1 comments about Hudson River School: Masterworks from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.

1. Loved it. The large color plates make me want to acquire more on the Hudson River School. KC

3 comments about Kenneth Jay Lane: Faking It.

1. Received item in a timely manner. Book had many nicks and indentations on the hardback cover. Otherwise, content was in very good condition. Thought there would be more older celebrities in pictures wearing the jewelry, but not to big of a deal.



2. I really like many of the designs that Kenneth J. Lane has produced over the years and loved having a reference book of all his different styles and periods. The prose is of a chatty style that I usually am not too fond of but Mr. Lane is so upbeat and aware of the good fortune that has blessed him that you can't help but like him. The photography is wonderful and it is fun to see photos of celebrities wearing his jewels. The book could have been stronger if it has an addendix of technical information about the creation of costume jewelry or had a reference as to current pricing of some of Mr. Lane's vintage pieces. But I had many a fun evening looking and reading and will definately keep this book available for several more readings.



3. This book has beautiful pictures, but not enough info & absolutely no help on figuring out values.

5 comments about 3-D Human Modeling and Animation, Second Edition.

1. Think this book is very good written. Specially useful for people who wanna fast introduction to 3D-modeling.
   
   Everything starts from simple and goes to very difficult models. Author simply wanna give a reader the most simple explanation of everything.
   How, what to use, how else you can do it...
   
   Think very nice book... it a bit reminds a lessons in school. Every small part of book - is one lesson. But at the same time it's not boring lessons, so think this book have pretty much right for existing.



2. All Modelling concerns with this book aside, the biggest problem I have with 3-D Human Modeling and Animation is simply that the author's models are terrible examples of the human form.
   Not very impressive. If you see this book - just skip to the human face blend shapes section and see what I mean: ugly, anatomically incorrect shapes. This problem permiates through the whole publication. Don't let the cover image fool you (not the authors.)
   
   If you are new to character/organic modelling, I do not recommend this book. If your'e a little more experienced, there's a few chapters here that inspire especially later in the book. I found the reference section on hair shader variations quite handy.



3. It is friendly and understandable. I needed to model a human character using Maya without my instructor being there with me. So I totally did it using the book. It made everything to go smooth and FORWARD.



4. If you want to learn how to model the human form, I defitnely won't recommend this book. I bought this book as a newbie modeller. But it didn't help me a bit. I learned more from reading about modeling and topology on diferent forums. And now I can say that about 90% of Peter Ratner's modeling theories are plain incorrect. He doesn't even mention edge loops. Even if it is mentioned because I missed it, still edge loops is a term that should have been mentioned 10 times or more on every page. It is one of the very pillars of modeling theory. Instead Peter Ratner tells us to extrude a polygon, cut it a few times and move the vertices around until you get the nose shape, or the ear shape or whatever. My grandmother could have told me that for free.
   Anyway, the second half of the book was helpful though. But I must say that the second half (that's about animation and lighting and texturing) is standard knowledge that is explained far better in other books. The CD has a few nice artwork on it. Nothing I could have downloaded from various sites on my own. What could have been more useful was tutorials on how the authors of those images made those images.
   If you are a beginner, skip this one! There are better books like "Stop starring", all the books from the [DIGITAL:] series from the top of my head.



5. I have read thru this book in the library and I would not recommend this book to any 3D graphics novice since this book is only giving you the ideas to improve your imagination on the human body structure, advanced texturing and etc.
   This book is only USEFUL for those who are experts in using their 3D programme tools and therefore this book might contribute to their creativity.
   Other than that, this book is a NO NO to me because no proper instructions are written on how to use your tools in a particular 3D programme(such as 3Ds MAx).

No comments about Embroidery of the Greek Islands and Epirus Region.

5 comments about Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know About How Artists Work (Financial Times Prentice Hall Books.).

1. This book talks about what it terms Artful Making in comparison with what it terms Industrial Making. In the industrial making world, products are planned before their made. In the artful making world, products are allowed to emerge. The authors make the point that if you don't know exactly what you're going to build, the Artful approach makes more sense. In order to be successful, you need to drastically lower the cost of iterating (i.e., trying new stuff).
   
   That sounds a lot like agile development and the authors draw on examples from that community (along with the theater community, Deming, and other examples that are from the emergent rather than planned side of the fence) to make their case.
   
   The points made in this book resontated with me but I've been in many situations where the culture will be a barrier to implementing these ideas. The question I had after reading this book was how to get from where most of the organizations I've been exposed to are to the state this book proposes?



