Amazon.com

Readers of both genders and all generations will find timeless innocenceand age-old wisdom in the scrawling, sprawling words of Sabrina Ward Harrison.The format here is a personal journal in which Harrison allows readers to be privy to her colorful pages of free-flowing collages, photographs, and wildlyhandwritten words. Harrison explores many of the typical questions, confusions,and insights that accompany the journey from adolescence to womanhood. At timesher angst feels a tad clichéd ("I am afraid to show you who I really am,because if I show you who I really am, you might not like it--and that's all Igot."), but her gutsy presentation and honesty make her words feel fresh andhard-earned, especially in passages such as this:

I think God leaves me alone to let me find my own strength becauseno one else can give it to me. Sometimes it is very lonely. But I know thelonely times teach me the most. I must let go in order to let anything in. Noone can love me, for me. Take a big walk protected in the trees. I miss the timebefore today.

Reviews (53)

excellent book, creative and well-written
"Spilling Open" by Sabrina Ward Harrison is a truly amazing book. After reading it, I realized that I shouldn't hide myself or act like someone I'm not. I could completely relate with Sabrina most of the time in the story; going through the same experiences or problems as her. This book opened up a whole new window to me - a window of Sabrina's life.

Still Spilling
Sabrina Ward Harrison's book, Spilling Open, is an inspiration to me and has helped me through numerous times of hardship. This book is chock full of emotions, experiences, doubts, and love. It reminds me that everyone has days when they feel useless and that everyone will come out of those hard times a stronger person. Thank you Sabrina, you have helped a lot of people with your expereinces shown in this absolutely amazing journal.

Amazing
Sabrina's books are amazing: the art, collages, and writing are beautiful and beautifully blended together into these dreams of books. Her books are extremely intimate and personal, which is what makes them vulnearble, honest, and moving- there is a true connection in these books that is rarely found. Her books are such an exploration of herself, and because they are so poignant and deeply-delving, there is raw human truth and universality. Yes, her books are about herself- on the surface. Just as the concept of radical self acceptance may seen adolescent or simple- on the surface. But to truly live that concept is difficult and rare- these books take you through that process of moving past some cliche ("accept yourself") and into the marrow. Beneath the surface, the book goes beyond being about Sabrina, into being about every person. Sabrina's journals are truly exceptional- the brave writing, the power of each word, the watercolors, photographs, calligraphy and collages.

Amazing
Beautiful...a piece of art in itself! It's a very personable book, but at the same time it's so fun and creative you'll want to put it out for guests to look at too.

MULTIMEDIA JOURNALING FOR THE CREATIVE EDGE
I was fortunate enough to meet the author at a seminar she gave at the 92nd street Y in New York. I saw a small article in the New York Times about the workshop, jumped into a cap and was at the seminar 1/2 hour later. It was modestly priced and the book came as part of the deal. This is an extraordinary journaling method that seems to be a cross between keeping a diary, scrapbooking and artistry. We started our 'journals' in the class and I still add to mine. What makes this so different is that the author encourages you to use your creativity not just cut and paste or write. Without seeing this book you can't possibly realize how creative you can be. Bored with life, think you're in a rut on your job, just fired? On Vacation -- this is the book you need to buy immediately. Also see if you can buy a blank journal (don't know if Amazon.com sells them) but I'm sure you can find one at your local bookstore or stationery store. Or make one using your typewriter paper by putting it into a three ring binder. Don't worry you can decorate the binder so it will be a piece of art to cherish. You can share your journal with others or just keep it sacred and hide it in your underwear drawer or under a plant because by using it you will grow creatively. Yes, the author is an artist but what's so fascinating is once you 'get' how she does her journaling, you'll realize you can be an 'artist' too. No classes required.
This is journaling for the multimedia person. Add an audiotape or use these techniques on a personal web-page or blog and you breakthrough the clutter of print. Ever thought that your life was too boring for a journal? Ever get overwhelmed in presenting your thoughts or is it just too difficult a time to find the right words to write? Then this technique can help you breakthrough to express what's inside and to create a glorious journal of memorabilia for the future. ... Read more

Reviews (26)

