Studio: international art (17.1899)

Home Arts and Industries

WORKBOX

The home arts and

INDUSTRIES EXHIBITION.
BY ESTHER WOOD.

Those who have visited the exhibition
of the Home Arts and Industries Association year
by year will quickly recognise those features of
interest which have become associated with certain
class-holders and the districts they have worked.
We know, for instance, that we may expect good
metal repousse from Keswick and Five-mile-town,
and from Mrs. Waterhouse’s pupils at Yattendon;
from these also sound joinery and wood-carving, as
well as from the large class at Southwold. We shall
look for wood-inlay from Stepney and Pimlico, and
from Bolton-on-Swale, through the efforts of the
Hon. Mrs. Carpenter and the Hon. Mabel de
Grey; for good textiles and tapestries from
Ashridge, Aldeburgh, Windermere, and from the
Haslemere industries organised by Mr. and Mrs.
Godfrey Blount; and for leather-embossing from
Miss Bassett’s and Miss Baker’s classes at Leighton
Buzzard and Porlock Weir; while the little group
of workers inspired by Mr. and Mrs. G. F. Watts
at Compton and Limnerslease may be counted on
for something worthy in the direction of terra-cotta
modelling and the minor decorative branches of
church architecture. The mortuary chapel in their
own village (described in the Studio for September
last), on which these students have been engaged for
some time, should now be near completion. Judging
from the beautiful little altar here shown (page 103),
and other portions that have already been seen, the
building should be a monument of what sincere and
patient craftsmanship can do with limited resources

under teachers like these.
The altar is of terra-cotta,
modelled in small panels,
each by a different mem-
ber of the class. The
designs, by Mrs. G. F.
Watts, are simple, but full
of delicate symbolism, and
vary from each other just
sufficiently to interest with-
out wearying the worship-
pers’ eyes. The decora-
tion of the reredos consists
of a copy of Mr. Watts’s
well-known picture, The
All-pervading.

Passing along the stands
laden with handiwork from
all manner of obscure and
quaintly-named corners of the British Isles, the
previous standard of excellence seemed well
maintained, and even challenged by some of the
newest classes. One of the healthiest symptoms

LETTER-BOX

DESIGNED BY THE HON. MRS. CARPENTER
INLAID BY NATHAN FAWELL

Bolton-on~Swale Class

DESIGNED BY THE HON. MABEL DE GREY
INLAID BY EDWARD FORD Pimlico Class

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