takes the spacing of 2 and uses conventional flower forms. I present a number of models which have been worked out in this manner. Matchbox, bracket book-rack, box, bookcase. The method used in doing the work was as follows: After it was well sandpapered the design was marked on the wood heavily with a soft pencil; the wood was then

FIG. 5

stained with oil paint of the desired shade, rubbed in hard; then the design was painted in water color, outlined with India ink, and finally, when thoroly dry, rubbed with boiled oil, to which was added about 10 per cent. of hard-oil finish.

There can hardly be any doubt as to which sort of work makes a more lasting impression on a child-mere drill work or that in which there is the interest of originality, of use, of beauty. We can get the same drill if our models are designed properly. Naturally, the early ones will be very simple, demanding little in design and execution, becoming more and more the product of the pupil's own thought as he goes on. If clay is our material we might start with a small tray form, merely turning up the edges, working up into bowls, vases, etc.

Say we desire to make a flower vase. We present to a class approximate height and diameter, say, height about 12 inches, diameter about 5 inches. Here is our block (Fig. 5). For stability the base should certainly not be as small as, say, 3 inches; let us assume 41⁄2 inches. The size of the mouth will depend upon whether our vase is to hold many or few flowers; say we make it 2 inches. For the given purpose, our form should be graceful, springing, and yet have strength. The beauty of pottery is in its form and color. A vase should not be treated as a

FIG. 6

surface for a painting or for elaborate relief work. The decoration should be simple, broad, flat, highly abstract, and characteristic of the form. If this is low and broad, then the line must suggest stability and weight, the design must give emphasis to the base and mouth and be

FIG. 7

weighty in effect. If the form is to be tall and slender, then the line must suggest an upward growth or spring. We give more emphasis to the top and side. I present some vases which were designed in this way (Figs. 6 and 7).

Weaving, it seems to me, offers excellent opportunities for the cultivation of the art sense, and will undoubtedly take a much more important place in the field of manual training than it has up to this time. The closer we adhere to the limitations and feeling of our material, the finer is our product. The weavers of the East understood this so well that their work has never been surpassed. What is the beauty of a woven material ? Its surface, due to kind of thread used and the method of weaving, which affects the play of light; its color, harınonious and level in result. Woven designs should partake of the mechanical nature of weaving, and therefore should not be naturalistic.

FIG. 10

The forms are either of a given length and width, as in blankets, rugs, etc., or in continuous lengths. Say we decide upon a rug as our model, with wool as the material, and ground color, as some soft shade of green. How shall we determine the sort of design to use? A band, or a series of them, at the ends of our rug, to emphasize the fact of definite length, is the most natural first step in decoration. This would be the most elementary form of design. The bands should be a little heavier than the body color (Figs. 8 and 9).

A further step would be to continue the bands on the sides of the rug. Then we can break up the center space, using simple motives, such as lozenge, cross, or other geometrical motive. In

a continuous pattern (Fig. 10), the design should have no definite direc

FIG. II

tion unless the purpose for which the material is to be used requires it, as in weaves used for hangings.

Basket weaving may be treated in the same manner. Say the problem

FIG. 12

is a work-basket; material, some kind of rush. The type is a fairly wide and rather shallow one.

Assume diameter and height; then in this given rectangle we can work out a great variety of forms (Figs. 11, 12, and 13).

From the nature of the material, we can see that the decoration should

consist of bands, or combinations of them, following the weave. The placing of the design is worked out in the same manner as in the previous examples. In the given type we put a band at the top by coloring

FIG. 13

the rush, or thickening it, or both, to emphasize the broadness and to give finish. Coloring the rush at the bottom gives the required basal effect. In a high basket, vertical bands must be worked in to emphasize the height and form (Fig. 14). In each case we see the method of approach is the same; we take a block form which is modified in accordance with the purpose of the thing we are making; then we work out our design from the characteristics of the form and the material.

FIG. 14

DISCUSSION

W. H. HATCH, Superintendent of schools, Oak Park, Ill.—As I have not been able to see the paper just read before its presentation, I have not been able to prepare a discussion of its subject-matter. But as I was requested to present a discussion from the standpoint of a superintendent of schools I will suggest three points, a careful consideration of which may be suggestive along the line of the topic of the paper:

1. A broader view of the work by both the teacher of art and the teacher of manual training; a fuller appreciation of the relations of the two subjects. The teacher of man

ual training too often has but little use for the free-hand blotches of the art teacher, and the latter is equally disturbed by the mechanical formalism and rigidity of the former. Each must admit that the other has something of value to contribute to the well-rounded whole. On the part of the art teacher we must hear less of art for art's sake, and more of art for the child's sake. On the part of the teacher of manual training we must see less of the constructive exercise that is an end in itself, and more of the making of objects that have an immediate purpose in the life of the child. No one will deny that one function of art. instruction, and doubtless the highest, is to develop in the child an appreciation of the best in art; to cultivate a love for the beautiful as produced in color or in form. Nor will we deny that in constructive work the great aim is the result to the child, and that the object made is secondary. But there is a phase of art and constructive work that touches more closely the lives of all. A large part of man's constructive and decorative activity has to do with the common articles of daily life. He has in all his history first made an article to meet some need in his life, and then decorated it. Crude have been his attempts and slow his progress, especially in the latter. One has only to look about him to see the great lack in fitness of structure to use, and the barrenness and lack of artistic taste in our architecture, the furniture in our homes, and our mural decorations. The artist produces something beautiful in itself, and the artisan an object of use to man, but how rarely do the two work together and produce an article or a structure that fills the needs of man in its use, and that is decorated by the artist in such manner as to satisfy the aesthetic in his nature. Structure that is in harmony with function, and decorations that are beautiful and that fit the place for which they are made, are far too rare. The movement for fitness in form and decoration of the common articles of the home that is so greatly forwarded by the arts and crafts societies in our cities may be, I am confident, greatly accelerated by a cordial co-operation of the departments of art and manual training.

2. Both departments should more fully recognize the conscious needs of the child. He does not put much of himself into any exercise unless he has an immediate end to attain. If an article is to be made, a pressing need for its use in his little life adds greatly to the value of the exercise. The greatest teacher is he who brings the child face to face with each problem of the school life and instills within him the feeling that it must be solved. The method in which he does the work is of far less importance than the state of mind in which he approaches each exercise. This is more plainly seen in constructive exercises than in any other work of the school. If the child has a strong conscious need of the object to be made, he will find some way in which to accomplish his end. The skillful and sympathetic teacher who gets near the child and understands the needs of his little life, if he have only pencil and paper, or jackknife and board, will do more for him than can be done in the best equipped shop with the most elaborate courses that must be slavishly followed. Our best-devised schemes are too often only stumbling-blocks in the pathway of the live teacher and the eager pupil. This immediate conscious need must not be the end. It is merely a starting point for the teacher. His work is to enlarge this need into something broader that will lead the child to higher needs and broader fields.

3. More attention to these departments by the superintendent of schools. There is always danger that the teaching of the specialist will tend toward narrow and unrelated work. It is said that "thinking is seeing relations." If the relations be broad, the thought should be broad. The course of instruction in the education of the child covers a broad field. In it there is no place for the work of the specialist in the narrow sense of the term. The teacher must know the child in his relations to all other subjects to teach well in any. The fads are so called because they have been considered as bearing no relation to the other subjects in the course; and too often this has been true. Added value is given to these subjects when they are no longer considered special studies, but an essential part of the course. The superintendent has paid too little attention to these