No comments about Make Your Own Damn Art: to form the world according to one's own rules.

1 comments about Pueblo and Navajo Contemporary Pottery and Directory of Artists.

1. Although this book is filled with clear color photos, it is not worth buying. It claims to be about Pueblo and Navajo Pottery and "for collectors" but it only covers three pueblos in any kind of depth. The section on Acoma pueblo is one of the largest, but it has far too many examples of greenware (pre-made pots painted by the artist) and other low-end pieces to be taken seriously. The same is true for the smaller section on Navajo pottery--not even a mention of Alice Cling, Samuel Manymules or Harrison Begay to name a few. The section on Santa Clara is the best, and has the broadest selection, however San Ildefonso (home of Maria Martinez and family and many of the greatest contemporary potters) gets less than two pages. Several other pueblos--Santa Ana, San Felipe, Pojoaque and Sandia--only merit one pot each, while Taos, Nambe, Picuris, Isleta and Cochiti don't even get a mention. Cochiti even gets completely short-changed in the excessively long chapter on Storytellers--with no mention or credit to their inventor, Helen Cordero, from Cochiti.
   
   I also wonder a bit at some of the "current retail prices" listed for most of the pieces shown. Granted, this book came out in 2004, but a half hour spent surfing the websites of any number of reputable dealers showed many of these prices to either be considerably too high or too low.
   
   You would do infinitely better buying Allan Hayes and John Blom's "Southwestern Pottery: Anasazi to Zuni" for a few dollars less, getting an equally illustrated and far more complete and better written guide. Or save your money for one of Gregory Schaaf's artist directories, which again, are equally illustrated and infinitely more complete. In regards to the aforementioned excessively long section on Storytellers, read either Mark Bahti, Barbara A. Babcock or Nancy Howard.
   
   This book might serve the purpose of a tourist going to New Mexico for the first time, wanting to familiarize themselves with some low-end pottery, but any collector, even a beginner, doesn't need to waste their time or money on this one.

No comments about An Arrangement of Pictures.

No comments about Gelatin's ACB.

No comments about American Art Pottery Wall Pockets.

1 comments about Thomas Mann: Storm Cycle--An Artist Responds to Hurricane Katrina.

1. Truly amazing work that reflects just some of what Hurricane Katrina means.
   This is what real artists do. I was fortunate to see the complete installation, but the book is wonderful in itself.

1 comments about The Golden Haggadah.

1. The bulk of this book contains color plates of Biblical scenes taking up full pages in the Haggadah - the stories of Genesis and Exodus depicted in marvelous illuminations some of which have a very icon-like quality.

   There are intrepetive chapters on the artists and their models for the Biblical minatures including material on the Jewish interpretation of the Christian illuminations' symbols. The final chapter discusses the Shepardi community and the patrons who could fund such an effort as the Golden Haggadah.

   For those interested for ritual purposes as well, see The Illuminated Haggadah - the ritual text with illuminations from the British Library including several also in this book.

   For anyone interested in religious art or Medieval illuminations, this book is a must have as it explores an aspect of illuminated manuscripts unknown to many of us Gentiles.

1 comments about Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller: The Secret Hotel.

1. The catalogue is fine but there is no DVD! It's only a 45 rpm vinyl record! If you still keep a turntable around it's fine otherwise don't be fooled by the description!

No comments about Grayson Perry: Portrait of The Artist As a Young Girl.

No comments about Japanese Prints: Catalogue of the Van Gogh Museum Collection.