No comments about Teaching Art to Young Children 4-9.

No comments about Constantin Brancusi: Sculpting Within the Essence of Things.

4 comments about The INDIANA DUNES REVEALED: The Art of Frank V. Dudley.

1. This book is a wonderful history of the saving some of the Indiana Dunes for our use today. Dudley's pictures were used in the early days of trying to get the dunes set aside for future generations. It also is the history of landscape art in the late 1800's to the mid 1900's. The paintings are beautiful landscapes.



2. Frank Dudley was a gifted artist who became passionately interested in the grass-roots campaign to save the Indiana dunes from predation by Northwest Indiana's steel mills, other industrial encroachment, and pollution. For years, he captured the wild beauty of the region on canvas and, as his fame spread, so did his message. His painting of the 1917 Indiana Dunes Pageant, a sweeping outdoor presentation that attracted over 25,000 viewers willing to trek across sand dunes to see it, remains one of the only eyewitness paintings of the event still extant. This book chronicles Dudley's development as a painter and his life in the dunes; the plates are superb, and if you were unable to view them at Valparaiso University's recent exhibition, this keepsake volume will be the next best thing to seeing his original works firsthand. As an aside, I went to the Dudley exhibit at Valparaiso University, where the book was selling at list price. A few mouse clicks later, I had ordered the book at a deep discount at Amazon.com. Three more days, and it was in my hands. It doesn't get much better than that!



3. This book is a testament to the fact that, contrary to public opinion, there are more things than cornfields in Indiana. Indiana is home to a diversity of unique landscapes and habitats not the least of which are the Lake Michigan dunes. Reproductions of Frank V. Dudley's brilliant impressionist paintings bring this glorious landscape to the fore in this scholarly tome. We learn from "The Indiana Dunes Revealed" that Dudley's work stretches far beyond artistic endeavor. He was also one of the leading U.S. environmentalists during the first half of the twentieth century. The only thing better than this book is viewing Dudley's many sumptuous paintings or actually standing on the sand overlooking the lake. Dudley convinces this reviewer that I am actually on an Indiana beach feeling the wind blow against my face and the surf move beneath my feet.



4. The Indian Dunes Revealed: The Art Of Frank V. Dudley is written and edited by James R. Dabbert (Senior Lecturer in English, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago) with the assistance of J. Ronald Engle (Professor of Social Ethics, Meadville Theological School of Lombard College), Joan Gibb Engel (an activist and writer on Dunes ecology), i9ndependent art historian Wendy Grennhouse , and William H. Gerdts (Professor Emeritus of Art History at the Graduate School of the City University of New York). Frank V. Dudley (1868-1957) was a native of Wisconsin who studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and eventually established a long exhibition record while dedicated more than forty years of his professional life as a landscape painter to the promotion and preservation of the Indiana Dunes - a unique geographical region enjoying state and federal protection while providing ecologists with a unique and truly 'living laboratory' for their studies. "The Indiana Dunes" is a team project that superbly showcases Dudley's life and work including 150 color reproductions of his paintings and another 70 black-and-white images. Because of the continual conflict between development and preservation over the decades, some of Dudley's paintings are the only record we have left of lost dunescapes. Also available in a hardcover edition, "The Indiana Dunes Revealed" is a splendid addition to academic library American Art History collections, and particularly recommended for supplemental reading lists in the areas of environmental studies and American Midwestern history.

5 comments about The Dinner Party: 2.

1. The book is about one of the most well-known peices in Feminist art, Judy Chicago's "The Dinner Party". It not only features photos and accounts of Chicago and her hard-working team of volenteers (both men and women) as they worked for almost eight years on the project and fought to have it exhibited, but it also features detailed sections on each of the place settings and kind of symbolism used in them, and biographies of all the other women whose names around them. A very interesting and exciting book to flip through.



2. Even though I have rated this book, I have never read it. Why? Well its for the simple fact that I can't find it anywhere. I know that it is out of print but I need it for a class and also for the fact that I want it . Iv heard so many interesting things about The dinner Party. I hope to share this not just with my classmates but with my mom and in the far, far future when I decide to have kids, I would like to share it with my little girl. so hopefuly whom ever reads my review (so to speak) it will be listened to and the people who need the book will have it as well and the people who want it.



3. A triumph! A long-awaited celebration of truth about all womankind! A must-have for all women. and for men who truly appreciate their worth! Every female in the world should read this book cover-to cover and rejoice. A rare and beautiful work of art--second only to The Dinner Party exhibit itself. I am going to give this book to my daughter, friends of varying ethnic backgrounds, and several lesbian friends. How often do you find a book that speaks to the entire human race about the valuable contributions of the so-called "weaker sex"? Now we must all work to get The Dinner Party exhibit traveling, as it was originally intended to do, so that we can all personally stand in awe at this altar to all Eve's daughters!



