5 comments about Sexcats.

1. 
   There really aren't many books that contain just a bunch of GREAT nudie picks from the fifties and sixties. Most of them out there are too small, and too sparse, with maybe one or two good pics, and pages and pages of nonsense. This book got it right. 350+ pages of HAWT fotos from the ghost of Kittens Past. I dig.
   I dig even more than my copy of Playboys Redhead book... and that book is pretty hot.



2. Christopher Mealie has put together a book of photos for those of us ( aging baby boomers ) who remember when lingerie, and / or bare breasts were as hot as it got. There's something about what you DON'T see that makes it all the more sexy. That these women are rather normal-looking, and would, most likely, never grace the pages of Playboy, makes them more realistic, and, attainable.For those of you who don't, necessarily, want the girl next door, and like a wide variety of breasts, this collection is for you.



3. I think the images are stunning, the girls evoke a classic beauty that doesn't exist anymore EXCEPT between the covers of this excellent book. People today don't appreciate fine erotica. . . Maxim has ruined it for this generation. Thankfully, this brilliant book captures the seduction of another era. . . one that is missed but not forgotten. Get a copy of this book if you want to see what a truly sexy woman looks like. . . you won't find her in playboy or maxim, but you will find her in this book.



4. Its a great collection of vintage erotic photographs........ Unlike anything available now days. Buy this book if not for the nude ladies....then for the photography art!!!



5. Christopher's collection of photographs is a wonderful nostalgic view of the way things used to be. It gives us a fond look back at the times when these photos were quietly passed around in secret, and when we got to sneak a peek at our dad's (or grandfather's) private stash.
   
   Well done!

No comments about Ceramics in America 2007 (Ceramics in America).

No comments about Space, Site, Intervention: Situating Installation Art.

3 comments about The Tres Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry.

1. Enter the magical medieval pages of the illuminated manuscripts of the gifted Limbourg brothers and discover a world long gone, but one which seems oddly familiar in a storybook sort of way. The colors (nicely reproduced in this hardback version of the book) will dazzle you - the skies were painted with an ultramarine made from costly lapis lazuli. The compositions, drawn in the pre-perspective days of the 15th century, will delight you. Many of the religious illuminations are moving - the Death of Christ captures the grim darkness into which the world has been cast in tones of grey and brown with only the shining gold halo of Christ piercing the gloom; God in his heavenly lunette above the picture looks sadly down on the scene, brilliant amidst reds, blues, and gold. But it is the pictures of the calendar - a wonderful record of daily life among the rich and the poor alike - that will charm you the most. The Duke feasts, the peasants warm themselves before fires, the plowman tills the soil, the farmers shear the sheep, and the pigs forage for acorns. And rising in the background of each of these magical scenes, in regulation storybook fashion, is a shining white castle. This hardcover version is a beautiful book that you will treasure for years.



2. Having read negative reviews of the cheap, paperback version of this book, I took a deep gulp and sprang for the expensive hardback. This is a case where spending more for the hardback version is more than worth it. The pictures are very large size format, with the gold intact (unlike the paperback version). The quality of the paintings is excellent. The book is beautiful to display, look at and/or study. I have been copying one of the illustrations, and having a great time.I love medieval illustrated books. I have not found another one in this large a format, with such detail. If you are into illuminated manuscripts, you must have this one, there can be no argument. (Hardback version)



3. The books begins with an introduction, then many images from the Tres Riches Heures, and at the end there is a commentary of the pictures.

   The big problem is that the pictures were made in the sixties, they are fuzzy, unsharp, the colors are not vivid and bright, such a very low quality of photocomposition is no more acceptable at the end of the 20th century. It is high time that a newer edition be made available in English, as is already the case in French.

1 comments about Conceptualism in Latin American Art: Didactics of Liberation (Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Series in Latin American and Latino Art and Culture).

