KERAMIC STUDIO 
IS OUR METHOD OF TEACHING CORRECT ? 
STUDENTS, as a rule, are not serious enough in 
the study of keramic art, which makes them 
more or less dependent upon their instruct- 
ors. The method in the studios may beat 
fault. Do we as teachers mystify our 
pupils, or do we help them ? Are we making them independ- 
ent workers? Are we building a foundation of knowledge 
sufficiently strong for more original work? To be sure there 
are pupils who care only to be copyists, but perhaps the sub- 
ject has not been made sufficiently attractive to inspire the 
proper ambition. There certainly is not the necessary, careful, 
and conscientious work among students. 
To be a successful decorator, there should be, above every- 
thing else, good drawing, quickness, sureness of touch, and 
extreme neatness, with a love for all the detail. It is a good 
plan to have in our studios fine specimens of work, either in 
the original or reproductions. If that plan is impossible, 
direct a pupil to some place where these things may be seen 
and studied, not to be copied exactly, but that the students 
may receive impressions upon which to build other designs. 
It is most instructive to study the technique in work from 
foreign potteries ; not the usual factory specimen, but that 
which has come from the skilled hands of artists. We need 
not encourage a pupil to copy the work, but to study the won- 
derful handling which should give the necessary inspiration 
for more perfect technique. 
There is positively no excuse for sending out ugly work 
from the studios, for even the beginner can obtain simple 
effects at first, which are often more beautiful that those 
which have more pretensions. The main thing is to keep the 
pupil thoroughly interested, explaining the motif of the 
design, how it should conform to the shape of the china, the 
chemistry of the colors, the mediums and the firing. A 
teacher must give the best that his or her brain prompts, and 
if she finds that the pupil desires a branch of instructions 
which she is incapable of giving, he or she should acknowledge 
it, and conscientiously send them where such knowledge can 
be obtained. I am happy to say that I know teachers who 
follow this rule, and that it always redounds to their credit, 
instead of proving an injury or loss. The study of keramics is 
a life-long study, and to be able to master one branch of it 
thoroughly is better than to attempt all its branches indif- 
ferently. 
A pupil may have a taste or inclination for one line of 
work, while she has no desire for another — it is better to cul- 
tivate and perfect her in that especial line. She will be inter- 
ested and enthusiastic — after a time she will wish to broaden 
her work, and then another line may be studied. By this 
method we may bring out the temperament and individual 
style of the decorator, and not have so much work that is 
imitative. • 
•f •? 
Cincinnati Museum Association, i 
May 2d, 1899. * 
I take pleasure in informing you that the two prizes were 
awarded in the competition for the best design in overglaze 
decoration of the cup and saucer in Miss Riis's class in the 
Art Academy. The winners were: First prize, Miss H. Belle 
Wilson, Harrisonville, Missouri ; second prize, Miss Alice L. 
Jones, 834 Second street, Louisville, Ky. The first prize was 
offered by the Academy and consisted of a subscription for a 
year to such magazine as the winner of the prize might select. 
As a second prize your offer of a copy of your magazine for 
one year was awarded. You will be pleased to know that the 
winner of the first prize also chose your magazine, so that the 
prizes are identical, except that they are given in the way indi- 
cated. Will you please place the names on your mailing list, 
and send us the bill for the copy offered by us. 
Yours very truly, 
J. H. GEST, Ass't Director. 
i? & 
Mr. Edwin AtLee Barber, whose articles in The Sun on 
old American pottery will be remembered, has published a 
volume on "Anglo-American Pottery" which will be of value 
and interest to those collecting such ware. In his book Mr. 
Barber considers first the Liverpool ware, the oldest Anglo- 
American pottery, and then the Staffordshire pottery. The 
author has made a list far more complete than any previous 
writer on the subject, describing some 339 designs found on 
plates and other articles, besides many that occur on pitchers 
and jugs only, so that his two lists contain 378 numbers. A 
check list of American designs is in two parts, one part con- 
taining the designs printed in dark blue, the other those 
printed in various colors. The arrangement of the book will 
add to its value as a book of reference. We can commend it 
to all interested in the study of American keramics. 
No better illustration of the advances made in the art of 
painting on china has been afforded the people of Kansas City 
than the first exhibit of the Kansas City Keramic Club at the 
Midland Hotel. Although this Club was only organized a few 
months ago, the display of decorated china and miniatures 
was one that would have been a credit to any city, and some 
of the work shown was of an unusually high order. This fact 
becomes more pleasing when one knows that all the members 
of the club are Kansas City women, many of whom have re- 
ceived no instruction in the art outside of that city. The 
prizes were awarded thus: Best general exhibit, Mrs. J. C. 
Swift; best flower piece, Mrs. W. G Baird ; best cup and 
saucer, Miss Ward ; best set of any kind, Mrs. Fred C. Gunn ; 
best miniatures, Miss Florence Carpenter ; honorable mention, 
Miss Dorothea Warren, Miss Bayha, Miss Ward and Mrs. 
G F. Mitchell. Altogether the exhibit was far better than 
any of the many visitors had thought of seeing, and the annual 
exhibit of the Keramic Club will be looked forward to with 
much pleasure in coming years. 
The French Ambassador, M. Cambon, has presented to 
the Government and the American people, through President 
McKinley, two magnificent Sevres vases from the French 
National Pottery, at Sevres. The gift was from the late Pres- 
ident of the French Republic, Felix Faure, and commemorated 
the opening of the new Franco-American cable, on August 17, 
1898, when President McKinley and President Faure ex- 
changed the first message over the new line. The vases and 
pedestals stand from six to eight feet high, and are of a deep 
blue, characteristic of the finest Sevres ware, as well as in 
happy accord with the prevailing colors of the Blue Room. 
The Sevres factory is a Government institution, on the 
