2 comments about Ceramics - Mastering the Craft.

1. Generally, I collect ceramics, I don't make them anymore. I was never very adept with the potting wheel where my projects too often became lost in space, but I used to make very nice ceramics. In the process of dabbling with molds, slip and glaze I wondered about other aspects of the craft and over the years I have read and studied the subject informally. This wonderful book is a valuable resource whether you are starting out and want to experiment with different clay projects or want to refresh your memory.

   Zakin first explains the building blocks--ceramics-making materials (different combinations lead to different outcomes). He discusses types of clays, feldspars, frits, silica, and other modifying compounds. Ever notice when you hold a cup made from Kaolin (frequently called porcelain) filled with a hot fluid you don't burn your hand whereas the cute cup you bought at the local craft show made from a more porous clay does? Zakin provides a great deal of information about the attributes of clay including plasticity, durability, color, maturity absorption, texture, resistance to warping, and intended use. If you're making a mug, a quiche pan, or a vase (or buying one), you may want to consider these aspects.

   Zakin provides the reader with much information about ceramic color, glazes, and mold-making (plenty of tips for success). I was fascinated with the sections discussing glaze making and testing, and kiln loading and firing including some nice photos of the raku process. Section 16 includes a succinct history of ceramics that covers various types generated over the ages (nicely illustrated and clearly written).

   The appendices of the book continue the in-depth exploration of the process of ceramics making including ways to analyze your results. This is an informative and well illustrated book containing many examples of ceramics made by the author and other artists working in his field.




2. This book has a wonderful overview of ceramics for the studio potter. It has wealth of useful information for all skill levels and is one of the best reference books that I have in my collection. Top artists in the field are represented with lots of pictures and glaze recipes. Very well written and easy to understand.

5 comments about A History of X: 100 Years of Sex in Film.

1. Somewhere, buried in this book, is some interesting, little-known information. This author would seem to have a lot of the inside dope on the subject - he's obviously followed the subject for many years. So it's worth a read if you are REALLY interested and can manage the author's, uh... "style."

   Because this author can't write worth beans. Everything previously reviewers have alleged about him is true, and more. If there was *any* copy editing or checking involved, it's not obvious. This book IS rambling, discursive, contradictory, aimless, and badly organized.

   A passion for pointless footnotes masks not only all this literary chaos but also a very weird, murky, attitude that can only be described as self-loathing. It's like the old crime magazines that used to glorify sex and violence by publicly deploring it - in lengthy and graphic detail. Why somebody who so clearly despises his topic should spin his wheels so furiously about it escapes me.

   If you can find this book at a library, yard sale, or etc. it might be worth reading once over lightly. But pay full hardback price for it only if you've got money to burn.

   As somebody has already written: surely there must be a better basic source on the subject?




2. The PW review really summed it up -- this book is poorly edited, incoherent, meandering, and filled with shameful generalizations about the nature of men, women, and sex (and Jews, and...). If it weren't about the only book out there that even bothers to attempt to review the history of porn movie making (with most of its focus on the California era of the 70's through the 90's), it would deserve one star -- or less.

   As it is, its facts are wrong, its gossip misleading, and its author clearly conflicted about his love and loathing of sexually explicit entertainment. But it is an interesting enough read (perhaps in the train wreck sense) that I finished the book. I didn't learn much more than I already knew, however. The shame of it is, this could have been a really good book, had some editor taken Ford firmly in hand and made him shape his chapters into a coherent form. It's not for nothing that the man has earned fame as a porn industry watcher; Ford has a trashy tabloid style that certainly grabs the attention (and there's nothing wrong with trashy tabloidism in its place!). But instead of guidance, he was handed a book contract and allowed to ramble without rein. The result is sad and unworthy of being clad between two covers. Blog-like ramblings on a website are one thing; I expect more rigorousness from a book I'm supposed to pay for.




3. I can't recall when I've read a more interesting book on the adult industry. Luke Ford has definitely done his homework. His writing style amazed me and held me spellbound through each and every page. Bravo, Mr. Ford!



4. Mr. Ford has crafted one of the most important tomes of his generation in this jeremiad against pornography. In clinical detail, Ford rips the scab off the underword of porn like no other thinker dare do today and reveals the dirt that lies at the heart of this moral stain upon all that is human and decent in the world of decent people who do not ignore natural law unlike those who act in or sell or like porn.

   All in all, one of the most influencial books I have ever read. It got me very very very excited. I especially liked the photograph of Mr. Ford on the cover.




5. The book is ambitious in its scope, but gets bogged down in the minutia of the business side of the pornography industry. Ultimately it lacks what porn fans truly crave...graphic photos of women in humiliating sex acts. Overall a decent first effort.

2 comments about Mosaics: 20 stunning step-by-step projects for the home and garden, shown in 150 clear and colourful photographs.

1. The instructions for the mosaic projects in this book are not as thorough as some other mosaic books, and the text and step-by-step photos are a little small for my taste, being that I like them to be easily visible at a safe distance from the project I'm working on. However, the instructions are adequate for beginners, and there are certainly a variety of fairly easy, pretty project ideas. There's a nice mosaic-encrusted wine bottle, a lamp that includes undetailed instructions for its wiring, a charming chest of 5 mini-drawers, a lovely clock face, a couple of mirrors that nicely show how to attach the mirror as well as the mosaics, an attractive partially-covered flower pot, some small ceramic square tiles decorated with several different mosaic designs that can be used for a variety of decorative purposes, and other projects. This is a fairly good book for a person getting started, but serves better as one to add to your collection as a resource for ideas.



2. I've been a glass artist for some time now. I came across Helen's book and really love it. She explains techniques very well and gives you some great projects to do. Some of the projects in the book are clocks, love letter rack, aztec box, flower pot and many more. A great book for the beginner or experienced glass artist!

