The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-09-15
WOMEN IN THE ART CRAFTS,

DeVetoplnenLS or me SoTk or women
 Along the Line of Decorative Arts. |. In an uptown store devoted to art crafts. in which everything is hand made and each piece of work is cred ited to the maker, like paintings in an art store, it Is interesting to see how ! the work of women is developing along the line of the decorative arts,
 Tt is not strange" said the proprie- tor. When the movement started by 1 William Morris, spread to this country women were the ones who had the leis- ure to fuss with art crafts and work with them at home for their own sat \ isfaction.
 Mrs. Montgomery Sears of Boston working away over her beate nsilver i for pure love of 1t until she had pro- duced some of the finest work in Amer ica, is an example that they could make salable things, have gone into the business for money, but never for money alone. They always preserve their love for the work itself, which is what distinguishes an art craft from just plain craft.
 I Take pottery for instance. Every one knows that the famous Rookwood was invented and developed by a wo- man. Now there Is another woman, a former worker in the Redwood pot teries, who is making the only porce- lain in America, except the product of one New Jersey plant.
 \ "She has little kiln out in her back yard in Cincinnati. where she produces from 10 to 20 pieces month, and she deserves great credit for the perse- verance and ability with which she has developed a true porcelain,
 l The credit for the most distinctive contribution of the South to the art life of America must also be given to a woman. A new pottery is now coming up from New Orleans, from the college for young women founded and endowed by Sophie Newcomb which is pro- nounced the most distinctively indien- ous ware yet produced in America. l Tt seems to possess no suggestion whatever of the older wares of Europe and Asia, and the distinctive flora of the South, like the cotton plant and sugar cane, have been utilized as sug- gestions for the decorative motives in ia distinctively original manner | 'Tf1e college management, desiring to develop artistic handicraft, was checked ! by the fact that there was no opening for employment along that line in the South. A pottery was therefore estab- lished under the management of the art department of the college, and there the graduates of the course were employed | A now gaining money and reputation in an artistic vocation which they would otherwise have been unable to pursue.
 You see these gray pieces of salt glaze, like the German kitchen jars and pots decorated in indigo blue? That was made by one of the first wo- men in America to make pottery. She began soon after the Centennial. | This odd black ware, on the con- trary, is one of the latest developments in unique guild of women. This guild is made up of set of women who stud- fed art under well known painter At the conclusion of their course they consulted together and decided that it would be better to find some more practical form of art than to con- tinue to paint as an accompaniment to ! Slow starvation. They consulted the painter, and he told them there was plenty they could do If they would con- sent to submit to few requirements. The first was for each to select ma terial, clay, wood or something else and | without any preliminary instruction learn to handle 1t herself, Then they were to go through a thorough course of study from the best standards, after which they were to let their originality
 crop out as 1t would. a. I "They have all become art craftsmen of high order. This black pottery,
 which in it's glaze and finish reminds you of some of the Pueblo Indian pot tery. is the work of two members,
 mother and daughter.
 "Do you see these two exquisite bronze belt buckles, one with a swas-
 tila design, ornamented with red coral, and he other made of two Title Greek l figures with a bloodstone in the center?
 Those buckles cost $25 apiece and there is not another like them in the world. lThe maker cast them and then de-
 s-troyed the die. She is another mem Der of the guild.
 These beautiful boxes of hammered
 silver with enameled tops are by an-
 other member So is this silver ehate-
 laine bag, in which the maker gnit the
 bag of silver beads. turned out thee sil-
 yer clasps and hammered the top of
 beaten silver.
 | Such workers cater to the women of
 the millionaire class, who are willing
 to pay eXorbitant prices for things
 which have no double in the werld."- 1 New York Sun.