DEPARTMENT OF ART EDUCATION. SECRETARY'S MINUTES. FIRST SESSION. HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING, ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, July 9, 1890. The Department of Art Education met at the high-school building at 3 P. M.; President Jesse H. Brown, of Indiana, in the chair. The Secretary being absent, Mrs. H. S. Smith, of St. Paul, was appointed Secretary pro tem. Miss Rhoda E. Selleck, of Indianapolis, Indiana, read a paper on "HighSchool Work in Drawing." The subject was discussed by Mrs. Carter, of New York City; Mr. Collins, of Denver; Mr. Ardley, of Minneapolis; and others. The President appointed the following Committee on Nomination of Officers: J. C. Mulkins, of Missouri; Miss E. A. Weaver, of Chicago; Miss Kate M. Ball, of Omaha; Miss Vienne Dodge, of Wisconsin; and Miss Olive. Underhill, of Iowa. Josephine E. Locke, of Illinois, read a paper on "The Mission of Color," which was discussed by Mrs. Hicks, of Boston; Mrs. Carter, of New York; Miss Shelleck, of Indianapolis; Mr. Collins, of Denver; and others. The Department then adjourned. SECOND SESSION.-JULY 10. The second session of the Department met at 3 P. M.; President Jesse H. Brown in the chair. The Committee on Nominations made the following report, which was adopted: President- Hannah Johnson Carter, New York, N. Y. Vice-President - Lillian Jacoby, Rockford, Illinois. Secretary Frank H. Collins, Denver, Colorado. Mrs. Carter, of New York, read a paper on "Drawing in Normal Schools," which was discussed at great length by a member of the Department. The Department then adjourned. -50 MRS. H. S. SMITH, Secretary pro tem. (789) PAPERS. HIGH-SCHOOL WORK IN DRAWING. RHODA E. SELLECK, INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA. It has seemed to me in the gatherings of the past that if this Department is worthy of a place in the Association, it should be worthy of our best interests; of a determination to obtain the best possible good from the various methods that should be presented. I may not have chosen wisely in the subject-matter of my paper, but I do trust that in laying before you what I have been able to do in the Indianapolis high school with our limitations, it will incite you to criticisms and suggestions that we may all take home and develop in our future work. I have laid aside theory, and shall present to you a phase of the work, the result perhaps of some years of experience. The freehand drawing-work of our high school, of which I have the entire control, I have classed as the "Art Department" in order to distinguish it from the "Mechanical Department," of which Mr. Bass has charge, and whom I assist. The art department has grown within the past few years from a class of six, until we now have a class average of a hundred or more. The work is wholly elective on the part of the pupil, and in most cases it has seemed preferable to allow only those pupils to take the course who have spent at least one year in the regular high-school work. No question is asked as to ability, as all can do the work who show a proper amount of interest and enthusiasm. A record is kept of the work of the pupil for the first and second half-year of the work, and reported the same as his other studies. He may after this remain in the class as long as he chooses while in the high school and his age and time will permit. Many of the post-graduates return and continue or take up the work for a year or more. Our classes have been held in a large assembly-room, from the lack of a large enough room elsewhere. It has had its innumerable inconveniences, but by a series of devices we have been able to overcome many difficulties. It was some time before I succeeded in finding the proper material with which to work; that is, material that could be adapted to the different kinds of work and at the same time be economical to the pupil. I studied the material used at Cincinnati in her schools, and her Art Institute and elsewhere. Finally, through the aid of the Art Emporium of our city, we now use the following, although we are constantly open to changes and suggestions: For the first outfit each pupil supplies himself with a pine easel; a tablet of white charcoal paper twelve by eighteen inches in size that he fastens in book form and covers before being allowed to use it; four of John Faber's Siberian pencils, letters F, H, B, and B B B; a typewriter's eraser, a piece of sandpaper, one sheet of Whatman drawing-paper, and one sheet of German drawing-paper. This outfit costs the pupil one dollar and ninety-five cents. The second outfit that he buys, the latter part of the first half-year of his work, amounts to eighty cents. It consists of ten cents for fixative, that I have made at a drug store of mastic and alcohol, and buy by the quantity; one stick of crayon sauce, three crayon pencils, Nos. 1, 2, and 3, a crayonholder, a paper, a chamois stump, and one-half a box of the best French charcoal. This constitutes his entire material, unless it may be with the exceptional use of a sheet of crayon paper now and then, in his advanced work. I have thus enumerated the material, for to me one of the greatest difficulties, as I have already said, has been the proper material with the best economy to the pupil. To me, the words of Carlyle have been in many ways an inspiration. He once said to Wolner: "I am sure it would have been better for me to have been taught to draw when a boy; even than to read. Clearness and precision of thought would come with manual skill. It would be a boon, a preservative of mental health to studious brain-workers and anxious business men, to have an interesting occupation to which to turn." The nature of our work has had a development of its own. It has seemed to grow and shape itself instinctively, as it were, from the wishes and feelings of the classes. The aim of the work has been to the accurate development of the eye and hand in their close relation to the development of the mind, to make it possible to portray upon paper many conceptions that come to them in their literature work; to advance in the pupil that culture that tends towards the true, the beautiful, and the good; and to give to the pupil a power with his fingers, that he may apply in all his other studies, and continue to use after he has left school. No one system has been followed; perhaps the best has been chosen from several systems. An effort has been made to firmly impress upon the mind of the pupil the principles of construction that underlie all freehand drawing-work. As much material as possible has been placed in the hands of the pupil, that he may become familiar with its nature, and know its adaptation to future necessities. Our hours of work have been one recitation daily of forty-five minutes, with the operation of several grades of work, all at the same time. Home work is requested, as the subject is placed upon the same footing with their other school studies for the first two half-years. In order to know if this re |