The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-10-28

on the subject Are Tor the
 pr. Haney declared that great {
 teaches art in it's application to indus
 'gThe war has been a great promo ter of change. Many things have been altered and many more are to be. Among the latter will surely ap- pear the art teaching of the public | schools. All realize that the present | conditions spell mutation. But what form is it to take? What is the | change to be?
 Drawing Is Discipline
 '"The art teaching of our schools Our teachers have never agreed as to what they were to teach The past has therefore seen many different standards. Some have advocated the hand and eye: other have stressed technique; and others still have urged l the subject as a. means of stimulating | appreciation, of training in taste. Small wonder then that the effort of | over fifty years has not seen art | placed upon a firm footing, and that | in many quarters it is still regarded as an appendix to the course of study l work by enthusiasts, touched by the | aesthetic fever themselves would seek to communicate it to others and thus | make artists of the many.
 | Education Nationally Significant l Now come forces affecting the fundamental principles of the curri- l culum. These cannot fail to act up on art teaching. The war has brought | many economic questions to the fore | Thousands have been forced to read l and think of trade relationships and trade opportunities. Thousands who l have hitherto thought of education l locally and casually have come to see in it something of it's national sign:- | canoe. The note of practfcality is be- ing sounded with increasing 1nsis- 1 tence, and teachers who have lied 1 for their subject because of it's cul- | tura1 value are being asked to show l how the knowledge they would give | connects itself with the life and work of nation which must in myriad 1 channels meet the work of peoples of other nations.
 War Appraised Country | The country, through the shock of war, the conscription of it's citi- zens and the mobilization of it's in- dustrtes, has perforce been through | a process of national stocktakintg It many of them marvelcusly rich. But l not all. On the educational side l there have been discovered serious shortcomings, and a comparison of methods at home and abroad has formed the conclusion that an indus trial nation which is to play it's part must look to the economics of it's school system as well as the econo- mics of its trade relations.
 The Studio Tradition AS an industrial nation we need above all to see art as practical thing; not as something removed from us, but as sofething intimately related to our needs. A training that makes us think of art only in terms Of pictures of sculpture. stops us from thinking of it as nething which enters closely into everyday questions of dress and house decora- t1on, into shopkeeping manufacturing, aovertlsing and civic betterment. Any form of art training based on the studio tradition systematically leads us away from the needs of our sur roundings More than this. it gives us a power of expression of far less value than one which deals with line form and color, in practical decora- tlon. It warps the judgment of our young people. and moves many who dustrfal arts to crowd into tho al ready crowded studios of picture makers.
 Industrial Nationv
 All this is not to say that repre- Sentation, ba ta,,9 as representation, is not to tfsiaine statement-for t. 1t is agreed that must be given. The point does nor lie here. The questions is, what sba1i De the purpose of our instruction? What shall form the principles Lack of our class room lessons with which all of our practice must suuarc? Here it is held that. as an indnsTriai nation, we are vftally concerned in e1Il ctOSeIy related to our lhls is the art of decoration. con struct1ve and applied. Representa- uon is but a means to an end and the foundation of our course shoI51d De lad upon the principles of design. These should be offered to inc T,1,nii practically from the first vears in school that the practice may become habItual of thinking and see,Iine questions of art in terms of decora tlon-fn terms that Is, of things which We must make and use.
 Art For Use
 Many advantages accrue frorr, any plan which teaches art in its application to industry Taught as orlll' drawing appeals to few: taught that the product in the form af dee- are to be used, it's value is a9prent to all. Every lesson gains points in the very fact that from the comnron- est cretonne to the rarest silk: fl oro the cheapest teaspoon to tho lnosf costly service. each object gains it's chief charm from the beauty of it's design.
 Everyone An Artist
 ''The very multiplication of these appeals can drive the lesson in. Every where art is ''at work"-and more than this, every individual can be shown to be an artist, in the sense that he must employ daily the prin cip1es of design in line and form and color in a score of different ways form pattern. the objects oT the rnantel-piece another. Every room is in one sense, only a big design a nd likewise every shop window Our clothes, dresses, hats, ribbons and iewelry may harmonize or they may not for not everyone has taste
 But the chooser of hat. gown and tie must exercise some form of choice