been spelled out, it is this jury's hope that future biennials will be of
a higher quality as a result.

In view of statements made here, and in view of the jury's action in so
reducing the number of works shown, it would be instructive to take up
briefly some of the jury's reasons for excluding works from the exhibi-
tion. The main reason, of course, was the frequent misuse of ornament.
Time after time an otherwise very acceptable form was ruined by either
inappropriate or too much ornamentation. Sometimes an ornament (or an
ornamental device like dripping glaze) instead of being used effectively in
moderation, by being used indiscriminately simply ended by ruining the
whole piece. On other occasicns, pieces which had no need at all of
ornamentation were decorated in a manner which prevented their being
able to be shown. (Those seeing the exhibition will remark that this

jury was not against ornamentation as such as many of the objects to
which it awarded prizes rely in large measure upon the use of orna-
mentation for their effectiveness).

Another reason for rejection was to avoid purely gratuitous repetition.
Four or six plates or pots (especially if they all are very much the same
in size, texture or colour) do not necessarily make a stronger effect
than two or three.

Still another reason for rejection was on the basis of vulgarity or
cheapness of presentation. Obviously this begins to get into the area of
subjective decisions but there was quite a lot of love and devotion spent
on some pretty gimmicky and unworthwhile ideas which were considered
unworthy of inclusion in a serious exhibition.

Finally, the members of the jury wish to state that there was complete
(and quickly arrived at) unanimity in the manner of which pieces
deserved to be included in the show and which pieces were deserving

of prizes. Thus, while there can be a lot of fruitless and frequently
acrimonious argument on the subject of taste, on the subject of

quality there is a real concensus. [If this point is grasped, it should

be possible to vastly improve the quality of future biennials. “