At first there was very little articulation between the courses in art and the courses in industrial art or household art. At the present time we realize that these courses are all related, and all work together through correlation and interrelation to supply the child with those worth while educational values which aid in meeting social, vocational, and leisure-time needs of life.
Not until all girls in the public schools can have their inherent love for beauty rightly stimulated and directed may we look forward to a nation of homes tastily furnished and artistically satisfying or of people who express real genuineness and sincerity in their living.
With the inception of the vocational program in home making through the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act by Congress in 1917, art was recognized as one of the essential related subjects. Thus, in the majority of the schools that have organized vocational homemaking programs, art has been included as a part of these programs and an effort has been made to apply the principles of art to those problems in everyday life in which beauty and utility are factors. The aim has been to develop in girls not only an understanding of these principles but also an ability to use them intelligently in solving many of their daily problems. Therefore the teaching of art in home economics courses is primarily concerned with problems of selection and arrangement. The girl as a prospective home maker needs to know not so much how to make a pattern but how to choose one well; not how to make a textile print but how to select and use it; not how to design furniture but how to select and arrange it; not how to make pottery but how to select the right vase or bowl for flowers. At the same time, teachers of related art in vocational schools have endeavored to show that true art is founded upon comfort, utility, convenience, and true expression of personalities as well as upon the most perfect application of art principles. Considerable emphasis has been given, therefore, to a consideration and utilization of those material things that afford opportunity for self-expression. The importance of such self-expression is stressed in the following words by Clark B. Kelsey:[ 3]
The home expresses the personalities of its occupants and reveals far more than many realize. It stamps them as possessing taste or lacking it. Thinking men and women want backgrounds that interpret them to their friends, and they prefer that the interpretation be worthy. They also want them correct for their own personal satisfaction.
In art courses that are related to the home, an attempt is made to build up in girls ideals of finding and creating beauty in their surroundings and to bring them to the point where they can recognize fitness and purpose and see beauty and derive pleasure from inexpensive and unadorned things that are available to all homes.
Mr. Cyrus W. Knouff[ 4] has well expressed something of the importance of such a practical type of art training as follows:
Show the people through their children that one may dress better on fifty dollars, understanding art principles, than on five hundred dollars not understanding symmetry, design, color, harmony, and proportion. With this knowledge you furnish a lovelier home on five hundred dollars than on five thousand without it. Get your art away from the studio into life. Teach your children the gospel of beauty and good taste in their letter writing, their picture hangings, their clothes, everything they do.
Since the vocational program also provides class instruction for women who have entered upon the pursuit of home making, as well as for girls of school age, there has been some opportunity to extend art training to these women through adult classes. An attempt has been made in classes in art related to the home, home furnishing, and in clothing classes to give a training which will help them to better appreciate the influence upon family life of attractive and comfortable homes, of careful selection and arrangement of home furnishings, and of intelligent purchasing and selection of clothing.
For the girls who have dropped out of school and have entered upon employment, part-time classes have been organized under the vocational program. To these the girls may come for a definite period each week to secure such instruction as will further extend their general education, better prepare them for their present work, and also improve their home life. To the extent that the employed girl improves her personal appearance, makes her living quarters more attractive, and enjoys the finer things of life she is more valuable to her employer and is an asset to society. Much has been accomplished in this direction but there is a large opportunity in most of the States for more definite attention to such needs of the employed girl.