Vol. XIV. No. 12. 
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK 
April 1913 
VERY movement has its rise and fall, 
its tidal fluctuations. If it is but a 
momentary fantasy it has seemingly 
but the one period of popularity and 
then it disappears to rise again in 
another guise, another fad of the 
moment. But if at bottom is a 
fundamental truth, a real and up- 
lifting principle, it never disappears 
utterly but waxes and wanes like the 
moon, gaining fresher and greater strength after every eclipse. 
So it has been with the amateur ceramic movement in this 
country. It started, as we older ones remember, with huge 
flowers painted "as large as life and twice as natural," pasted 
on the center of plates with never a shadow to relieve their harsh- 
ness, not a sparing of a single detail. Crude as was this first 
impulse, back of it lay deep in woman's heart the desire for 
the beautiful to be expressed in a practically indestructible med- 
ium. As fingers grew more expert the naturalistic painting 
on china grew still more realistic till the acme of ceramic 
painting on china was reached about in the days of the old "Art 
Amateur" and "China Decorator." Then doubts as to the 
fitness of realistic painting as decoration for china began to 
creep in here and there and for a time china decoration was 
on the wane. Then one began to see Rococo scrolls flourish- 
ing here and there and slowly but surely the idea of china 
decoration rather than painting began to take hold. 
It was at this time that Keramic Studio succeeded the old 
"China Decorator," and a look over its files will reveal quite 
clearly the steady upward march of the movement, which 
however has been so unprecedently rapid that not all have 
been able to keep up with its strides. For this reason there has 
been a slight waning of interest on the part of the great mass of 
decorators who have not been able to understand the rather 
crude "blocked out" designs that were in vogue for a time when 
ceramic designers were feeling about for first principles, such 
as mass of dark and light, spacing, movement, etc., etc. But 
now we are beginning to find our own again. Decoration is 
becoming not only more conventional, but more symbolic, it 
stands for more beauty in line and form and color, than ever 
before, and daintiness, though in new forms, is returning again. 
We look for the oncoming wave with happy anticipation and 
not without some satisfaction that Keramic Studio has done its 
part in bringing about the new spirit. 
Several important new additions to amateur ceramic ma- 
terial in the way of soft toned, grounding colors and enamels 
will do wonders to lighten the difficulties of our struggling young 
workers. Without a doubt, they are harbingers of a new 
spring time in ceramic work and as in the spring a young man's 
fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love, so in this new spring 
time of ceramic opportunity, the young woman's fancy will 
turn, but not lightly we trust, to thoughts of the beautiful 
things she can now make to keep the young man's fancy fixed, 
if not on thoughts of love, at least on thoughts of the attractive- 
ness of food served up in dishes decorated with these new and 
lovely designs and colors, for springtime passes into summer and 
fancy changes to serious thoughts and we all know that in 
maturity a man's heart is in his stomach. Which only goes to 
prove that the stronghold of the china decorator is tableware 
rather than purely decorative pieces. But do not forget to 
keep it simple enough so that the food it is meant to set forth 
is not over shadowed by the decoration. For after all eating is 
the chief end of man, and man is the chief interest of woman, 
in spite of these days of sufl'ragettes and politics. 
And talking of spring passing into summer it is almost 
time to begin to plan for the coming season. What are you 
going to do with your vacation? We will ask all our readers 
who expect to have summer schools or classes to send us 
notices for our May issue, so that our students will know what 
to plan for in the way of study. As for ourselves, our summer 
school of last year was so successful that we are going to have 
it again, and we shall continue the feature of children's classes 
in various crafts which will solve the problem for many mothers 
who do not know how to study and look after their little ones 
at the same time. Watch for the May issue. We hope to 
make it interesting to you in more ways than one. 
THE PANAMA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION 
THE Panama-Pacific International Exposition which is to 
be held at San Fi'ancisco in celebration of the comple- 
tion of the Panama Canal will open its doors to the public on 
Saturday, February 20, 1915. 
Although two years in advance of the opening day, progress 
upon the Exposition has reached a stage of accomplishment in 
all its departments which, in the opinion of expert observers, 
has not been exceeded by either of the last two gi'eat exposi- 
tions a year before their openings. The exposition grounds, 
which cover an area of 625 acres, have been prepared. Work 
has started and the headquarters building is completed. 
Contracts for the main exhibit palaces, of which there 
will be fourteen, will be let at the rate of two each month, and 
all the buildings will be completed under contract by June 
25th, 1914. 
Twenty-six American Commonwealths have selected sites 
for their State buildings. The following foreign Govei-nments 
have thus early accepted the invitation of the President to 
take part in the Panama-Pacific Exposition: Guatemala, Haiti. 
Salvador, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Panama, Mexico, 
Peru, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Japan, Ecuador, Uruguay, Canada, 
Liberia, France, Nicaragua, Cuba, Great Britain, China, Port- 
ugal, Sweden, Holland, Spain, Denmark, Argentine Republic. 
More than two thousand applications for concessions have 
been received by the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Fran- 
cisco; fourteen of the accepted concessions will involve an 
expenditure of more than two million dollars. Among the 
concessions will be a reproduction of the Grand Canyon by 
the Santa Pe Railway; a working model of the Panama Canal 
with a capacity to accommodate two thousand people every 
twenty minutes; a panoramic spectacle of the evolution of the 
American Navy; a reproduction of the Grand Trianon at 
Versailles, reproducing the historic battles of Napoleon, and 
the^Creation, based on the fh-st chapter of Genesis. All the 
concessions will be educative. 
