KERAMIC STUDIO 
187 
than to strive to outdo our contemporaries in the manipulation 
of diffcult mediums. This striving |brings us every once in 
awhile to the verge of Artistic Ennui — and we subside until 
someone starts a new theme and we rush in to see how many 
variations we can introduce. It's all very interesting while 
it is spontaneous but it is not all of art — and nowhere more 
than in the decoration of table service does sincerity and sim- 
plicity prove its value. 
This month I have shown a few variations in the adapta- 
tion of the nasturtium bud to simple shapes. This may be 
treated in the natural colors or in monochrome, flat, or in 
relief, flat gold or with the background removed by the use 
of acid. They can be outlined or left without. An outline 
by the way covers a multitude of artistic sins — it restores 
uneven edges and covers up in a measure our ignorance of 
color values. It holds together a design which would other- 
wise have no continuity. But we should not depend on this 
or use it for the reasons given. We should study to be able to 
do without outlines and not consider them a necessity. This 
means more than perfect technique — an understanding of 
color values is absolutely necessary to be able to procure unity 
in a design — to avoid a spotty effect — to obtain a balance of 
the parts, and a finish and a completeness which no amount 
of outlining can give if it lacks color balance. 
♦ ♦>"! ♦ 
The Twin City Keramic Club held its January luncheon 
on Wednesday, January 10th, at the Emporium in St. Paul. 
Mr. Tyler McWhorter artist, art critic and Business Director 
of the St. Paul Art Institute, addressed the club, the subject 
being "Keramic Art, Its Relation to Life." Mr. McWhorter 
put great emphasis on the nature of Keramic Art, its perman- 
ence and therefore its value as historical evidence of the period 
in which it was produced — and tried to awaken the Artists 
present to a realization of their responsibilities on account of 
the permanent nature of the work they are doing. This is a 
thought Keramic Artists would do well to ponder on. We, 
more than any other people are working for posterity, for 
historical evidence of the life of the people of to-day, and our 
products will persist after everything else has crumbled to dust. 
Miss Florence Huntington of the Minneapolis Institute 
of Arts has just returned from a three weeks trip to Cali- 
fornia and has resumed her duties as head of the Department 
of Keramic and Assistant in General Design. 
"Picture Fireplaces" is the title of an illustrated article 
in December "Craftsman". All sorts of fairy, love and legend 
are depicted in relief and worked out in color. One set for a 
child's room shows Bible stories; another for a nursery illus- 
trates Blue Beard. Rip Van Winkle is the subject of a grate 
hall fireplace; Pickwick characters for a Library, etc., two 
sets are called the New World Fireplaces. These are' more 
formal in handling and symbolical in design. There is great 
charm in decorated tile, whether for fireplaces, as insert in 
buildings or garden walls, as coping around flower beds, in 
fountains, in pavements or floors. The tendency of architects 
to introduce colored tile as interior or exterior decoration is 
only another evidence of the awakening of the New World 
to the value and possibility in color and is indicative of a 
freer, more joyous intrepretation of Art. We must not for- 
get that the department of Keramics includes more than the 
overglaze decoration of ornament and table service and should 
be alive to all tendencies which aim to make life more inter- 
esting and joyous and Art more universal. 
MAY E. REYNOLDS - Page Editor 
116 Auditorium Building, Chicago, 111. 
VASE (Supplement) 
(Illustration three-quarters of height) 
ClRST Fire— Birds in Moss Green, Lemon Yellow, Peach 
*• Blossom and Best Black; blossoms in Peach Blossom and 
touches of Violet of Iron and Paris Brown; branches Best 
Black and Violet. Bands, Grey. 
Second Fire — Bands oiled with Special Tinting Oil, and 
powdered with three parts French Grey, one-third part Ameri- 
