2 comments about Hopi Katsina: 1,600 Artist Biographies (American Indian Art Series).

1. The book provides a great overview of (most of the) katsina carvers.
   Through the accompanying pictures and the added text it provides an excellent insight into the different emerging styles of katsinas.
   It also is a great tribute to this survival of the Indian cultural heritage.



2. As patrons of Native American arts, and specifically Hopi katsina carvings, we were thrilled with Dr. Schaaf's latest volume. In keeping with his exhaustive approach, Dr. Schaaf has left no stone unturned. Never before has such a comprehensive volume on Hopi carvers been assembled.
   
   It seems that his volumes continue to improve with each subsequent publication. This title is rich with color photographs and important artist content. Examples of nearly every katsina by a variety of carvers appear throughout its pages. The only possible drawback is the fact that there is no cross reference for those searching for particular katsinam. But seeing as there are many other publications dealing with the different types of figures, this volume is welcome addition to the field.
   
   Carvers and their families will no doubt benefit from the exposure they will receive, while collectors and other readers will appreciate the wealth of information between its pages.
   
   Dr. Schaaf provides many photographs of the artists and their carvings, along with additional information on museum collections and galleries where their work can be found.

No comments about Confessions, Romances, Secrets, & Temp.

2 comments about With Child: Wisdom and Traditions for Pregnancy, Birth, and Motherhood.

1. I think this is a lovely little book, particularly the drawings! This makes a nice coffee table book or one to kind of skim through. But if you're in search of serious information regarding traditions and wisdom, you'd do better to find a book with more substance. Pam England's book Birthing From Within, for example, not only provides many of the same suggestions for rituals, it also provides a lot of great information to help prepare one for labor. A book that looks at current infant-rearing traditions in different cultures is Meredith Small's Our babies Ourselves: how biology and culture shape the way we parent. Small's book is fabulous- gives you a lot to think about in terms of how cultural beliefs influence our values and parenting choices.



2. Nothing can be more fulfilling than the creation of life. When you are expecting your own child you are filled with creative energy and usually have a strong desire to express it. Reading With Child will help you find so many ways to explore the feelings you have by offering suggestions of rituals to do that will help fulfill the need to connect with the birthing power of other women. Filled with traditional birthing wisdom and cultural traditions this book helps you to really feel in tune with pregnancy and birth as it is viewed around the world.

3 comments about Colour in Decoration.

1. This book has many traditional rooms, but because it is not new, the "contemporary" rooms tend to look a little dated now. Funny how the old days look better than the recent past. What set it apart for me was the text, which discusses the history of color in decoration and is extremely interesting without being long, and the information on pigment reactions in making ones own paint. She includes several pages of different pigments mixed together in the back, as well as a discussion of different wall painting mediums. As a painter making my own lime wash, this book, while not a complete reference, gave a few invaluable details that made my project a success, and I really only bought it to see the photos of rooms in different colors.



2. I am studying Interior Design...and this book is great! It is easy to read and very helpful!



3. I own about 25 books on interior design and home decoration. This is certainly in my top three, and probably the most oft consulted of them all. Each chapter covers one of the basic colours, from green and blue through to pinks and neutrals. But after this sparse description it is hard to convey the beauty and depth of this book. When I say cover a colour, I mean really explore it. It's cool version, warm version, soft, light, borderline with its neighbouring colour on the colour wheel.

   And the way that each colour is covered is unique. Very minimal (but useful) text, and instead full page pictures of utterly inspiring interiors featuring the colour tone/intensity on each and every page. It uses excellent photographs from a wide and rich range of interior design. All true to life from real (moderna and historical) homes - and usually illustrating a good marriage between a particular colour/shade and the style it most compliments. Going through it, one soon becomes aware of one's taste. The pictures are so good - so evocative of the theme of that particular colour - that one has a simple emotional response of things like "love", "comforting", "not me", "does nothing for me", "joyful", etc. Using this book and trusting my visceral response to the delightful, subtle shades on each page, I virtually decorated my whole house.

   A very sophisticated book on colour, that speaks to us in the most simple of ways - through the eye to the heart.

1 comments about Catalog Design: The Art of Creating Desire.

