both are essential. 
There should be especial attention given to the study of 
keramics at the Metropolitan Museum. 
It greatly aids students to resort to the libraries, not 
merely for copies, but for motifs and suggestions, and for that 
mental stimulus which comes with study and research. 
After hard work in the morning, a quiet afternoon at the 
library is a diversion which will prove not only absorbing to 
the mental faculties but restful as well. 
One should study the color schemes and lines of deco- 
rators whose work is acknowledged to be good ; unconsciously 
a sense of the fitness of things will begin to grow, and at first 
without knowing why, the right and the wrong in decoration 
will be felt, if not altogether understood, and from this there 
should spring individuality of style, which is the lacking 
characteristic of the usual worker, the noticeable fault in all 
exhibitions and the lamentable want in studio work generally. 
Our next color studies : Roses, Miss Jenkins ; columbine, 
Mrs. Robineau ; asters, Mrs. Safford ; rose, Mrs. Nicholls. 
THE NATIONAL ARTS CLUB EXHIBIT OF PORCE- 
LAIN AND POTTERY AT THE PAN-AMERICAN. 
BESIDES L'Art de la Ceramique, Grueby and Rookwood 
which we have noted at length in other articles, tha 
most important exhibits of porcelain and pottery are to be 
found in -the exhibits of the National Arts Club and the 
National League of Mineral Painters. 
In the Arts Club the most important exhibit is the 
quaint pottery of Thomas Inglis, an amateur of note who died 
a short time since. He worked only for his own pleasure, 
and so each piece is unique and interesting. Some pieces are 
in the Metropolitan Museum, and the balance is owned by 
Tiffany, with the exception of a few pieces bought by con- 
noisseurs. The shapes are quaint, turned by hand, the glazes 
dark and sometimes lustrous and metallic ; blacks, dull greens, 
browns with warm yellow predominate — very little of any 
decoration, the beauty depending solely upon color effect and 
glaze. Many odd jars are finished with little tops which look 
like ivory. They have the appearance of gourds with tops 
cut out of the inner rind. Some interesting landscape tiles 
were also shown. 
Mr. Charles Volkmar, of Corona, has a large case of as 
fine specimens of his well-known work as we have ever seen ; 
single color effects of every artistic shade. The forms, too, 
are simple and elegant, and some semi-dull finish pieces 
were quite new and interesting. 
The Newcomb Pottery also exhibits with the Arts Club. 
The blue glass canopy over the exhibit detracts somewhat 
from the color, or rather adds to it a blue which is not its 
own. The shapes are nice, and the designs strictly and simply 
conventional. Heavy outlines are used, and designs are 
slightly raised ; some color pieces with lustre finish, and 
especially some pieces with a "dripping" effect of colored 
glazes, are very interesting. We must not forget to mention 
some matt red and brown effects with modeled flowers. 
Mrs. Poillion shows some specimens of her clays modelled 
but not glazed, and Mrs. Robineau shows two pieces modelled 
in Mr. Volkmar's clay, which are interesting because they 
show the spreading tendency to go into Keramic work from 
the clay to finish. 
Among the over-glaze decorators exhibiting with the 
National Arts Club, Mr. Marshal Fry is represented by an 
interesting jar, tall and slender, with swans, water, trees 
and their reflections. The study was made in Central Park 
at dusk, and the glimmering lights also show reflected in the 
water. The whole is treated in greys and brown greens 
with extreme conventionalism, and is most interesting. 
Mrs. Robineau is represented by seven pices, the most 
important being three vases entitled respectively Daybreak, 
Sunset and Moonlight, the first in grey-blues, three columns 
of smoke forming a canopy about the top. The foreground 
at the base is a purplish brown, representing the hither side 
of a lake. Facing each other on either side of one of the 
smouldering fires are two satyrs silhouetted against the lake 