4. What could be more thrilling than a genius like Judy Chicago as she challenges assumptions and traditions with her own brilliant and harrowingly moving depiction of Womyn's struggles. Truly enthralling, and, as another reviewer noted, a threat to the white male agendas of patriarchy. Give this book to all your friends!



5. "Dinner Party" is one of the all-time great works of feminist art, and although it proved too threatening to males, especially the white males of congress, it is art which MUST be witnessed by all young women. I applaud the other reviewers who have distributed this great book to other women.

5 comments about The Intimate Eye: The Drawings of Burton Silverman.

1. Burt Silverman is a wonderful artist. This book is truly inspiring and the work beautiful, as usual.



2. This book is a fine collection of drawings by an artist in the classic tradition, and yet, they have an added vision in the way Silverman chooses his poses and drops edges. A lovely work.



3. this is exactly the kind of book i like..beautiful drawings and, just as important for a working artist, a real discussion of why he makes certain choices and how he mentally handles tricky technical issues (such as: for the drawings, he used an actual book but as it had different kinds of paper on each page, sometimes the surface didn't necessarily fit the image or media he wanted to use and he discusses how he handled this).
   much better than the usual 'how-to' or one of those coffee table art books which either focus solely on technique or just present the images - here is a rare book which shows beautiful images and also reveals the decisions involved in creating them...(there is a book of interviews with Wyeth which is similar)...like having a heart to heart with a master painter...this is a real chance to hear and reflect on issues we all face as we draw and paint.



4. This book is incredible. I've shared it with fellow artist and everyone is impressed with its pictures and its commentary.



5. What is interesting about this book is the view you get of the artist and his thinking. The forward and introduction were well written. The plates are wonderful. Kudo's to the publisher.
   
   But alas, the drawings are basically rough sketches of life studies. Nothing is finish. If you enjoy seeing unfinished work that emphasizes style and impression more than realism and technical skill, this is your book. But I honestly expected something more. The book is very pricey but the content is not all that well executed, IMHO. But it's worth a look if you are a serious draftsman in training.

1 comments about The Idea and Story Without Words.

1. They're very similar in many ways. Both stories are told entirely in images, black and white with no middle tones, one per page. They're angular and expressive, conveying conveying many shades of feeling despite and because of the blunt imagery. And they both cover the range from elation to despair.
   
   "The Idea" will speak loudly to anyone who makes their living with their creativity. The idea, personified as a foot-tall, elegant female figure, is born from the creator's brow, after a bolt of lightning. The rest of the story follows her career through a harsh, crass, manipulative world. She ends up happily, even if her father does not. "Story without words" is similar. A persistent suitor rings all the changes on his entreaty and eventually succeeds - or does he? Both stories seem more like a series of snapshots than a straight, linear narrative, but convey the jolting emotional ups and downs very effectively.
   
   It's hard to believe that the stories are over eighty years old. The issues and the hard-edged graphics are as fresh and startling now as ever. So I wonder, does that say more about how advanced Masereel's vision was, or how regressive ours has been since then?
   
   //wiredweird

3 comments about Dignifying Science: Stories About Women Scientists.

1. This well-meant companion volume to the author's _Two Fisted Science_ is, unfortunately, not nearly as successful as graphic fiction. This time, five women artists tell the stories of five women scientists. While trying to focus on lesser-known people, Ottaviani finally broke down and included a fore-and-aft pair of shorts on Marie Curie. If you've read Watson's _The Double Helix,_ you may already have heard of Rosalind Franklin, who came very close to discovering the essential shape of DNA before Crick and Watson -- had she only not moved in the wrong direction on a couple of minor points (and possessed a less abrasive personality). Barbara McClintock picked up a Nobel for her work on the corn genome, you'd really never know what her field was from the badly written story (though the art is okay). Biruté Galdikas has become the world's leading authority on orangutans (yes, she's still out there in the jungles of Borneo) and you'll learn a lot about them -- and her -- from Anne Timmons's nicely done piece. But the story of mathematician Lise Meitner is also pretty indistinct. The best of the collection, actually, is Carl Speed McNeil's very well told and drawn story of the scientific side of Hedy Lamarr, of all people. Hedy (not Heddy) actually held some wartime patents in electronics (which became a crucial part of cell phone technology), but still was treated like a bimbo both by her first husband and by Louis B. Mayer after she escaped to the U.S. This book could have been much, much better.



2. A single writer partnered with 12 different artists in stories about 6 different women scientists. Some stories obviously succeed better than others.

