HOME AND EDUCATION
Hunt, Caroline L. & Follette, Belle Case La
HOME AND EDUCATION The home is the real seat of government, and the Wise Men of ail nations bring their gifts to the cradle. Conducted by BELLE CASE LA FOLLETTE and CAROLINE L. HUNT Art in the...
...They have gone much further and have interested teachers and parents to clear the school-room walls of all unworthy pictures and other littering material...
...To these methods, the society added coffees and socials held in the schools and in the homes of parents, food and candy sales for which the materials were made by school children and their mothers...
...As time has passed, and the pictures in the various schools have increased in number, the Association has recommended to the school board that each building be considered the art gal-lery for the neighborhood in which it is situated and that it have a printed list of its works of art to put in the hands of parents, pupils and visitors, to aid in the intelligent appreciation and enjoyment of the works of art...
...Then I relized what the tuberculosis campaign has done for me...
...So there was only one death in nine that month from tuberculosis and yet it seemed such a large number to me...
...All of the above material may be obtained from or through the Art Education Company, Wabash Ave., Chicago...
...It was through planning for these various entertainments that the Educational Department saw the advantage of forming a society distinct from the Woman's Club...
...Most of the purchasing has been from firms in this country, chiefly from those that have furnished exhibits...
...The members of the Association, most of whom are parents of children in the public schools, have through their work come into most intimate touch with the schoels and have come to feel that if a truly artistic environment is to be secured, ample provision must be made for improving all conditions which effect health, comfort and development...
...But people between 20 and 40 years of age have to work and to support themselves and oftentimes others...
...It saw that there was needed in every school district a committee made up of patrons of the school and believed that much could be done by encouraging a wholesome spirit of rivalry among the committees...
...For this reason, they chose to get money by holding exhibitions of pictures...
...Thus, without abandoning their first and somewhat restricted purpose, they have extended their interests to all important public school activities and in working with others for art in its narrow sense, they have formed new friendships and new associations which have contributed to a larger art—the art of life...
...This prevents having such material pinned around the room in inappropriate places, where it is often left even after the use and need of it have departed...
...Those 30 people, 17 of whom were between 20 and 40 years of age, could have been saved and ought to have been saved...
...A. W. Elsom and Co., Boston, Massachusetts...
...They cannot always afford to be idle long enough to get completely cured...
...These committees have not stopped with the special work for which they were appointed...
...For this reason the Association conferred with members of the School Board and the Superintendent and arranged with them for the appropriate tinting of school walls and urged on them the hygienic as well as the artistic need of the dull finish for all school room woodwork and furnishings, such as desks, tables and chairs, in place of the usual varnished surfaces...
...Another means of raising money which serves also to arouse interest is lantern slide entertainments with views of the countries from which most of our works of art come...
...There a man may get lodging and good food for $4 a week...
...Some of the firms that have loaned exhibits to the Madison School Public Art Society are: Braun Clement and Co., 240 Fifth Avenue, New York...
...They have built what is known as the Prendergast Night Camp at Mattapan, just out of the city...
...This company is composed of young women, students of art, who are intimately in touch with the needs of the public schools...
...The Association has always worked chiefly through two committees, one whose duty it is to select works of art for the schools and another which superintends the framing and placing of the pictures and casts...
...I looked at the total deaths for December in the city mentioned and found the number to be 270...
...Its vase forms in brass Russian workmanship, were obtained in New York from Russian emigrants, its colored pottery chiefly from the Prang Company, Chicago, and its photographs from Braun, Clement Co., New York...
...When the members of the Educational Department first planned to buy pictures for the schools, they were of course confronted by the usual difficulty—lack of funds...
...But that is not always practicable...
...It is, besides, extremely trying to the eyes...
...For this reason, the Public School Art Association severed itself from the Woman's Club and became a separate organization and was incorporated under the laws of the State of Wisconsin...
...There ought to be camps like this near every city and town...
...Its casts have been obtained mainly from P. P. Caproni and Brother, Boston, though a few have been im-ported directly from Italy...
...In Boston they are trying a new plan...