A classic that's becoming outdated
Ways of Seeing is the book of a groundbreaking and brilliant TV series that Berger created with Mike Dibb in the 1970s. The book isn't quite as amazing as the series, but it's acquired canonical status anyway as Berger's most frequently set text on art and art criticism. Which is a pity, because while the impressive confidence of Berger's judgments was inspiring back then (Marina Warner and Michael Ondaatje have each paid tribute to it), time has passed over the last quarter of a century and the book is in danger of looking old-fashioned. The theory of desire, which Berger manages to popularise in a single succinct chapter, has been challenged, confirmed, turned upside-down and generally elaborated upon so much since the book was written that his version of it is now inadequate. Advertising is vastly more sophisticated now than it was in 1972 - the ads reproduced in the book, while perfectly representative of their time, are almost laughable in their blatant sexism and classism. (You wouldn't get away with them now, that's for sure.) But the account of the rise of oil painting is still persuasive, even if it lacks the cheek and mischievousness of the TV version. Readers expecting to find Berger's most incisive and complex criticism should look elsewhere, though, to The Sense of Sight or About Looking, because Ways of Seeing is essentially a popularisation of theories that have since become much more complex, and Berger's lapidary, no-argument tone is hardly applicable anymore. Somebody should release the series on video, then we'd get the same ideas in a more engaging and fascinating manner.

The history of oligarichical damage via European painting
This is an interesting little book. It is based on a BBC television series of the same name, which I have never seen. I read this book for a writing class while I was a freshman in college in 1985. I remembered liking it (but couldn't remember why), so I picked up a copy at a used bookstore this year and reread it a few times. Now I remember why I liked it. In Ways of Seeing, John Berger chronicles how oligarchical social structures have been perpetuated in western society via the Western European painting tradition (mostly Renaissance oil paintings of the 1500s-1600s). He briefly tries to deconstruct oligarchical myths (perpetuated via painting) such as "true art can only be appreciated by the elite few" and "women's selfhood/bodies must always be constructed to please the patriarchal version of men's gaze." In addition, he attempts to show that European oil painting was often a vacuous object used by the European elite to reinforce their views of superiority over the poor, nature, and material items. He also shows how many of the oligarchial images in Western European painting are now used by capitalism/consumerism to perpetuate this "power for the few" structure through the creation of mass envy via advertising. Although this book was published in 1972 and the images are definitely dated, I think it is very forward-thinking philosophically and certainly very relavant to my own perspective on our current "global domination capitalism." I definitely agree with Berger's assessment in the last essay that the imagery of publicity is built upon convincing consumers that capitalism equals freedom, but in the end this imagery often reinforces the oligarchical structure it's supposed to be against. This is the tragedy of, in Rianne Eisler's words, "domination paradigms." A few criticisms: I find Berger's writing style paradoxically both clear and abstruse. I say this because I have read the book several times (most recently just before writing this review), but I often have a hard time remebering its content after I read it. And, at 150 pages, it is by no means a comprehensive analysis of oligarchical structures in European painting. However, overall, I find Ways of Seeing an interesting read and definitely worth going back to again and again.

Pseudo-academic
Berger isn't making artistic observations as much as social commentary. He gives not-so-subtle hints that he's basically a communist and talks about how European Art serves the purposes of the elite (from feudalism to capitalism) to oppress "the majority." There is even an entire chapter talking about art oppressing women.

That said, I see three ways people would refer to this book:

#1 - People who hold a similar (or the same) position, these would point to this book as an authoritative statement to prove their position

#2 - People who hold the opposite position, these people would just pass it off and meaningless propaganda

And finally, the way I came at it:

#3 - As a academic work

And it is the failure to survive as an academic work that requires me to rate this book poorly. First I must say, I was interested in hearing how Berger would argue his position, so please don't simply accuse me of disregarding the book because I don't agree with the thesis.

Basically, Berger takes some observations from Art History, formulates his thesis, and then fails to give ANY argumentation for his thesis. That is what I find unforgivable. No doubt people will point to certain passages as his 'argument.' But any such passages are nothing but references back to the works that helped Berger formulate his thesis. At best one could call this further explanation of his theory, at worst you can accuse him of circular reasoning. Because of this, I was tempted to throw the book across the room many a time while reading it.

Finally, I'm forced to label this book as pseudo-academic and give it the lowest recommendation possible.

Interesting ideas, but without thoughtful coherent expansion
This book had some insights, but overall, I found myself quite disappointed by it. Dedicated to attacking the viewpoint of the privileged élite creators of high-art standards of correctness with very little basis for such attacks, ways of seeing seems to be filled with implicit assumptions that are neither inherently obvious nor easily divined from the context of the text.

