Evening star., 1943-04-11
Mrs. Chester Burke
Thrills Glass in
Decorative Art
By Betty Smith.

By Betty Smith.
Making = silk purse out of a
sow's ear" is pretty close to
what Mrs. Chester H. Burke
teaches her class In decorative
art.
From the simplest and least
expensive of materials these
girl war workers are taught to
make things that are good to
look at, very decorative and also
useful. The class meets every
Monday and Friday at the USO
on N street (the old Playhouse"
to natives) and what those gals"
have learned to do is amazing.
You see first a pile Of odds
and ends that might well include
old aspirin bottles, sirup bottles,
boxes that once held oatmeal,
an empty coffee can, a rusty
muffin pan, jelly glasses or q
stack of paper plates that were
a dime dozen at the dime store.
Then, presto, Mrs. Burke and
her class go to work with paint
and brush and great deal Of
ingenuity-the girls following
their instructor in every move.
every stroke of brush, drinking
In every word she says. And,
before you know it, it is as if a
magic wand had been waved
over that studio. The empty
aspirin bottle, that otherwise
would have been discarded, now
has become a delicate container
for perfume, painted In pastel
colors with a motif of pale pink
roses.
The syrup bottle, gayly painted
and decorated, will hold fra
grant blossoms on milady's
dressing table. The oatmeal
boxes have been transformed
into gay and useful holders for
correspondence. The coffee tin,
painted pale yellow with bright
ly colored flowers, rests upon a
round mirror purchased for
dime) and becomes an attrac-
tive cortainer for candies. The
rusty muffin pan now is painted
pale green and into each section
is fitted one of the jelly glasses
decorated with cool green and
white flowers. (Can you imagine
anything more attractive for
iced drinks for summer enter
taining?)'
The paper plates are painted
and then shellacked and look
wonderful for lunch or tea in the
garden or as wall decorations to
fill dull blank spaces.
There are dozens and dozens
of other things-but you'll just
have to see for yourself.
All the girls in these classes
are serIcewomen Or other war
workers. All work at night, so
that the classes are held between
the hours of l and 3 pm. This
gives the girls a chance to sleep
late Gas they have to after work.
Ing so late), bathe and dress and
have a leisurely brunch and still
get to class on time. And, they
love it. They love the actual
painting and the instruction and
they love having something to
show for it at the end.
1t was through her friend, Mrs.
Earl Rickmier, that Mrs. Burke
was introduced to the N Street
USO, and to her she feels ex-
tremely grateful.
And now little about the lady
herself.
Before her husband was or
dered here to duty with the
Ordnance Department., Mrs.
Burke and he lived in California.
There Mrs. Burke painted with
Alexander Warshawsky. She ex-
hibited her things at the indie
pendent's Exhibit there and did
many fine landscape and marines.
She built two houses and designed
and decorated them. She worked
with the Assistance League of
Southern California, the Holly
wood Woman's Club and the
Bundles for Bluejackets. She
illustrated the inside cover for
her husbands book on economics.