1. Luis Camnitzer's "Conceptualism in Latin American Art: Didactics of Liberation"' is an essential book for anyone interested in understanding the differences in the currents which nourished Conceptual Art in Latin America and in mainstream Conceptual Art in the United States. In it's scope it should take it's place next to "The Dada Painters and Poets", Motherwell's magnificent introduction to early European radicalism. Both books open for us broad areas where writers, artists and poets opened new venues for expression.
   Discovering for us the work of Simon Rodriguez (1769-1854) alone is worth the price of admission. By allowing Rodriguez's work to resonate with examples, Camnitzer establishes in my view the most important theme of this book. Conceptualism in Latin America arises out of the immense wealth inherent in language and literature. From Simon Rodriguez to Max Aub, Jorge Luis Borges, Vicente Huidobro to a long list of artists who have enriched this legacy, right up to Leon Ferrari working at maximum intensity in Argentina.
   A meticulous analysis of North American conceptualism reveals it's inextricable relation to Capitalism. This raises the question: Up to what point can Democracy and Capitalism coexist. What possibilities are left for art when a booming market swallows anything and everything thus neutering any possibility for subversion. Thus La Monte Youg's chilling phrase: "I am not interested in good: I am interested in new- even if this includes the possibility of it's being evil." To this the author juxtaposes Superbarrio's statement: "One day I left home to go to work and I saw two flashes of lightning, one yellow, one red. I closed my eyes after I was caught in a whirlwind. When the wind passed, I opened my eyes and I was dressed like a wrestler! Exactly as you are seeing me today!"
   ARTFORHUM-2008

1 comments about Mosaics for the first time (For the First Time).

1. Last summer I was introduced to mosaics and fell in love with the art. I found that this book offers everything one needs to know to succeed in mosaics. Terms and tools unique to mosaics are explained clearly and concisely. Each technique is well illustrated and a list of supplies is included. It is a beautiful book full of imaginative ideas and the author did a good job of conveying her knowledge.

2 comments about Print in Fashion: Design, Development and Technique in Fashion Textiles.

1. I got this book for a digital surface design class that I am taking. I thought that it would be a really cool book and I had actually flipped through it once. Yet when I got it, I was a little dissapointed. The author does not carry her thoughts well from one paragraph to another. I feel like she uses big words that she might not necessarily understand completely...oh and there is a missing page :(



2. I loved this book - very inspirational - gave me lots of insight on top designers that I hadn't read about elsewhere. Total eye candy. I highly suggest this book for anyone in the design biz or who just needs inspiration and is a real lover of prints and patterns.

5 comments about The Pressed Plant.

1. I was disappointed with this book - I was expecting something completely different. Very staid and did not give the information on pressed plants that I was looking for.



2. I love The Art of the Pressed Plant. The authors mine the history, the science and the art of preserved plants in this
   rich book. It was fascinating to learn about the people who have collected plants throughout history, what that meant, and what that was like for them. It was inspiring and surprising to see the beautiful specimens. You will not be disappointed if you get this book.



3. The author provides a well written history of plant preservation and pressing with summaries, comments, illustrations, and a comprehensive "how to" section. Anyone interested in pressed plant collecting should own this book.



4. As an avid fan of leaves and wildflowers, with not a few pressed examples stuck in books and files, I was glad to find a book that celebrates all kinds of pressed plants, from ferns to seaweeds (!), as art. There's an amazing fossilized impression of a prehistoric plant, photos of Victorian botanists' carefully pressed samples, and sun prints done with photographic paper over a century ago. Plus a few modern artists' examples. This book proves that Mother Nature has been one of the best artists all along, and that we humans can have a sort of artistic partnership by preserving botanical specimens in one way or another. The wide array of images is mouth-watering; and the book can be used as a sort of tasting party to get you started on a new collection, or, using the how-to at the back of the book, a new hobby or art.



5. For years I searched for a book that would direct me through the process of pressing ferns and other plants. This is it! This exquisite book is a treasure! The author shows the nature lover how to complete the process of preserving plants, just as the Victorians did. However, this wonderful hobby did not originate with the Victorians, they just renewed it with avid inspiration and volumes of renditons and renderings. This book takes the reader through the history of plant preservation, and shows the eager "artist" three different techniques for display: using the real thing, printing with paints and inks, and sun printing. This book is so wonderful, you may want to have two. The numerous copies of original and rare prints are so gorgeous, you may need an extra volume to "cheat" with: you know remove from the volume and, voila, inexpensive yet exquisite art!

