Vol. xvm, No. n. 
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK 
March 1917 
LESSED are the wounds of a friend." 
Mr. Frederick Hurten Rhead of the 
magazine, "The Potter," is a friend of 
some years standing, and a faithful 
friend, though at times a trifle for- 
getful, as so many ceramists are liable 
to be, whether potter or decorator. 
He says, and no doubt there is truth 
at the bottom of the well, that Ke- 
ramic Studio has not changed, on the 
whole, with the novel trends of the times as they pass. He 
asks where are our evidences of the movements going on in our 
artistic midst — the cubist, the futurist, and all the other "ists" 
— and demands why we do not keep the standard of Keramic 
Studio in every respect up to the ideals we have so frequently 
expressed. He did not use just these words, but these are the 
conclusions we have drawn. He, together with some others 
of our good friends who are real friends and wish to help, thinks 
Keramic Studio would double its circulation if it would only 
drop entirely all that does not come out as refined gold in the 
fire of criticism and fill its pages with "high brow" stuff only. 
He forgets that Keramic Studio's editor and publishers have 
been through the fiery furnace, and while they have come out 
with whole skins like Shadrach, Mesech and Abednego, they 
have left behind all illusions as to the possibility of getting a 
sufficiently large "high brow" audience to support a maga- 
zine devoted to the best, and to the best only. For sixteen 
months we published Palette and Bench, the like of which for 
both quantity and quality in the way of artistic instruction 
had never before been given to the world, "if we do say so as 
shouldn't." And then it died the death. 
Now we go carefully with Keramic Studio, trying to fill the 
needs of all types of mental and artistic development, so that 
Keramic Studio shall live till those who begin with painting 
real cabbages and bugs and birds shall have passed through all 
the successive steps to an appreciation of true and beautiful 
decoration. And, by the same token, we let the new move- 
ments filter through in the influence shown in the work of our 
leading decorators, so that when it finally reaches our public 
it is sufficiently diluted and pre-digested to be accepted without 
too great a shock to the uninitiated. 
This all sounds somewhat flippant, but there is this truth 
in it, that if we should devote pages of Keramic Studio to expo- 
sition of the new work, the new movements in art, it would be 
as if we had printed pages of the original Hebrew or Greek 
characters and only the initiated few would be able to make 
anything out of it. We strive continually to be always lifting 
our students a little higher, step by step, gently, so they will 
not be frightened and give up, and I think if our good friends 
and critics could have the time to go through an old file of 
Keramic Studio and follow step by step the changes that have 
come about in design and decoration, they would frankly ac- 
knowledge that while always somewhat in the rear of the pro- 
cession as regards the eccentric efforts to find something new 
under the sun, whether good, bad, or indifferent, we have shown 
a steady movement upward, and a comparison of the early 
issues and these later ones will show that we have been able to 
carry our public with us to a much higher plane, on which 
traces of the new movements will not be altogether absent. 
So much in justification of our position. At the same time, 
we admit that it would be joy undiluted to be able to fill Ker- 
amic Studio with the best only and dare the world to do its 
worst. It is toward that goal we daily press. May the day 
soon dawn when we can count on you all to hold up our hands 
in so doing. 
K « 
N. Y. S. K. A. 
At the meeting of the N. Y. S. K. A. held on January 10, 
1917, it was voted to hold an exhibition of members' work at 
the Little Gallery, 15 East 40th Street, New York City, from 
March 19th to 31st. 
Our society is the only one in this country composed only 
of professional workers in both pottery and porcelain and the 
aim is to keep the exhibitions on the highest plane of excel- 
lence and to show only work having real artistic merit. 
The Little Gallery is identified with the foremost achieve- 
ment of all handicrafts and exhibits none but the work of 
Master Craftsmen. 
It is generally agreed that there is no finer or more fitting 
setting in New York for an exhibition of pottery and porcelain 
than these Galleries afford. 
On account of the expense connected with the exhibition 
it is possible to include only active members, but any profes- 
sional worker whose works pass the Jury is eligible for mem- 
bership. There will be another meeting of the Society before 
the Annual Exhibition, at which time such candidates may be 
elected with the privilege of the forthcoming exhibition. 
The dues for membership are $2.00 per annum. Such 
applications should be sent at once to the Secretary Pro-Tern, 
Miss Harriette Horsfall, 18 Belmont Terrace, Yonkers, N. Y. 
Application blanks will follow, also exhibition cards and 
envelopes. 
Works must be delivered unpacked at the Little Gallery 
on March 16. Parker's Express, 158 W. 56th Street is recom- 
mended to out-of-town members as being a reliable place to 
which work may be shipped and unpacked and by whom it 
will be delivered to the Little Gallery. 
Elizabeth Mason Vanderhoof, Chairman. 
Harriette Horsfall, Sec. Pro-Tern. 
» » 
ARTS AND CRAFTS 
TWO new books of interest are "The New Interior," by 
Hazel H. Adler, the Century Co. publishers, and "The 
Practical Book of Early American Arts and Crafts," by Harold 
Donaldson Eberlein and Abbot McClure, Lippincott, pub- 
lisher. 
"The New Interior" is well illustrated both in color and 
black and white, is entertainingly written and full of sugges- 
tions for the crafts worker and decorator While the reference 
to American crafts workers is confined as a rule to a somewhat 
narrow circle of eastern representatives, the plea for substantial 
recognition of contemporary craftswork as a whole is strong 
and convincing. Ceramics are represented by Henry Mercer, 
potter (faience tiles), Mary Chase Perry, potter (faience tiles 
and vases), the Durant Kilns, Leon Wolkman, potter, Mrs 
Rice, designer (decorative faience, tableware, etc.), and Mrs. 
(Continued on page 183) 