1. Dianna Edwards and Robert Valentine effectively collaborate in Catalog Design: The Art Of Creating Desire to showcase some of the most effective and trend setting developments and examples of the catalog as an American art form in service to the business of selling goods through promoting images. Of special interest is the opening chapter on the history of the catalog and its impact on the popular culture as well as individual aspirations. Profusely illustrated throughout, Catalog Design is highly recommended reading for students of American business, catalog designers, and anyone who ever picked up and leafed through a mail-order "dream book".

3 comments about Letterhead & Logo Design 6.

1. The ideas in this book will get your own creative juices flowing. Innovation meets modern design.



2. "Letterhead and Logo Design 6" is a great addition to the library of any graphic artist. Although I marginally preferred volume four in the series, this edition contains many examples of brilliant logo and letterhead design. I gave the book four stars rather than five because the conceptual explanations from the designers seen in earlier volumes are largely gone from this edition. That in no way takes away from the brilliance of most of the designs exhibited in this book, however.
   
   I was drawn especially to some of the more stark, monochrome designs, especially those with a single element of color strategically positioned: classic examples are the effort from Christian Nielinger on page 23, and the material for Process Solutions on page 63 from Howard Levy. Some other designers elected to use color as a main element of the design with stunning effects: I was particularly pleased with the use of elemental orange in the design for Clark Printing (page 53) skillfully executed by designers Perry Chua and Nancy Yeasting of Big Eye Creative.
   
   Tonality, shading, and shadow really come into their own as integral design elements in this volume with a brilliant design (page 42) from Emanuel Barbosa for Vector XXI, and the sublime design from Hellen Rayner of Blue i Design on page 93, which is perhaps my favorite of all showcased designs in the book.
   
   While not every design in the book is great, all are very original, and are certainly worth evaluating, whether you are a designer or a corporate representative looking for a new corporate image. For those who do see something they like, there is a helpful directory of participants in the back of the book.
   
   For anyone with an interest in logo and letterhead design, whether casual or professional, this is a very good book and I recommend it without reservation.



3. for anyone interested in having a good source of inspiration when it comes to well though letterhead and logo designs this might be the book for you. however, if you were expecting a 'how to book' or a recipe on designing logos, you are better of looking elsewhere.

   it covers ideas from a large range of industries with a nice arrangement of logos, by themselves, on business cards, and as on letterheads. it is extremely applicable to most industries and even web design for the 2000s.

   great book over all for your graphic design literature collection.

1 comments about Indian Rock Art of the Southwest (School of American Research Southwest Indian Arts Series).

1. Polly's book is great in that it tells not only about the rock art and the styles but also tells about the cultures that have created it. I have a small rock art tour company in central Utah, and have read both this book and Rock Art of Utah. They are both great and have been a great help to me in my field.

No comments about Sad Songs.

1 comments about The Silk Road: Art and History.

1. Jonathan Tucker offers us not only a history and an art and architecture book, he provides us a feeling for the merchants and scholars who traveled east and west across the expanse of Asia for profit, for knowledge, and for adventure. The hundreds of fine colored photographs, the many interspersed maps, and quotations from poetry and contemporary travelers aid our armchair journeys across time and cultures. Arranged much like a guidebook, the author starts in Xian, China, and takes us westward along the various land routes of the Silk Road, with southern spurs to Afghanistan and India as well as northern routes to the Aral and Caspian areas. Although the various wars of empire over the past 2,000 years tend to merge and blur by the time the reader approaches the end, we do manage to appreciate the influences of art, technology, and design of one people upon another. We see how empire-building and its associates bloodshed and city destruction had a strong economic basis, and the encouragement of trade and protection of caravans from brigands were key responsibilities of kings and khans.
   
   The Art Media Resources edition I own has a number of typographical errors, chiefly hard hyphens and spaces that were not removed in digital production. The style is dry and direct but easy to follow.
   
   Readers of all the other historical books on the Silk Road that focus on music, religion, and military matters, as well as modern tourists seeking the unusual, will find this large book a perfectly worthy supplement. And if you have no such interest in Silk Road studies but are curious, then by all means begin here.

No comments about Art in an Age of Civil Struggle, 1848-1871 (A Social History of Modern Art).