No comments about Manuel Manilla: Mexican Engraver.

2 comments about Taos: Landmarks & Legends.

1. Very cool book. One of my favorite NM books. And I have alot.




2. For anyone who is an expatriate Taoseno (as I am) or for those who are just interested in this fascinating little town, Bill Hemp has written and beautifully illustrated a coffee-table-type book that one can read all the way through without getting bored and return to often to enjoy the sketches and re-read specific chapters.

   In it, you will find the history of the three cultures (Indian, Spanish and Anglo) that put Taos, New Mexico on the map as a place like no other place in the world. The ancient Anasazi settled around Taos in 1000 A.D. and Taos Pueblo (dating from about 1350) is the oldest continually occupied pueblo in the Southwest. When the Spanish arrived in 1540, they set their seal on the ancient community, building churches and missions and farming the land. Then Mabel Dodge Luhan "discovered" this magical place (it is said that Taos Mountain draws people) and an influx of Anglo artists and writers began, among them D.H. Lawrence, Andrew Dasburg, Georgia O'Keeffe, Ernest Blumenschein, Micolai Fechin...the list is too long to mention all of them here. Later, R.C. Gorman, John Nichols, Natalie Goldberg and many others who have achieved fame in the outside world made their home in Taos (which means, "place of the red willow").

   Chapters are devoted to Kit Carson, Padre Martinez, the Penitentes, the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge and even the influx of hippies with a chapter on the New Buffalo commune in Arroyo Hondo north of Taos. There are maps, portraits, landscapes, architecture, quotes, reminiscences, stories of ghosts, little-known facts and even recipes (one for green chile stew) in this rich, very readable and delightful work. I found no inaccuracies but did find a great deal of information that I hadn't known about before. Highly recommended.

   pamhan99@aol.com

2 comments about Chuck Close.

1. While at the MoMA I happened across the Chuck Close exhibit. I had heard of him, but had never seen his work. As I walked through the exhibit I thought to myself, "big deal, a bunch of 9 foot tall photographs." But when I notice the medium was acrylic I was astonded! This book captures the unbelievable talent of this amazing artist. It shows his the vast array of materials he used from paint, to pieces of paper. i would highly recommend buying this book! It is one of my favorites.



2. While in Chicago in the Summer of 1998, I happened across an astounding exhibition of work chronicling the life's work of Chuck Close at the Museum of Contemporary Art. This book is a catalogue of the traveling exhibition that is no less astounding and amazing. Chuck Close is an amazing human who focuses on portraits of human heads and most are executed on a grand scale. The book will take you through his life, via his work, chronologically. Not to be missed are the portraits, done in watercolor, that while inches away from the work, I could not tell it wasn't a photograph. The best thing about the book is that it catalogues every piece in the retrospective and is formatted in a scale that conveys the grandness of the paintings. It is a truly amazing and intriguing body of work that is not to be missed.

No comments about Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks: LACONA VI Proceedings, Vienna, Austria, Sept. 21--25, 2005 (Springer Proceedings in Physics) (Springer Proceedings in Physics).

1 comments about Cy Twombly: The Sculpture.

1. Just happened to pick up this book at my local bookstore in Berkeley CA.... What a surprise! I appreciate art and especially sculpture, but now I have a real appreciation for Cy Twombly! I never really enjoyed his paintings too much (which is his most prominent art form), but this book and his sculpture has certainly given me another point of view... Very original photos of all different periods of his long life along with his sculpture.... many black and white... many photos taken by his friend Rauchenburg, Also lots of written info and photographs of early work etc. A good coffee table book or gift for any art afficanado.

No comments about P0Es1S: The Aesthetics Of Digital Poetry.

2 comments about Art from the Parks.

1. The original focus of this book was said to be art selected from the annual Arts for the Parks contest in Jackson, Wyoming, but that idea got lost somewhere since some paintings are not from national parks and paintings from parks have no notation to tell you which park is depicted. I have been following the Arts for the Parks for a couple of years and I find some of the omissions pretty glaring. Why do we get six paintings by Jim McVicker and not one by Ronnie Barnes? Three David Tutwilers and no Shirley Cleary. Three Dempwolfs and no Lanford Munroe. There are many beautiful paintings in the book and the artists comments are interesting and informative. The picture cropping at times is brutish and the desciption of one painting is obviously of another.A good book in spite of the editing.31/2 stars for the art and 1/2 a star for the publisher.



2. What a beautiful collection of art work form the years of the Art of the Parks contests. No matter what style the paintings are, the compositions are outstanding. Nice picture reproduction with a short relevant text with each entry.

No comments about Picturing Hong Kong: Photography 1855-1910.

No comments about Charles E. Burchfield: The Sacred Woods.

No comments about Trade Fair Design Annual 2006 / 2007 / Messedeisgn Jahrbuch 2006 / 2007: International (Trade Fair Design Annual: International).