KERAMIC STUDIO 
I am well aware that it ill becomes a beginner in ceramics to attempt to 
answer V. P. S.'s letter in the February Studio on the subject of natural vs. 
conventional decoration of china, and I have no doubt that everything has 
been said on both sides of the question long before I became interested in it. 
V. P. S. states that she cannot see beauty in the "distorted, conventional 
shapes," and she reveals in that statement the fact that she is not an inventor 
or discoverer in the field of art. 
The conventional in art is only for the imaginative seeker after new 
things, the adventurer along the way who is eager to see what he can find just 
around the corner. 
The student of natural forms, while he has a world of color and line, etc., 
etc., before him, goes no farther than what he sees — nor cares to go farther. 
For him there is nothing new, no surprise, no discovery, no sudden coming 
upon an idea that is the joy of the worker in conventional design. 
For the student of natural forms, the first rose she ever saw on its natural 
stem grows just the same on a bush or a tea-pot, or a vase, and in all manner of 
places where nature never intended a rose to grow at all, and the rose her- 
neighbor paints is just the same as hers, varying only in her skill to copy the 
thing as it grows. 
I maintain that there is not an atom of originality in all natural work 
from the painting of a forget-me-not to a Dutch wind-mill. 
Now in conventional work, the flower motif may be manipulated, and 
coaxed, and shaped into fascinating patterns and borders and bands, limited 
in number and effectiveness and power of expression only by the artist's clever 
originality and the fertility of his imagination. 
With all sincere apologies to V. P. S., it always seemed to me that an in- 
clination toward conventional forms in the decoration of all articles of use be- 
speaks a fine discriminating good taste. Let the reproduction of nature, as it 
is, be framed and hung upon the wall as a reproduction, but our walls, our 
draperies, our pillow covers, and above all, our china demand the fine restraint 
of conventional forms in decoration. 
LETHIA F WRIGHT. 
DESIGN CONTEST 
We call the attention of designers to the following contest 
in designs under the auspices of the Kyoto Commercial Museum, 
Kyoto, Japan: 
Exhibits.— Designers of all kinds of art crafts may exhibit 
the designs and the actual goods when the designer is the art 
craftsman. 
Subject. — The design must contain two flowers or more 
among the five undermentioned, but may add a subordinate 
motif, if necessary: 1, Pansy; 2, Sweet-pea; 3, Maiden-hair 
fern (Adiantum); 4, Tulip; 5, Thistle. 
Paper and Size.— There is no limitation as to the kind of 
paper or the size of the sheet. 
Prizes.— The Museum offers one Grand Prix Medal, two 
Gold Medals, three Silver Medals, seven copper Medals, and 
some Diplomas. 
Exhibition. — The exhibition will be held in the Kyoto 
Commercial Museum in October, 1916. 
Designs. — Designs winning prizes will not be returned, 
others shall be returned when return postage is paid. 
Publication. — The best designs among the exhibits will 
be published in a book. 
Closing of offer.— Designers must report their names, ad- 
dress and the number of the designs they offer to the Museum 
before September 20th, 1916. 
Please apply to the Director of the Kyoto Commercial 
Museum for further particulars. 
MRS. V. LOCKWOOD WILLIAMS 
DUQUESNE CERAMIC CLUB EXHIBIT 
