SIGHTS AND SCENES OF SYDNEY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2355, 13 April 1899, Page 59

SIGHTS AND SCENES OF SYDNEY.

By Cigarette,

THE TECHNICAL COLLEGE.

From agriculture to art is only a step in the Technical College as the rooms are adjoining, bo bidding our energetic professor adieu, we knock at the door of tho modeling room, and introducing ourselves to Mi Gregory Macintosh the instructor in the ait of modelling and sculpture. Fortunately some of the students aro at work. They are all ladies, mostr of the male students coming in the evening I watch intently the students at work while my companion makes a tour of the room It seems fascinating work, but rathe dirty, as all the workers are shrouded in long overalls. The clay must be kept damp the whole time while being manipulated, and every piece of work when left has tc- be covered with damp cloths o. it will harden. The inspector presently unveils a shrouded form, aud shows us a piece of work of his own which is nearing completion. It is » head of tho superintendent of the college — Dr Morris — and wonderfully lifelike iv its white; nilenct, an unquestionable witness of t lie iiiti^t'ii power

It is 3 ran; faculty, the enduing with life of an inanimate object, which stamps a man with g&niue. It is this which wins immortality foi the woikar, the vital spark, the cpiiyyiciug elenraui tkat speaks for itself, calling

out from painted canvas, from sculptured marble, or from the printed pages of a book " This it Life, this is Trutli !

There are 60 students in all studying modelling at the Technical College. Those who attend the Life Class pay 12s 6d a quarter ; the otheis engaged in copying from the antique oi ornamental design, pay Bs.

" I suppose the students go through a course of drawing before they enter." I remark.

"No, many enter without any knowledge of diawing whatever" — "It must take them a long lime to learn anything, then?" — "Yes, of course those who can draw get on best." " How long docs it take to learn modelling? " we ask —"We generally put them through a five years' course heie,' is the reply. beginning with oriiamentiJ work, going on to antique, and then to life. I will show you a photograph of s piece of work done by one of om "lady students, 1 ' and going to a cabinet the instructor unlocks a drawer and hands us a picluie of a be.iuriful piece of work entitled "The Raft." It depicts three castaways oii a raft — father, mother, and child — and is a most pootinal conception. It took six months lo complete ami is well worthy of the labour bestowed or it. Another piece of work done by one of the students stands in the entrance hall of the Technical Museum.

Tho instructo: 1 then explains how a sculptor works in marble, and we hoar that by the aid of a machine called a " pointer " the great mass is reduced to within a few inches or less of the artist's design. Wor'ers in marble brinsr it nearei and nearer still lo the modol and then comes the sculptor, and with a magic of his own puts in all that is left, and which he alone can put, the finishing touches, the divine alHatus which transforms the insensate r.-.ass of marble into 8 beautiful imprisoned spirit. Reluctantly leading the modelling room we mako our way to the top etorey of the college and enter tho room devoted to china-paint-ing. Here, also, we are fortunate in finding the students at work. These, too, aio all of tho gentler sex, for china-painting is essentially a " ladyhko " employment, and is 1 aught at tho Technical for 3s a quarter. The instructor, Mr Peach, show? u« a beautiful piece of work of his own which one of the ladies ia laboriously copying. There are some pretty white jugs and plates waiting ready to be " fired." There is a special oven built for the purpose at the college, in an adjoining room we sec some beauC^ffl work in a glass case done by some of the .students. The colours u=ed are all in powder done up i» fascinating little bottles ai.d mixed with s, special medium. Most ol the ware for china painting is imported, but one enlorpiiping firm in Sydney has l.'«-;»un to manufacture it, and although of an inferior quality doubtless the ware will. improve as tho demand for painted china increases.