1 comments about The Elephant and the Lotus: Vietnamese Ceramics in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

1. Independent scholar and curator Philippe Truong provides a key text for any college-level art library strong in Asian ceramics in THE ELEPHANT AND THE LOTUS: VIETNAMESE CERAMICS IN THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON. Over two hundred objects from the collection are profiled in a gathering of wares from throughout Vietnam, analyzed by the expert author and representing the first complete published catalog of this collection.

No comments about Liam Gillick: Proxemics Selected Essays, 1988-2006.

1 comments about Evolution: Five Decades of Printmaking by David C. Driskell.

1. 
   David C. Driskell is an accomplished artist, a respected educator, a noted historian, an able curator, and a distinguished diplomat. For more than fifty years he has worked and created in a variety of mediums including painting, drawing, collage, and printmaking. It is his printmaking that is celebrated and showcased in "Evolution: Five Decades Of Printmaking By David C. Driskell", a compendium that includes his woodcuts, linoleum cuts, lithographs, etchings, and screenprints. Enhanced with more than 100 perfectly reproduced images of his works, the illustrations range from black-and-white figures and portraits, brightly colored landscapes, still lifes, and abstracts. It should be noted that "Evolution" is the accompanying catalog to an exhibition of his work currently on display at The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora at the University of Maryland. Featuring three informed and informative essays by three scholars in the field of African American art offering insights into Driskell's techniques, subject matter, inspirations and influences, "Evolution" also provides a comprehensive checklist of prints crated by Driskell in the course of his career, a David C. Driskell Chronology (by Julie McGee), and an index, making this seminal work of scholarship a significant and timely contribution to personal and academic library African-American Art History reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

2 comments about Shawnee Pottery: The Full Encyclopedia With Value Guide (Schiffer Book for Collectors).

1. Everything you ever wanted to know about collecting this fine pottery is in here. Very impressed about the history and how complete it is. Pam did an EXCELLENT job in researching. Easy to follow with great pictures. You will never regret getting a copy of this book. It is WONDERFUL.



2. This book is a must for any Shawnee collector. The information and pictures are extensive and laid out in easy to read chapters. She covers all Shawnee, from cookie jars to ashtrays. I take this with me on all Shawnee excursions. It is large and somewhat heavy, definitely not a "pocket guide".

2 comments about Minimalism (Themes & Movements).

1. This is my favorite book in my art book collection. If you like minimalism this is a great read with tons of colorplates, a historical survey of the movement, and relevant writings from top art historians and artists.



2. A glorious book combining a multitude of exquisite images of important Minimalist works with an unusual book design that includes overlapping fonts, and font sizes that progressively downsize as the reader moves through the text. (The book designers must have had a ball with this job.)

   The first section is loosely defined as a history of the development and basic tenets of Minimalism. An idea that weaves throughout much of the work termed Minimal is the use of serial geometry, industrial materials, and factory production methods that deny the centuries-old tradition of art as a unique, hand-crafted object that cannot be replicated. Although Minimalism is no longer avant-garde, its influences are felt today in Conceptual and process art, as well as Neo-Geo. This section goes beyond the traditional survey that simply is a factual list of themes or ideas utilized by each particular artist to also include critical response to the work. Minimalism is broadly characterized as a response to and reaction against the subjectivity, gestural mark-making, and private vision of Abstract Expressionism.

   The bulk of the book, the second section, is given to reproductions of the works by the Minimalist artists and those often associated with Minimalism. Large photos are accompanied by captions that describe that particular piece.

   The third and final section is a collection of writings, interviews, and other publications by critics and the artists themselves, chronologically arranged to illustrate the chain of discourse eminating from important exhibitions of Minimalist work.

2 comments about Paperclay: For Ceramic Sculptors 3rd Edition.

1. There are few books out there on paper clay, so if you're one who learns by reading there's precious little to choose from. If you're interested in the medium, you probably need to have this book. But be forewarned: though it contains lots of information not currently available from other sources, it's one of the worst-produced books I've seen in a very long time.
   
   The book was evidently never put through a professional editing process, and it shows. It's full of typos, punctuation errors, and confusing sentences. After reading the first few pages, I concluded (erroneously, as it turns out) that English was not the author's first language. Here is a sample garbled sentence, admittedly one of the worst: "Join between bone and soft is usually better that same join at would be leatherhard." Some sections read more like the author's notes rather than a finished manuscript.
   
   Many of the illustrations have been reduced so small that it's difficult to discern what's being shown -- and some of the labels, reduced along with the illustrations, contain type that literally required a magnifying glass to read.
   
   The author decided to use a question-and-answer format for the entire book, which quickly becomes tiresome. As a result, there's no "narrative" to the book and the information is disjointed and episodic.
   
   The book I received, although it says it's the 2007 "third edition," does not look like the one pictured here. Instead, it's printed in a very horizontal format (about 9 inches wide by 5 inches deep), which is awkward to hold and irritating to use.
   
   If you have the patience to deal with all this, much information about paper clay can be gleaned from this book. The author quite obviously knows a lot and seems willing enough to share that with her readers. However, I believe the publisher does her, and us, a disservice by going into a third edition without taking care of these fundamental problems.



2. i have found this companion boock easy and clear to follow.it have beeing a great help developing new forms in my studio.

1 comments about Complete Art Foundation Course: Drawing, Watercolor, Oils and Acrylics (Foundation Course S.).

1. I love it. I'm doing a beginner drawing course and the book answers all my questions concerning drawing and painting. Every illustration is relevant and useful, the text is informative, simple, entertaining and practical at the same time. The layout and the quality of the book itself is very good. It was the perfect choice for me.