   For young people who like graphic novels and have some interest in science, I recommend it highly. But as a women's history buff and a comic book fan I find it a little disappointing. The comic format is ideal for high drama stories but is not always used at it's full potential here.

   For example, in the life of Barbara McClintock, two pages cover the time period from 1951 to 1983. They show her lecturing to men in business suits with their hands over their ears. The crowd thins out in the 60's and then begins to swell with more casually dressed people, both male and female, who don't have their hands over their ears. Then she gets the Nobel prize. The faces in the crowds are consistently expressionless. I think this misses the real drama of McClintock's life. She was so brilliant that her theory was not understood when she first presented it. She chose to continue her research even when it was not reaching a receptive audience and because she documented it for decades, when other researchers later repeated her experiments and discovered her documentation, she received the recognition she deserved.

   This was seldom the case with earlier women scientists, for example, Rosalind Franklin. Franklin's fascinating story, unfortunately, is difficult to follow through time and four different artists' styles.

   And, in an interesting bit of reverse sexism, Birute Galdikas' story is told without once mentioning (or picturing) her first husband who worked beside her daily for 20 years. OK, so her whole life story had to be told in only 21 pages, but the ghosts of all the women scientists whose husbands' got credit for all their work recognize a kindred spirit when they see one.

   In a format that's known for pounding points home, the drama here is often implied and understated. Perhaps less would be missed if the format was full color instead of black and white. Better yet, read some biographies of these women and discuss with your children how you would tell their stories to preserve the real drama.

   This is a good introduction to some fascinating women for those who like the graphic novel format. Use it as a starting point.




3. Ottaviani's DIGNIFYING SCIENCE is a well illustrated and well written work. It does what a lot of good nonfiction has done recently - it focuses on those often forgotten people and events that were important and influential on the better known ideas and forces that shape our world today. In this instance, Ottaviani has centered his attention on women scientists, inventors and researchers who discovered, researched, and supported major scientific achievements in the last century. He and the women artists who illustrate the book do a superb job of introducing us to the contributions of these people who we never knew or knew little, but to whom we owe a collective, and enormous, debt.

No comments about Bold Improvisation: Searching for African-American Quilts - The Heffley Collection.

4 comments about Contemporary Quilting: Exciting Techniques and Quilts from Award-Winning Quilters.

1. This is an excellent book for quilters and textile artists interested in exploring contemporary textile techniques and materials. Each stimulating activity is explained clearly and simply, assisted by comprehensive photos.
   
   The second part of the book showcases a range of beautiful contemporary quilts by renowned quilters, which illustrate various modern techniques. Descriptions of the techniques used and effects achieved are helpful and interesting.
   
   This is a useful purchase for a serious contemporary quilter, or quilting group to add to their library. The book is fun, visually attractive, with the projects aimed at assisting quilters to explore new horizons and techniques.



2. Contemporary Quilting: Exciting Techniques And Quilts From Award-Winning Quilters teaches new techniques thorough a blend of color photos and 12 projects. Thanks to rotary machine cutting there's a whole generation who have never used scissors: the authors interviewed many pros in the quilting industry to gather these challenging new projects.



3. The first reviewer obviously missed the whole point of the book and its goals. This was not writen to promote any "new" techniques but to show variations on contemporary ones and to showcase outstanding award winning quilts. The photographs are outstanding and the variety of quilts is a wonderful collection of diverse methods and techniques. Yes, we have seen some of these quilts before but does one ever tire of seeing or admiring outstanding work?
   This book encourages the quiltmaker or fabric artist to try something different and to have some fun! So buy the book, feast on the pictures and go have some fun!
   I immediately purchased several copies and plan on buying more..Thank you for a beautiful book!



4. I really dislike giving a 2-star rating to this book. I WANTED to like it, really I did. But it's not a great book. Many of the quilts in the gallery are pieces that I have seen in other books I own. I have always liked many of these quilts - key phrase: ALWAYS LIKED.... as in have seen many, many times. Nearly a fourth of the quilts are five or more years old, and in this information age, that's a long time. As for the techniques section - if you have the Snippets books or the Painting book which Cindy co-authored, you already have about half the techniques. Some of the other techniques (Angelina, photo transfer) are shown in better detail in the Quilting Arts magazine or other books, and two of the "techniques" are just basic traditional piecing with perhaps a slight twist toward contemporary (for ex, stamping on sashing fabrics).
   
   All-in-all, if I'd seen it before I ordered it, Amazon would still own it, and I'd still have my money. Unhappily, it's now the other way around. I know a lot of work goes into writing a book, but these authors should have put their efforts toward a better project. The best thing I can say is that the gallery photography is good (the projects photos less so). And if you don't own many exhibit catalogs or other books on art quilts you may really enjoy this one.

No comments about Cheap Thrills.