41

E.—sb

Board. In England the Home Arts and Industries Association have many thousands of students at work. But there can be no doubt that this work, to be really successful, should be closely associated with our schools. Work in the following branches may be readily undertaken with advantage and profitable results to a large number of students : Furniture-decoration, repouss6-work in metal, woodcarving, art needlework, pottery-decoration, house-decoration, sgraffito-work, embossed leather, gesso-work, &c. In all these cases it is essential that drawing, painting, modelling, and design shall be continued while pursuing the actual practice of their work. Students will thereby have an opportunity of making and working from their own original designs — the best of educational training, and one that will strengthen and raise the value of industrial art. To design upon paper is one thing, but to carry out such a design practically is a totally different matter, and one of the greatest importance if our teaching of design is to be effective. In attempting this work in New Zealand one is met by the suggestion that such work is only fitted for young ladies as a dilettante study. Such, however, is far from the case, at any rate in the United Kingdom, for the great majority of workers are of the poorer or middle class. A great work can be done in our colony in this direction, with advantage to the schools, the students, and the public generally ; and I trust every effort will be made to make our schools of art thoroughly practical in their methods of work. London Schools of Art and Crafts. —In order to meet the requirements of artisans and craftsmen who are engaged in industries, the London Technical Education Board has established two special schools —one at 316, Begent Street, and the other in Camberwell. In these schools art is taught entirely in relation to special crafts, and the fees are fixed at a sufficiently low figure to enable working-men to attend the classes. Both these institutions have met with remarkable success, and are to be followed by others. The following branches of work were in progress upon the two evenings I spent at the Begent Street Institution: Architecture, drawing, colour and decoration, wall-paper and textile design, heraldic drawing, designs for cabinetmakers and metal-workers, modelling and ornament as applied to architecture and the allied crafts, drawing from the life, woodcuts in colour, enamelling, silversmiths' and goldsmiths' work, chasing, engraving, carving, lead-casting and ornamental leadwork, stained-glass work, stone-working, boookbinding, embroidery. The school-fee is 2s. 6d. a month, and this admits the student (subject to the approval of the directors) to all or any of the classes of the school except the life-class, for which an additional fee of 2s. 6d. a month is charged. The classes in silver-working are strictly limited to the trades. Journeymen working at a trade or craft, and in receipt of wages not exceeding £1 10s. a week, may join the school for a fee of Is. a month. Any apprentice, learner, or improver under the age of twenty-one is admitted to all the privileges of the school, except the life-class, free of charge, upon the production of a letter from his master to the effect that he has been regularly indentured, and is still under apprenticeship. There is no intention of supplanting apprenticeship, but simply to give thorough tuition in technical details, and to encourage expression of individuality in original work. The Stone-working for Architects treats of various kinds of stone and the methods of working them, such as reducing blocks to working-size, squaring-up, working from templates, circular work, development of mouldings, and other branches of stone-work. In Lead-work for Architects and Plumbers the various ways of using lead are described, and the ornamentation of lead is shown in detail —such, for instance, as casting ornamental leadwork in sand, lead patterns, pierced, stamping, punching, and inlaying of lead. Plumbers practise designs in the various sections, and work them out under the guidance of their teachers. Stained-glass Work includes the general composition and setting-out of windows; the principles of cutting and use of the lead-line in plain glazing, ornament, and the figure ; the principles of ornament as applied to glass; the treatment of glass in colour; design ; painting of glass from cartoons, &c. All students must complete the whole processes of cutting, leading, drawing, and painting. Silversmithing, Goldsmithing, and Jciuellers' Work. — Students are required to study in design, drawing, and modelling, as well as in casting in metal, enamelling, or other sections of their craft. The workshops are provided with every convenience for engravers, chasers, repousseworkers, and carvers, and are lighted by both electricity and incandescent gas-light. Enamelling by the Champleve, Cloisonn6, Limoges, Bassetville, and painted-enamels methods are taught, and the preparation of metals for enamelling, preparation of enamels, laying-in enamels, firing and polishing. Bookbinding. —There are two classes in this subject, every facility being given for the forwarding and finishing. Students are encouraged to carry out, from first to last, the binding and decoration of books, and also to design and work out their own patterns. Embroidery. —A class in this work, including design, is established, and has the advantage of a considerable collection of fine examples of needlework. Each lesson comprises about half an hour's demonstration on the blackboard, the remainder of the time being occupied with tracing and transferring designs, and the practical application of the various kinds of stitches in hand-work and frame-work. Woodcuts in Colour. —A special class is formed in this subject. Design, engraving, and printing of colour prints from wood blocks are done on a method based upon Japanese practice. Altogether the work of this school forms one of the most interesting and instructive features of modern methods of education. I was pleased to find in the bookbinding class an old Wellington Technical School student, making good progress in his work, with the intention of returning to New Zealand. It may not be possible to approach in completeness any such school as the Arts and Crafts of London, but something may be done by combining design and practice together as previously indicated in our New Zealand art schools. 6—E. sb.