For example, in the first essay, Ways of Seeing attacks art history, quoting pages of an art history book on Frans Hals, saying that it demonstrates mystification by focusing on technical aspects such as contrast and texture. Yet Berger does not make clear why the privileged perspective of Hals work that focuses more on the nature of the painting itself than the message it conveys is less correct than some other way of interpreting Hals work. While he claims such methods of interpretation and analysis of art are tools of the privileged ruling class to enforce their privilege, this fact does not make such methods of interpretation and analysis less correct than methods that are not used as tools for enforcing ruling class hegemony.

His attacks on the baselessness and vacuousness of art history are especially grating given the glibness of his own analysis of art: in the middle of essay 5, Berger asserts, after handily dismissing mythological paintings as vacuous, that paintings of the poor "assert two things: that the poor are happy, and that the better off are a source of hope for the world," based on the evidence that the poor people in painting are smiling. In the end of essay 5, he says that an early painting by Rembrandt "as a whole remains an advertisement for the sitter's good fortune. (in this case Rembrandt's own.) And like all such advertisements it is heartless." What more evidence does Berger have in claiming that pictures of the poor are intended to convey the happiness of the poor and the hope supplied by the privileged classes or that Rembrandt intended the painting as an advertisement of his good fortune than Seymour Slive, the author of the Frans Hals work, has in asserting that Hals did not paint his portrait of the governors and governesses of the alms house in a spirit of bitterness? Even assuming that Berger has a superior ability to interpret paintings that makes his statement that Rembrandt's self-portrait was intended as an advertisement of himself more valid than Slive's statement that Hals' portrait wasn't painted in a spirit of bitterness, why is such an advertisement of one's good fortune heartless? John Berger doesn't explain why. If it is because self-advertisement is a tool of the ruling class to maintain dominance, and because such tools to maintain the dominance of the ruling class put function first and artistic merit second, and because art which puts function first and artistic merit second is heartless, then Berger never makes such a connection clear.

Similarly, in the same essay, he discusses originals of works of famous art, calling the religiosity that surrounds art of high market value "bogus." Once again, one wonders whether he even asked himself, "if people attach great value to the originality of a work of art, what makes the value attached to the originality less valid than the value attached to the image conveyed?" Berger apparently believes that art has some form of objective value independent of the spectator of the art, but he fails to explain what that value is.

I also found the second essay on nudes is also frustrating in its glibness and dogmatism. For example, starting out, Berger asserts that "a man's presence is dependent on the promise of power which he embodies," whereas "a woman's presence expresses her own attitude to herself." It is notable that the previous two quotes do not concern the portrayal of men and women in art, but the actual social presence of real life, flesh-and-blood men and women. While Berger could make the case that men and women's presences were determined by gender by their power and view of self, respectively, to persuade most people -- who, I would guess, would say that anyone's social presence is determined by a variety of factors, including gender, the circumstances of the situation, power, and view of self -- he must address other, more common ways of looking at social presence, which he does not.

In my view, the element of the book which I found most interesting and plausible was the last essay, that on publicity. This one, I found fairly clearly written, although I did not always agree with it, relative to the others. The last essay is at least coherent and thought provoking.

Remains a classic popular intro to many issues in art
Barely showing its age after thirty years, John Berger's WAYS OF SEEING remains one of the best popular presentations of academic and scholarly thought in recent decades. There are actually very few original ideas in Berger's book. Just about the entire content can be found in a variety of thinkers either inspiring, belonging to, or influenced by the Frankfort school, for instance, Meyer Schapiro, Adorno, and especially Walter Benjamin. None of these thinkers are household names in the English speaking world, even though Schapiro may well be the greatest art critic America has produced, and despite Benjamin's possibly being the greatest cultural critic of the 20th century. One reason their ideas have not become more widely known is the fact that all of these thinkers were deeply influenced by Marxism, though none of them were Communists. As a result, while many of the ideas that Berger presents in his work are well known in literary and scholarly circles, they remain unknown to most casual visitors to art museums.

Berger is intent to challenge ways of looking at art and other images that ignore the status of works of art as commodities. We not only live in a capitalistic society, but one in which virtually all its inhabitants are consumers. Consumers purchase commodities. Berger wants to raise the consciousness of viewers of these paintings that they are not merely "masterpieces," but commodities. Or, in the case of oil painting, visual representations of commodities.