No comments about Lladro.

5 comments about The Remarkable Potters of Seagrove: The Folk Pottery of a Legendary North Carolina Community (A Lark Ceramics Book).

1. For the southern folk pottery collector, this is a must have. Good information with good photo illustrations. This also has a good historical perspective on the area and its pottery production. If you want to start collecting NC folk pottery, this book would help you in your knowledge of the subject and point you in the right directions.
   Ted Oliver
   Oliver's Southern Folk Art
   [...]



2. This is a beautiful book that will find a happy place on many coffee tables and bookshelves. The photographs are superb, and the selection of pottery fabulous. Brown writes knowledgeably and sensitively about both the wonderful objects and the truly "remarkable" people who produced them. I'm puzzled by the one negative review which seems to have an axe to grind. People interested in pottery or who have friends interested in pottery will find this a valuable (and affordable) investment. I'm giving it to close friends this year!



3. This is the worst book ever written on North Carolina pottery, or Southern pottery generally. THIS BOOK SHOULD HAVE A WARNING LABEL! It is packed with misinformation and inaccuracies. There are some nice pictures, but otherwise it is poorly researched and poorly written. Examples: 1. On page 51, writing of J B Cole: "He was quick to switch his kilns from wood to oil and gas." Actually, Waymon Cole converted the wood kiln to kerosene in the early 1950s, about 10 years after J B Cole died, and the kiln was rebuilt for propane in the early 80s. 2. Two pages (9 and 65) feature a picture of a very nice pair of Waymon Cole floor vases, described as "circa 1940." They are clearly from the 50s or early 60s. 3. Page 65: "[C C Cole] ran a pottery production shop but was not himself a potter." Charlie Cole was a potter, but he gave up turning after he lost a finger because of a snake bite. 4. Page 68: "[Dorothy & Walter] Auman pottery was hand-signed 'Seagrove, NC' or 'Seagrove Pottery' on the bottom." While I haven't seen every piece of Seagrove Pottery, NONE of the many hundreds that I have seen were so marked. 5. Page 11, speaking of the Great Wagon Road and early settlers: "This slow stream of people rolled down the Great Wagon Road from Philadelphia, coming south to the Catawba Valley . . . ." Actually, NO! There is an illustration on the same page showing the Great Wagon Road entering North Carolina at the wrong place and from the wrong direction and running to the Yadkin River, which is accurate. That branch of the Great Wagon Road actually came from the Roanoke Valley and was also known as the Carolina Road. The western branch of the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road, called The Great Road, ran to the Holston Valley and into northeast Tennessee, but NOT to the Catawba Valley! There is a very clear and traceable relationship of early redwares beginning in eastern Pennsylvania, then moving into western Pennsylvania, then into the Shenandoah Valley, then to central NC by way of the Carolina Road and to southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee by the Great Road western branch. No such relationship exists with the Catawba Valley potters, who are generally considered to have come from South Carolina, bringing with them the alkaline-glazing technique which was completely absent in Virginia, Tennessee, and central North Carolina. 6. They also have Asheville labeled as "Asheboro" in the illustration on the same page. These samples reflect a serious, fundamental lack of knowledge of the history of North Carolina pottery.



4. This beautiful volume documents the history of Seagrove, NC, a hotbed of notable American potters and potteries dating back to the eighteenth century. It's written in a lively and readable style, not bogged down in heavily academic jargon.
   
   As the traditions continue into our own time, the reader is brought into the present by the stories of contempory potters. Some, such as Ben Owen III, are living heirs to many generations.
   
   The book is lavishly illustrated by dozens of photographs of both historic and recent pottery from the area. Also included is a helpful guide to ninety craftsmen currently throwing pots in and around Seagrove, such as Jugtown Pottery, one of the South's most revered potteries.



5. This is a very thorough and informative review of the pottery concentration that I first encountered over 36 years ago on site, including how long the potters and their families had been there in the Seagrove/Plank Road area. Recommend acquisition of this book (and I've bought another as a gift already) to anyone seeking good information about these potters and their excellent work.