The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-23

Tn the line of that industrial evoiu- tion of the feminine sex which IS tax ing place with such amazing rapidity women begin to appear as designers of original work. Hitherto America has not applied artistic ideas to utili- tarfan work The result Is occasional monstrosity in our buildings and nil- lions of money going abroad to pay Tor such goods as rugs, tapestries. furni- ture, pottery, jewelry. brass work and stained glass. all of which ought 10 be made at home and will be so made when American giIls comprehend the vast field for achievement in the appli- cation of art principles to industrial needs.
 The feminine mind Is naturally deco rative, but that does not mean that It is necessarily artistic. The girl who ties q pink ribbon around the neck or a cologne bottle to be in the way and get dusty imagines the combination to be artistic. That girl has the decora- tive mind. If she were really artistic she would know the thing is nonsen- sicaL
 However, there is hope. Schools in various parts of the country have be- Tun to show women the difference be- tween art and mere decoration. NuI- bsrs of them become students of tn- dpstrial art several years ago and the result Is already seen. In taking the lead in providing for women a school where they may obtain training in in dustrial art. Mrs. Ellen Dunlop Hop kins of New York has bssn a benefae- tor to her sex. A woman of means and herself an artist, Mrs. Hopkins in 1892 established her school of applied de- sign for women because there was in all this country scarcely a place where . woman might learn industrial art ex- cept in a rudims shtary way. The school A-A AA S At ns.. dent who had passed through this ru- dimentary training and give her prac- tical and technical instruction in some particular departments. thus specializ- ing and concentrating her effort This is the day of the specialist
 Mrs. Hopkins aimed to make her school an institution where women might learn to create designs in all the ordinary industrial arts, from furniture and stained glass work to lace making and curtain designing. The enterprise made its way slowly at first, because of an pndeubted prejudice against pro- ducts turned out by the decorative sex. But Mrs. Hopkins herself had much so- cial Influence, and she used 1t enthusl- : astically for those of her students who proved their worth. At length the de- signs made by the women in various departments began to find sale. Then there came requests for students who had completed the full course of in- structhon In special branches Of design ing.
 One young lady. Miss Florence N Fulton. attended the Dunlop School of Applied Design three years. taking courses in art book covers. stained glass work and making patterns for silk weaving. She went to Philadel- phia and was employed by a firm to make designs for headed stained glas. She was energetic and wide awake and ere long got an insight into the busi- ness part of the esta blishment as well as the arrtstic end. At length the pro- prietor of the house died. Miss Fulton had cultivated the commercial sense. and she at once bought the concern and thence on conducted it herself. It was a large undertaking for a girl to lay hold of, yet Miss Fulton has been markedly successful from the first. An impressive memorial window de- signed and executed by her illustrates well the purely artistic faculty in Miss Fulton. On the other hand. stained glass windows for sleeping cars, ferry boats aud private houses show the ap- lpication of art principles to homely industry. The stained glas work in the dome of the New Jersey Senate chamber at Trenton is a specimen of Miss Fulton's skill She has the con tract for the leadsd glass work in the windows of the new library of Bryn Mawr College.
 Wheresssr the right kind of woman .seriously- takes up practical architec. tural dsst ening she finds it a means Tor an excellent livelihood and some thing more. The construction of huge steel fraIue buildings. some of then twenty-thbee stories high. has added a new profA,ssion to those of the time that of ara rohitectural engfneey. Tn, skyscraper. with its huge steel cag'