...For this reason the society, which has been in existence only seven years, has been able to accumulate $3,500 worth of pictures and casts, that adorn the walls of the eleven school buildings of the town...
...All these Arms have illustrated catalogs which are helpful in making selections...
...The articles of incorporation, however, do not indicate all the work which the Association has found it necessary and desirable to do...
...The lodging is in a leanto, open to the south and protected from the wind...
...Then I began to think back, as we say, and I remembered that I used to teach my students that one death in every seven is from tuberculosis...
...The Association has found them most helpful in making many of its selections...
...Conducted by BELLE CASE LA FOLLETTE and CAROLINE L. HUNT Art in the Public Schools By HARRIET F. ESTABROOK O'SHEA THE WORK of the Public School Art Association of Madison, like many other good things, is the outcome of the Woman's Club— this time of the Educational Department...
...After a man comes from a sanatorium, they let him go back to his regular work...
...A Night Camp for the Convalescent I WAS READING recently the vital statistics of a city of about 300,000 inhabitants and was shocked to learn that 30 people had died of tuberculosis during the month of December—almost one a day...
...The prints were obtained from the Bureau of Uni-versity Travel, Trinity Place, Boston, and it is hoped to add to the collection, covering the art of other countries, as the prints are published in this series Books upon the periods of art represented by the prints have also been placed in the library...
...The Association has placed in the public library of the city three thousand prints, reproductions of pictures and sculpture, covering Greek and Roman sculpture, early and late Italian and Dutch art These prints are thus centrally located in order that they may be useful to the largest number of people...
...Firms are oftentimes willing to send out pictures suitable for exhibition purposes on the chance that some may be sold either for use in the schools or to individuals...
...Many of the women who, they thought, would be most useful on these committees were not members of the club...
...The members of the Department >n visiting the schools found much to be done in order to make them homelike and beautiful...
...The University Art Shop, Evanston, Illinois...
...In many of the buildings it was found that the color of the walls was not such as to display the pictures well...
...Its articles of incorporation sound rather formidable but they indicate the purpose for which it exists: "The fostering of art education in the public schools of Madison, the artistic improvement of public school buildings and their equipment in said city, the obtaining and holding in trust for the public schools of Madison, works of art and the placing of the same in the various school buildings...
...Put them at outdoor occupations, you say...
...Although it has been able to do more than smaller towns differently situated might be able to accomplish there is much in its methods of work which may be helpful to other societies...
...They have succeeeded in having appropriate bulletin boards made and denim colored screens, on which to exhibit the work of the school children and to place pictures illustrating the various subjects studied...
...The firms import from foreign houses directly to the schools, free of duty...
...The Association in Madison has been peculiarly fortunate, the scene of its activity being a University town, in which there are many people able to assist in the work...
...Horace K. Turner Co., Boston, Massachusetts...
...concerts and the soliciting of private contributions...
...but they give him a chance to sleep out of doors...
...It has changed my entire attitude from one of acceptance of the inevitable to one of protest and hope...
...If It is a natural instinct of self-preservation that causes the child to bar the educator from his innermost nature.—Ellen Key...
...For this reason, they have urged the use in all public school buildings of bubble fountains instead of common drinking cups, the burning of anthracite coal for heating the buildings, the installing of vacuum cleaners for the purpose of freeing the atmosphere of germ-laden dust, and a more generous provision for playgrounds and school gardens adjacent to the buildings...
...It may be helpful to other societies to know some of the firms from which the Association buys...
...In many cases these lists have been bound in covers beautifully decorated by the scholars as part of their art work...
...They found also many of the teachers interested in improving the appearance of their rooms and for this reason were encouraged to begin the work of decoration...
...Here is a suggestion for women's clubs...
...rummage sales, conducted by parents, assisted by teachers and school children...
...Varnished or highly polished wood reflects so many things that its own beauty is lost...
...The Art Education Co., Wabash Avenue, Chicago...
...In this case they decided that it might be possible to combine the raising of money with an educational campaign for the purpose of showing people the advantages of the work in which they were interested...
Vol. 2 • March 1910 • No. 9