These central assumptions are brought out in a series of essays. The first is a straightforward presentation of the main ideas in Walter Benjamin's seminal essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," a fact that Berger acknowledges at the end of the essay. (This essay can be easily obtained in Benjamin's great collection ILLUMINATIONS, which also includes classic essays on Proust, Kafka, and Baudelaire, as well as his astonishing "Theses on the Philosophy of History.") He goes on to write about such subjects as the significance of nudity (as opposed to nakedness) in painting and the ideological use to which oil painting has been put. He ends with a marvelous discussion of the real point in advertising (which inevitably arose with the shift of all European and American nations to consumer societies).

The great virtue of this book is that Berger has a positive genius for what many of the most pertinent insights of the Frankfort school has been, and a genuine knack for presenting these ideas in a readily graspable form. The book still reads marvelously after several decades. I do think the book would benefit from a second edition with a complete revamping of the photographs. While the content of the book holds up well, the photographs often smack too much of the sixties, making the book feel more like a fragment from the past than it ought. Still, WAYS OF SEEING remains one of the finest popularizations of the past few decades, though I would hasten to add that any academic would also enjoy reading it. ... Read more

Book Description

This glorious book reveals the exquisite simplicity of decorating and designing with mosaics. As it delves into the history of the art, it draws on sources from Ancient Greece and Rome, the Renaissance, Pre-Columbian Mexico, the Victorian age, the Art Nouveau movement, through to the latest contemporary work. Enhanced with hundreds of color photos, Classic Mosaic explores the application of mosaics using classical influences. The versatility and decorative potential of mosaics is then interpreted in a dazzling array of historically-inspired projects. In chapters on materials, equipment, and techniques, Classic Mosaic explains how the process of application is an integral part of the design, whether using ceramic, Venetian glass smalti, gold, marble, stones, shells, or mirror. Elaine Goodwin, a respected mosaic artist, clearly demonstrates how a design is developed, from the initial idea to the finished piece. From intricate Grecian floor patterns to a shimmering Klimt chair mosaic, Classic Mosaic shows how to create splendid designs inspired by 6,000 years of mosaic art. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Best Mosaic book I have
This book is beautiful. Though, I definitely do not recommend this for beginners or for someone who wants step by step instructions. This book shows her taking some inspiration from ancient mosaics and then altering them for her own use. I have also done the same E.g. the front cover shows the leaves and lizards. I do a lot of paving stones. I simply just did two of the black leaves onto a white background onto a paving stone. Very simple, but gosh it looks great.
This book is more for inspiration only rather than a teaching book for beginners. I still highly recommend it though.

Glosses over basics
I have to disagree with those reviewers who have already weighed in on this book. Perhaps they are already experienced in making mosaics. As someone who has not done mosaics before, I was hoping for a little more discussion of the basics. For example, there is a list (and even photographs of) tools to use to cut tile, but not really any discussion on how to do it. Also, the history lesson on mosaics is somewhat brief, with not very many photographs of ancient mosaics.

Thinking about mosaic art
The book is very interesting,bringing a lot of ideas about art in mosaics.And a lot of knowledge too,as the contents are not similar to the ones found in other books.We deeply recommend this issue to all those who want to have a new view of this craft,mainly the usefull technique everyone can learn or improve.

Henrique Daher

Art, not craft. A beautiful book.
This book is beautifully presented, well organized and wonderfully inspiring. Mosaic is introduced to the reader as a serious art form, complete with history, materials and projects ranging from simple to complex. A single, small photograph of her studio showing assorted clear glass jars, each filled with glistening bits of Italian glass -tapped right into my love of color and texture. Since buying this book, my shelves are gradually filling up with clear glass jars filled with bits of colored glass. I see the art of mosaic possiblities everywhere. And, I can't sleep at night.

This is the Best of the Mosaic Books
This is the best of the mosaic books. The history, techniques, tool photos, finishing methods, and lists of suppliers and materials used are very helpful. It has 16 projects with step by step photos. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Rather than a project-driven craft book, Collage Techniques is an exciting presentation of the medium as a fine art. From the famous practitioners (Matisse, Picasso, Hockney) to the many accomplished artists represented throughout the book, the images are stunning, sometimes startling. A thorough coverage of materials, supplies, and basic methods lays the groundwork of the first section; chapters then focus on various types of papers, fibers, photographs, and technologically enhanced imagery that can be incorporated. The second section explores design considerations for various subjects (still lifes, landscapes, human figures, social commentary, abstract imagery, three-dimensional works). There are no step-by-step objects here, but instead an amazing collection of work that utilizes collage by bringing together painting and sculpture and provides colorful, inventive, thought-provoking inspiration for experimenting with the medium. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

#1 COLLAGE BOOK!
This is a fabulous book on the collage medium. Everything is
thoroughly covered from collage history, technique and
guidance for design, etc. This book will also inspire
you with its fine examples. I am very pleased with book
and highly recommend it to others.

