Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-16
POTTERS, FOR ARTS SAKE,
ADVOCATE NEW INDUSTRY

such a man come to the Angel City, and
from the very sand hills taken material
which, II properly handled, might make
the city famous as a place where the
true lovers of art will he glad to send
for beautiful vases.
The hills Of Elsnore contain a vast
deposit of a whitish clay. and around
the blue Pacific at Santa Monica is per
hapS one of the most wonderful clay
deposits yet discovered and which is
now being used for common red bricks.
This clay, when properly handled, by
the mere burning, can hold both water
and acids and makes deep. rich red
color. bordering on a purpish brown.
Combined with the Elsinore clay, this
mat erial could be made UP into almost
any shade from a light brown to the
deepest terra cottas.
This man. who shows his products
with the care born Of love. with an
almost tragic gesture i'm its despair,
extends his arms and Says:
Would Employ Hundreds
Here you have a vast amount Of
clay--you have a call-and nothing Is
being done. You could save the freight,
for now the clay is imported from for
eigu countries. and give hundreds Of
people pleasant and profitable employ
ment here Then after the cruder work
is done the artists are called upon to
lend their skill to the pottery, and when
it is Completed-ah then you have
something worth working for.
Now look at this little vase. The
fire god plays some very peculiar tricks
sometimes, and you see here a rich.
blue color that perhaps you will never
get in a like vase And i'm this work
there is always the striving for the
beautiful effects, that something that
always lies just beyond our grasp and
here the hands that We're extended
pointing to that always faraway some
perfection-showed the true ar
tistic instinct True, they were covered
with the clay which he had been hand
ling, but beneath there was a character
a suppleness that showed wherein the
vases took their rounded forms beneath
the deft fingers.
Sits His Clay
With a little apologetic gesture, the
only hint of an apology during the in
terview. and shrug of the shoulders,
Mr. Robertson continued:
You see we are Handicapped here
shaken out of our home. / am COM
PEELED to sift my clay through this little
sieve, which has 10000 openings to every
pottery"
And picking up chunk of clay he
patted it into a compact form, and with
the assistance of a passing man, who
turn ed the wheel, with a few strokes on
the throwing wheel, during which he
held it in shape with a loving hand, the
shapeless mass of clay was made into
a dainty little vase, which, with one
touch of his finger, he made into a
pitcher and, with deft little pats made
a dainty little oak leaf design. Then
with another turn of the wheel he made
a cover, and another pat completed a
Jar, and so on. with little pat here
and a touch there, the clay answers to
the master hand and yields up the best
it contains.
Merely Demonstrating
do l sell my work? OH these are
not for SALE you know. I am making
these to show what can be done with
our clay You see l call it ours, for J
almost begin to feel that l belong here.
| 1t takes me a day to sift fifty pounds
of clay, and you know people will not
! pay for such slow work, so II would not
| pay as you say"
The advent of Mr.. Robertson and his
| son is but another step to the front
which the artistic and art loving colony
of Los Angeles has taken within the
past few months.
Probably the city has taken more
rapid strides ahead in artistic lines
within the past year than few realize
and it is destined to go still farther.
With the western spirit Los Angeles
will never stop until she is leading
art center, and what would be more
appropriate than pottery wherein hei
| soil would be transformed into beauti-
full shapes which would create admira-
| tiOn the world over?
If but some good fairy godmothel
would Low only appear and help in a
| material wav this in fant industry!