2. I've had very great expectations about this book. This was mainly because of Rob Austin's genius earlier work (measuring and managing performance). Unfortunately, even though the book was quite book, I found myself disappointed. This book was not as good as the measuring and managing one.
   
   Artful making is making a comparison between several different ways of creating products and divides them into industrial and artful. Examples of artful making in the book are theatre production and also agile software development. Then from that perspective, the book looks at several aspects of artful making and tries to describe qualities about artful making that can help managers create such an environment. The book describes these qualities in rather abstract terms and names them release, ensemble, collaboration and play.
   
   Personally I felt the comparison in the book was a too big simplification. Of course, theatre production and software development can learn from each other, but still in the end of the book, I was not really convinced that they are artful making while the other product creating methods are industrial making. The book takes then a lot of (interesting) examples from e.g. Apollo flights and puts them in the category artful, though to me some of the comparisons were not clear or obvious at all.
   
   All in all, I DID enjoy the book and found it useful reading. I've rated it 3 stars because I would rate "measuring and managing" as 5 stars and this is book was clearly not as good. 3 starts, in this case, does mean that the book is still a recommended reading and it does provide interesting insights and stories.



3. Austin and Devin present a truly innovative approach to help us in the software industry to reconceive our traditionally engineered world. I have a bias toward metaphors and this one really hit home. It not only brings out the soft-science (human) side of developing software, it helps displace the perceptions that artful productions are anything but a disciplined, impeccable process requiring as much, or more, business aptitude than software development to be successful.
   
   If you are in the software development industry and have, as I have had, pre-conceived notions of how artists create and innovate, this book is a must read. If you have been using agile development methods, it will open your eyes to why those methods are successful. If you have used more traditional methods, or are skeptical toward agile methods, this book will enlighten you toward an industry that has been using such agile methods for centuries.
   
   Finally, and most importantly, this book highlights the creative and innovation process. Many in the software development industry struggle with how to create innovation, typically stumbling over it if you are lucky. This book will guide you through how you can use innovation techniques in your company and teams to build innovative products. I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking to improve their organizations' innovative capabilities.



4. We have this tendency, understandable but at times pernicious, to bracket the world off, to make compartments for our relatively unexamined opinions. One of the worst examples of this is the notion that individuals in the arts and folks in business have nothing to offer one another: artists squander resources and are fundamentally dysfunctional when it comes to practical matters; business people care only about the bottom-line and apply an industrial model to whatever they do. In their book, Artful Making, Lee Devin and Rob Austin frustrate this kind of thinking and in doing so open up new lines of communication and cooperation amongst individuals who actually have much to offer one another. In creating these bridges, Artful Making offers readers a fundamentally generous view of human experience as evidenced by its key terms - collaboration, ensemble, release, play.



5. The book goes into great lengths into comparing business and theatre. Concepts of rapid iteration, small groups and "playing" are mentioned in the book.
   
   No new concepts... they just went deep into the comparisons. The read is a bit boring.

No comments about Japanese Textile Designs (International Design Library).

No comments about Watercolor Kit (Walter Foster Painting Kits).

4 comments about Successful Fundraising for Arts and Cultural Organizations: Second Edition.

1. I've appreciated Successful Fundraising for Arts and Cultural Organizations. There is a lot of literature on Fundraising but not specifically for the arts. I experienced it while I was researching to write my dissertation on fundraising for the opera, when I would have found this book very useful



2. Among the vast sea of fundraising titls, Hopkins' work stands out as an especially helpful resource guide for those involved in arts/culture nonprofits -- specialized in topics of arts-related donor management, tax issues, and mission formation, without losing sight of the bigger fundraising picture. Current, thorough, and very much with-the-times. Highly recommended.



3. This is both a great introduction for those who want to learn more about this field, and a wonderful fresh perspective for development professionals and executives in the arts. Lots of practical info for those seeking funding, but also a great overview on the current climate of funding for the arts. It should be required reading for board members of arts organizations.

   I am preparing to teach a graduate-level course on fundraising for the arts, and plan to use this as a basic text.