Add me to the list
I ordered this book after reading reviews of collage books.
The praise of this book, I find, is well deserved. It comments
on many techniques and provides examples with color photos.
I feel I can take off on my own now, and don't need technical
advice, even though the book is not a technical read. A good
addition to anyone's bookshelf.

A Beautiful Overview of Collage
I had heard that Brommer was a highy respected collage author and teacher, so even though I am not an artist or illustrator, I figured that this book would be a good one for me to have. I was right!

Brommer covers almost every facet of collage art, beginning with its history/background, progressing to the various collage techniques, and also elaborating on the materials used to create collages. These materials include painted papers, Japanese papers, found objects, photographs, etc.

Rather than a how-to book, this is a book that presents many finished pieces in all their beauty, and explains how they were done by these very accomplished artists. It is a terrific resource and a lovely addition to any art library.

Great for inpiration and ideas, wonderful varitey
This is a great book for any collage artist looking for inspiration and ideas. It is packed with a wonderful variety of collage examples and techniques.

The book starts out with some brief history and attitudes toward collage. Then the author explains materials and tools. This includes an overview of papers, adhesives, surface media and finishes. Basic collage techniques are also covered.

In the next section you are shown numerous collage pieces using a wide variety of materials including washi, stained, prepared and found papers, photographs, fibers and fabric. Concepts are discussed from the point of view of both technique and subject matter. Although not a project book per se, there are a number of examples of artists working in a step by step sequence that can be followed.

Design elements and principles including line, shape, color, texture, unity, variety, balance, emphasis, pattern, rhythm and contrast are covered. The book wraps up with sections discussing specific subject matters such as still lives, flowers, landscapes, people, social commentary, architecture, abstract and three-dimensional pieces.

Paper suppliers are listed in the back. While suitable for a beginner, this is a great intermediate level book with much to offer for those with some collage experience as well.

This is a "must read" book for the beginning artist!
This book gives encyclopedic information on collage and art principles, and other artists as well. There are step-by-step demonstrations,that are easy to understand, yet there is enough advanced techniques for the experienced artist. Well worth the price, and inspirational. ... Read more

Book Description

Originally trained as a sculptor, Thomas Demand approaches photography as a means of preserving ephemeral paper constructions but inevitably the camera becomes central to his creative process. At first glance, Demand's works seem to present fragments of a hyperreal and familiar place but, before long, they reveal their true identity: a wholly artificial world reduced to generic forms. Large immaculate photographs of interiors and architectural exteriors—a world peopled with inanimate objects and bathed in uniform lighting—are mounted on Plexiglas, which underscores the materiality of the photographic object. For each of his reproductions, Demand constructs life-size models using paper and cardboard, and these forms always allow signs of their true nature to show through. 50 color illustrations. ... Read more

Book Description

An in-depth look at the fascinating sculptural works of one of the twentieth century’s most innovative artists

Joseph Beuys (1921–1986)—a German sculptorand performance artist—became one of the most influential figures in modern and contemporary art. His charismatic presence, extraordinary life, and unconventional artistic style (incorporating ritualized movement and sound, and materials such as fat, felt, earth, honey, blood, and even dead animals) gained him international notoriety during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Beuys’s innovative influence is particularly felt in the field of sculpture, whose definition he expanded to encompass performance art, vitrine cases, and site-specific environments.

This beautifully illustrated book investigates Beuys’s sculpture, arguably the most fundamental portion of his artistic work, as well as his extraordinary influence. Featured objects include a stunning selection of Beuys’s remarkable vitrines—sly cousins of standard museum presentations, featuring both hand-made and found objects serving as “exhibitions” on Beuys’s own topics; blackboards on which he recorded his lectures and performances; room-sized environments; and many other sculptural projects that frequently served as physical documentation for Beuys’s performances.

With a comprehensive chronology of Beuys’s activities as an artist and activist, this book is essential for those interested in the life, work, and legacy of one of the art world’s most intriguing figures.

