Art and Handcraft in the Woman's Building
of the World's Columbian Exposition

86 ART AND HANDICRAFT Perhaps no work done in Cincinnati seems more individual than that of Mrs. C. A. Plimpton, in the common clays of Ohio. Her artis- tic taste early led her to see the adaptability of these soft clays to decorative uses. Her processes consisted in inlaying contrasting colors in the green clay; in relief work in a variety of shades of clay; and of “ påte-sur-påte,” or ship decoration, in landscape and other effects, ranging in color from dark-brown clays, through the reds,, to yellow and white. Interesting specimens of her work, loaned by individuals and by the Cincinnati Museum, will be found in the Cincinnati Room. In the limits assigned to this paper, it is impossible to do more than allude in a brief manner to the work of Cincinnati women in this interesting specialty. Specimens of the very early work, of the first successes in color under the glaze, of early Rookwood, and indeed of all branches through the days of experiment and uncer- tainty down to and including the finished work of the most expe- rienced hands of the present day, will be found in the Cincinnati Room. It is an interesting circumstance that the women who began the work in 1875 are, with few exceptions, still engaged in it. It can not be doubted from the results of the past few years that there is an interesting future in pottery for decorative art in Cin- cinnati. The variety and beauty of the common clays of Ohio are great, and the success thus far in their use for decorative purposes, is such as to warrant the expectation that the field in that direction is, as yet, barely entered upon. Perhaps at no center of pottery work in the country is more originality and variety in work to be found than in Cincinnati. Nowhere have the common clays been used in such variety of combination and decoration, nor has so much effect been produced by colored and contrasting glazes. Elizabeth W. Perry.