4. There are thousands of arts and cultural organizations in the USA, including museums and other exhibition spaces, orchestras, dance companies, zoos, choruses, jazz ensembles, theater companies, and botanical gardens. Yet the income earned from sales of tickets, merchandise, and services typically covers only 50 to 60 percent of their operating expenses, according to authors Karen Hopkins and Carolyn Friedman. Hopkins, the executive vice president of the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, and Friedman, the chief development officer of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, further point out that the budget for the National Endowment for the Arts has of recent been dramatically reduced by Congress. "Fundraising for arts and culture in the United States today is a challenging and increasingly complex process," state the authors at the outset. "Because of the uncertain economic climate, Americans are reexamining their charitable contributions and are tightening their belts in all areas of support for nonprofit institutions, including those dedicated to arts and culture." Clearly, arts and cultural organizations facing the challenges of the next century are in need of new strategies and more effective fund development programs if they are to make up the budgetary shortfall with charitable contributions. Successful Fundraising for Arts and Cultural Organizations provides fund raisers a clear-headed, workable blueprint for better and more effective fund raising. This book presumes little or no prior knowledge of fund raising, and yet is thorough enough to provide even experienced fund raisers an opportunity to reassess their own strategies and beliefs, and test them against those of two very experienced fund raising professionals. Steel sharpens steel. The authors proceed step-by-step, right from the beginning: institution building. "The first step . . . in preparing to raise funds is for management to articulate clearly the artistic or programmatic purpose of the organization," they state. Basic? Very. But a step neglected at the peril of the Organization. And far too many arts and cultural organizations fail to construct the kind of dynamic board called for by Hopkins and Friedman. As expected, the authors cover board leadership, focusing on the board of trustees, especially its composition, structure, and even recruiting of the right members. A central premise: that board members must lead in a fund development campaign. Again, hardly revolutionary. But far too many arts organizations stumble in recruiting the right trustees - with disastrous consequences. Senior staff roles are not neglected, either. The authors describe the roles of such positions as artistic or program director, managing director, marketing director, finance director, and development director. A useful section on volunteers is included, as well. Perhaps most useful is the author's comprehensive and pragmatic treatment of the various modes of fundraising, including the annual fundraising campaign, as well as raising funds from businesses, from foundations, from individuals, and from government. Under the chapter covering the annual fund, for example, the authors guide the development director in determining the goals for a fundraising campaign by considering potential projects, estimating income and expenses for each project, and then selecting the programs to be promoted that have both artistic or cultural merit and financial viability. As they do throughout, the authors provide a useful chart to rate the programs to be promoted. Other charts include an outline of the steps toward accomplishing a long-range goal; board members' spheres of influence; material for a board orientation manual; campaign support plan; campaign status report summary; hypothetical corporate research profile; hypothetical individual research Profile; organizational budget, program budget; sample customer track; telefundraising results report; how to fill out an NEA application form; gift tables (gifts required/prospects needed for either a $2.5 million or a $6 million capital and/or endowment campaign); and glossary of giving opportunities. Importantly, the book places each mode of fund raising against the backdrop of the "big picture" in terms of which methods can be expected, statistically speaking, to raise funds most effectively. As if to underscore the practicality of this book, the authors include 13 appendixes (see table of contents below). Especially interesting is Appendix D, "Web Resources for Non-Profit Fund-Raising," a particularly relevant topic these days. TABLE OF CONTENTS: Chapter 1. Institution Building Chapter 2. Leadership Chapter 3. The Annual Fundraising Campaign Chapter 4. Business Chapter 5. Foundations Chapter 6. Individuals Chapter 7. Government Chapter 8. Special Events Chapter 9. Capital and Endowment Campaigns Appendixes: A. Basic Fundraising Books B. Keeping Up: Magazines, Newsletters, and Newspapers C. Research Resources D. Web Resources for Non-profit Fund-Raising E. State Foundation Directories F. State Arts Councils and Regional Arts Organizations G. State Humanities Councils H. Fundraising and Management Organizations I. Arts and Cultural Service Organizations J. Sponsorship vs. Advertising: Comparing Return K. Fundraising Materials L. Capital Campaign Materials M. Teaching Ideas for Arts Administration Students

1 comments about Collecting Royal Copley Plus Royal Windsor & Spaulding: Indentification and Value Guide.

1. Joe Devine's Collecting Royal Copley Plus Royal Windsor & Spaulding Identification And Value Guide packs in a lovely photo gallery of pieces with history and values. Royal Copley is the main focus of the presentation, though some Windsor and Spaulding pieces are presented, and about 85% of everything made at Spaulding was Royal Copley. Collectors will find this a 'must have' reference.

1 comments about Curatorial Care of Works of Art on Paper.

1. A good overview of the practices of conservation