Joseph Beuys: Actions, Vitrines, Environments accompanies a major exhibition on view at The Menil Collection, Houston (October 8, 2004, to January 2, 2005) and the Tate Modern, London (February 2 to May 3, 2005).

Mark Rosenthal is adjunct curator at The Menil Collection; Sean Rainbird is curator at the Tate Modern; and Claudia Schmuckli, formerly assistant curator at the Museum of Modern Art, is an independent critic of contemporary art.




... Read more

Amazon.com

In a 1976 drawing by Ed Ruscha, the word "Promise"—--spelled out in ribbon-like script—--is suspended at an oblique angle against a delicate gray background and bathed in a gauzy white light. Somehow, this image perfectly sums up the hopeful feeling that success is right around the corner. Ruscha's ability to give concrete form to the inner life of words and images from popular culture has made him a rare breed of artist---a critic's darling whose work also fascinates ordinary art lovers. Cotton Puffs, Q-Tips®, Smoke and Mirrors: The Drawings of Ed Ruscha collects more than 200 of Ruscha's coolly mysterious works on paper in a handsomely designed volume marred only by a hard-to-read gray typeface. The odd title comes from a remark the artist once made. He uses cotton puffs and swabs to rub gunpowder (which creates those smoky grays) or pastel into the rag paper. Author Margit Rowell emphasizes the influence of photography and film on Ruscha's visual outlook---as well as his training in graphic design and the Los Angeles "landscape" of billboards glimpsed from car windows. Rucha, who is also known for his paintings and his idiosyncratic photo books (depicting serial images of gas stations, parking lots and other banal sights), has been working on paper since the late 1950s. Rowell tracks the various themes and styles of his drawings, while essayist Cornelia Butler adds additional art world context. Although Ruscha has been called a Pop artist and a West Coast Surrealist, Butler sees him as "an essentially Conceptualist artist who seeks to render ideas as information." She singles out his "deeply eccentric nihilism...filtered through a keen humor." This book accompanies an exhibition of Ruscha's work on paper organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (June 24–Sept. 26, 2004). -—Cathy Curtis ... Read more

Book Description

"The authors do a splendid job of showing precisely how technologies like computer games, digital photography, film television, the Web, and virtual reality all turn on the mutually constructive strategies of generating immediacy and making users hyperaware of the media themselves. . . . The authors lay out a provocative theory of contemporary selfhood, one that draws on and modifies current notions of the `virtual' and `networked' human subject. Clearly written and not overly technical, this book will interest general readers, students, and scholars engaged with current trends in technology." -- M. Uebel, Choice

Media critics remain captivated by the modernist myth of the new: they assume that digital technologies such as the World Wide Web, virtual reality, and computer graphics must divorce themselves from earlier media for a new set of aesthetic and cultural principles. In this richly illustrated study, Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin offer a theory of mediation for our digital age that challenges this assumption. They argue that new visual media achieve their cultural significance precisely by paying homage to, rivaling, and refashioning such earlier media as perspective painting, photography, film, and television. They call this process of refashioning "remediation," and they note that earlier media have also refashioned one another: photography remediated painting, film remediated stage production and photography, and television remediated film, vaudeville, and radio.

More about this book ... Read more

Reviews (2)

This book will change the way you watch CNN
In Remediation, Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin analyze new technologies and their implications for American society. Although the book emphasizes the ways in which new media can be conceived in terms of recent literary and cultural theory, the theoretical discussions do not pervade the work. Therefore, the book can still be quite useful to those who don't wish to delve too deeply into theory. In fact, Bolter and Grusin acknowledge the different emphases of the book's chapters in their introduction and offer readers a guide to help them make the most of their experience with the book, with respect to the readers' goals. The three sections of the book discuss the authors' theory of remediation, the place of new media in American society, and the place of the Self within the context of new media.

