SOME PIECES OF VOLKMAR POTTERY
The work of the Brush Guild of New York is more like Indian pottery than any other of the American wares. The pieces all have a hand-moulded look, and the few designs are quite primitive in their simplicity. The glossy-black finish suggests Indian smother-firing. It is not unlike the black pottery which the Santa Clara Indians make, and the great generous pieces are also suggestive of this ware. Unlike any Indian pottery, however, the bowls and jars of the Brush Guild will hold water perfectly.
From the far South comes an exceedingly interesting ware: this is the Newcomb pottery, made by the students of Newcomb College, New Orleans. It may be seen at exhibitions of arts and crafts guilds here in the North. The ware originated in the art department of Newcomb College. Here, for years, teachers of drawing and painting had been educated, but it began to be manifest that, with the lack of other fields for art workers, this department could not be widely useful. The establishment of a pottery was the practical solution of this difficulty. Many young women have found, in the making of this pottery, an artistic vocation from which they reap profit and reputation. The aim of the originators from the first has been to make a ware that would be individual—one that should have a charm all its own. This has been accomplished by taking as motives for the designs the unusual and beautiful Southern flowers, plants, and trees, as well as the animal life of that part of the country. A charming pitcher has a design of snow-drops, painted in cream-white slip on a yellow-gray background. Another piece has a decoration of fishes, and on still another, a high, slender flower-jar, stalks of the sugar-cane form the design.
The methods of decoration are incising, painting, and modelling, used together or singly, according to the requirements of the design. Great freedom is allowed in the choice of colour as well as in the decoration, each worker feeling the responsibility attached to a signed piece of pottery. Some of the ware is undecorated save for the unexpected touches of the kiln, which give charming and unusual effects.
The mark shown in Fig. 68 distinguishes the Newcomb pottery, and only those pieces receive it which are approved by the art department.
