40 
KERAMIC STUDIO 
PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN 
(Second Article) 
Hugo Froelilich 
ESIGNERS refer largely to nature 
for inspiration, because in all her 
aspects she is constantly revealing 
qeauty and suggestion. To the un- 
trained mind these are limited or 
entirely hidden; but to the artist 
they offer no end of possibilities. 
To him an apple tree in an orchard 
is something more than a fruit tree. 
The drawing of the trunk so char- 
acteristic of all apple trees, the movement of the branches and 
twigs so different from any other; the peculiar growth of the 
leaves, the contour of the entire tree, the all over pattern that 
the cast shadow makes on the grass, the subtle difference be- 
tween the green of the tree and the green of the grass, the 
green in sunlight contrasted with the green in shadow; all 
have something to say. All are impressed on the artist's 
visual sense as some distinct kind of beauty. The apple tree 
is but one example. Other forms, such as an old barn, a 
stream, a roadway and flowers appeal as strongly to his sense 
of the beautiful. 
These different kinds of beauty may be in the line, in the 
technique, in the mass, in the contour, in the color; but true 
it is, they exist only for the mind that has sought for them, 
that has received such training as will enable it to feel a 
pleasurable sensation when it comes in contact with them. 
This is largely true of historic ornament. The different 
styles represent the best that has been done by nations of 
varying periods, climates and characteristics. These are 
records that reveal to us as much of the life of these people 
as does the historian's account. Like the paintings of the old 
masters, the historic styles are legacies that are well worth 
our analysis and with the knowledge thus derived we create a 
style of our own. We find that the designer in the past went 
to nature for his material very much as we do. The excep- 
tion is the Saracenic and many of the straight line motives. 
The symbolic meaning of the motives such as the Egyp- 
tian, Assyrian, Early Christian, Indian and Chinese, certainly 
intensified the beauty and interest in their art. But in all 
instances, did they seize on certain beautiful truths in nature, 
and evolve a national style that set forth strongly the char- 
acteristics of their life as a people. 
The Lotus furnishes both the symbolic and artistic im- 
pulse for all variations known as Lotus designs. The scarab, 
hawk, adder and disc, are prominent as motives and only 
second in importance to the Lotus. 
In the Greek, the acanthus leaf is dominant. In the 
Gothic the decorative elements and vigor of growth in nature 
are especially marked. In the Indian ornament, the symbols of 
the sun, winds, points of compass, trees, flowers, serpents, 
running water are both instructive and beautiful. The Scan- 
dinavian dragon and rope typifying the conflict between vice 
and righteousness have furnished material to evolve a national 
style. The Moors only, forbidden by their religion to portray 
any living thing, have been forced to abstractions in straight 
and curved line. And yet with these severe limitations they 
have produced a style rivaling the others in beauty and wealth 
of variety. After all it is the appreciation of a trained mind 
that can feel the beauty in a line and well proportioned area 
whether based on truth or abstraction. It is the personal 
quality that can translate these elements into terms of beauty. 
This, with the topographical conditions of our country, social 
fabric and characteristics of our people, should give us hope of 
eventually creating a style distinctly American. 
We ought to learn to know the historic styles as well as 
the paintings of the old masters, that they may be sources of 
help. We must build on what they have bequeathed to us; 
but eventually we must be ourselves and not imitators. That 
is what the Greeks, Romans, Persians and other nations did. 
Having acquired appreciation of the beautiful they built on 
the material of the past, allowing their characteristics to in- 
fluence their expressions. If in this effort, the majority 
sought inspiration from nature, let us profit by going to her 
storehouse for material. 
As stated before, decorative ele- 
ments exist in landscape, plant and 
animal forms. Training alone enables 
us to see them. Take milk weed as an 
example (Fig. i.) These are the lines 
that express flower, leaf, stem and pod. 
In these kinds of lines and shapes we 
have a theme that can be varied to ex- 
press an endless number of designs. 
If we search further and consider the 
parts of the plant, such as the front, 
top and side views, single petal, pistil, 
calyx, vertical and horizontal sections, 
the leaf, bud, stem, pod, we have quite 
a series of motives which the fancy 
may easily transform into units for 
border, surface pattern and symmetry. 
(Figs. II and ill.) 
Problem I. Make a pencil draw- 
ing of some wild flower (as these are 
simple and best adapted to design) and 
resolve it into its elements. Avoid a 
literal copying as a close adherence to 
actual form in drawing the elements, give tight and limited 
results. The parts of a plant ought to stimulate the imagina- 
tion and should be interpreted liberally. Do this with a sharp 
pencil point and try in the drawing of the flower to express 
in line only and without shading the difference between the 
delicacy of the petal, the firmer quality of the leaf and the 
woody strength of the stem. Make several drawings of the 
wild flowers and motives, as but one attempt will be of no 
more help to the design student, than one exercise would be 
to the student of music* 
Problem II. In May number of Keramic Studio we saw 
that irregular and unequal areas, finely related in a design, 
building or picture, produced beauty. In this lesson we will 
try other principles, one of which is symmetry. Like the 
former, we find in nature a liberal use of this mode of expres- 
sion. 
Draw a rectangle 9 inches one way (a vertical or horizontal 
panel) and compose a symmetric design based on the flower 
motive that you have drawn in Prob. I. Here again, remem- 
ber the structural lines of the rectangle, large and small areas, 
long and short lines. Too many large areas produce monot- 
*It is strougly urged to keep a sketch book in which pencil drawings 
of the wild flowers and facts of the same are made. It will be most valu- 
able material for future work when we have no flowers. 