In the first section of the book, Bolter and Grusin offer the notion of "remediation" as a way of thinking about new media. What they term "remediation" is "the formal logic by which new media technologies refashion prior media forms" (273). Bolter and Grusin attempt to contextualize their theories about new media within the framework of modern preoccupations with what they term "immediacy" and "hypermediacy." The desire for immediacy is a desire for a transparency in media that obliterates or lessens the perception of the media themselves in the viewer's mind. The reality of hypermediacy is the preoccupation with media itself and a hyper-awareness of the media through which our information comes. Bolter and Grusin place the logic of remediation within the context of our historical preoccupation with these trends. The new media discussed are primarily the visual: computer games, digital photography, photorealistic graphics, digital art, film, Virtual Reality, mediated spaces, television, and the World Wide Web. Discussing each of these media in great detail, the authors devote the second section of the book to demonstrating the way that the idea of remediation plays itself out in each. Bolter and Grusin examine how each new medium refashions older media and how they are often refashioned themselves. For example, they show that animated computer graphics draw upon the tradition of film and that film is now starting to draw upon the new offerings of computer graphics. They cite as their evidence a film such as Toy Story. Another example they point out is the remediation that occurs between television and the Internet. The Internet uses patterns established by television in order to determine how to appeal to viewers, and television uses new strategies of windowing images with the scrolling tickertapes and texts it has borrowed from Internet styles. Within the remediations that both new and old media undergo, Bolter and Grusin demonstrate how the twin desires for immediacy and hypermediacy are at work.

The final section on the Self attempts to discuss how the presence of the new media in our society affects individuals' perceptions of their own identities. By allowing people to engage in different discourse communities with different levels of immediacy and hypermediacy, the new media allow for a remediation of the notion of self and community. Bolter and Grusin specifically point to the immediacy of Virtual Reality as a starting point for empathy with other people and beings. If a person can use Virtual Reality to play the role of a gorilla, that person gains a new concept of his or her identity with respect to his or her experience as set apart from that of a gorilla. Bolter and Grusin also examine in detail whether the new media have implications for the mind-body split that is central to the theory of Cartesian dualism. Some argue that technologies such as Virtual Reality emphasize the split by creating a disembodied environment for the mind to inhabit. Bolter and Grusin, however, ultimately claim that such technologies cannot allow people to escape the perception of their own bodies. In fact, by allowing for new ways to conceive of the body and the mind, new media allow for a remediation of the body that is parallel to the remediation of the Self.

Overall this book offers interesting theories about the way technology functions in our society. It is, therefore, a good starting point for anyone who wants to consider the implications of using this technology and thereby becoming complicit in the culture's striving for immediacy and hypermediacy in our interactions with technology. Those implications would continue further for us as we remediate our old styles of teaching or otherwise interacting with technology to suit the newer forms that will inevitably appear.

Of course, to be concerned about how your use of technology fits into this framework, you must first be convinced by Bolter's and Grusin's arguments that remediation is a force at work in our society. Personally, I find their arguments convincing in their simplicity of structure and in their wealth of evidence. Although the discussions of Lacanian, Freudian, feminist, Marxist, and other theoretical approaches can be at times heavy-handed, underneath there is an insightful commentary on the way technology functions in our society.

Remediating without knowing it!
This book was most enligthening, it explained in a very structured form, what it is we were doing when creating content for new medias. As Moliere said, "doing prose without knowing it", I have used my newly acquired epistemology of remediation extensively to better explain to our young designers what it is they were doing when "re-mediating" clients'content for a new media application, be it Web, Multimedia apps or art-tech.The authors are themselves professors/researchers an use a very didactical stream of thoughts which has been exceedingly usefull to me, to better convey concepts for which I had a feeling, but nowhere near the "theory of remediation" that the authors convey.

As an art/tech buff, who happens to earn a living with technical content remediation and hard core applications programming, the book reconciled me with a new perpesctive on the similarities between these activities. Grusin and Bolter are challenging us to excellence in remediation whatever the final purpose.

The most important concept that the authors brought to me, was that more and better remediation has often nothing to do with more technology, and much more to do with better and more effective (or intelligent) ways to communicate.

In my view this book is a must reading, and a reference book for anyone producing content with a certain degree of awareness. If you believe that the new media demand a "different" attitude,this is a textbook for you. ... Read more

Book Description

The great age of European ceramic design began around 1500 andended in the early nineteenth century with the introduction oflarge-scale production ofceramics. This beautiful book is the first complete history of European ceramic designand decoration during this period, presenting it not only in art-historical terms but also inthe context of the era's social, cultural, economic, and scientific developments.

Howard Coutts considers the main stylistic trends—Renaissance, Mannerism, Oriental,Rococo, and Neoclassicism—as they were represented in such products as ItalianMaiolica, Dutch Delftware, Meissen and Sèvres porcelain, Staffordshire, and Wedgwoodpottery. He pays close attention to changes in eating habits over the period, particularlythe layout of a formal dinner. And he discusses such fascinating topics as thedevelopment of ceramics as room decoration, the transmission of images via prints,fashion and marketing of ceramics and other luxury goods, and the intellectualbackground to Neoclassicism.

Comprehensive, engrossing, and lavishly illustrated, the book is essential reading foranyone interested in ceramics and their history. ... Read more

Book Description

Presenting 9 innovative and fun collage projects from professional collage artists, this book is a visually exciting class in one of the world most often used and admired art techniques.The beauty of collage art is its appeal and accessibility at every level of sophistication.Anyone from the hobbyist to the fine artist can use collage techniques to add creativity and dimension to their work. This book provides creative instruction and inspiration through a wide range of projects from nine collage artists. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Lush, be inspired!
I've had my share of disappointments with collage books. So much of the rubber stamping craft craze has moved into what we call "Collage".
I was afraid this book would be hyping rubber stamp and craft company
products. Never have I been so WRONG!

This book is by and for artists who are working on original ideas. The "how to's" are not for cookie cutter projects but informative in recipes (wheat paste glue) and techniques. All work in this book is by serious,
original artists.

This book has me planning two days off to play around with some of my own ideas using the techniques of application of paint and materials in this book.

You won't be sorry, buy the book!

Releasing my "Inner Artist"
I have long been interested in collage and recently decided to try my hand at it. To facilitate this, I got several books on the subject. This was one of the nicest and most complete.

Atkinson's beautiful book was a great help. I liked the way collage artists showed, step by step, how they created their collages. The photgraphy of the pieces was excellent, making it a very visually appealing book.

My only disappointment was that the book did not cover what materials to use, what glue to paste with, what different kinds of papers are available, and preservation of the finished work. This is not the fault of the author....she never claimed that the book was a beginner's guide.

Overall, this was a great resource book.

Collage for the conoissier...
This book is dedicated to those who already know the first steps of collage works: what materials to use, what glue to paste with, what elements to include... but it gives an amazing amount of ideas and new approaches that are awesome. You can't miss this publication if you are collage-prone. It's a delight for the eye and helps you understand how artists use their skills and imagination. Take a look!... Am I wrong?

WONDERFUL SOURCE OF INSPIRATION!
Artists (aspiring and professional) know the value of a good book filled with inspirational ideas and images. In this book, Jennifer L. Atkinson has put together an incredible collection of collage examples. This combined with easy to read descriptions, ideas and thoughtful insight makes it a favorite of mine. The author really helps bridge the gap between fine art and craft. I've read several books on this topic and this one has quickly moved to the top of my list. It will be a valuable tool and resource for years to come.

Must have, tons of inspriational art & ideas
I own several collage books and this is definitely on my must have list. It is packed with full-color photos of inspirational & imaginative collage art from a variety of talented artists.

The book is divided into sections focusing on paper, fabric & found object collage. Collagraphy, in which the collage itself serves as a plate for transferring the texture to a print that can be further embellished is also included.

Each section features two projects that are both described & demonstrated step-by-step with color photos. I especially like one made entirely of paste papers. I was able to create a stunning abstract artwork with ease.

Resource & school lists along with an artist directory are nice bonuses. I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking excellent instruction & fresh ideas to create their own collage artwork. ... Read more

Book Description

Responding to Art: Form, Content, & Context is specifically designed to excite and interest students with minimal knowledge of art and limited confidence in responding to it. To this end, the book starts at the students' introductory level and sets out to stimulate their interest and active participation. From the onset, Responding to Art integrates art and design forms that the students are already familiar with and have some interest in: including CD covers, magazine advertisements, fashion styles, websites, crafts, product design, and folk art. In addition, the book engages students and builds their confidence by incorporating into the opening chapter responses to art by introductory-level students like themselves. This sends an immediate message to the students that their own thoughts and feelings are valid, valued, and diverse. With expanded interest, confidence, and knowledge, students are prepared for more challenging art forms, information, and concepts. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

True to it's title
So many self education books for artists claim to be definitive, comprehensive, or the only book you'll ever need. I don't know if this is the only book you'll need, but it is a cheaper alternative to paying tuition at an art college. And, unlike many how-to books (and some art colleges), Rob Howard gives very specific and detailed instructions. He's light on the motivational inspiration and heavy on technique. Afterall, a working illustrator (the book's target) doesn't need to get in touch with the inner artist, but rather needs tools to get the inner art out onto the client's desk.

Additionally, Rob Howard is quite talented. Often times people with Howard's gifts are so busy with paying customers that they don't have time to put together such a quality book. Every illustration is professional quality and an inspiration in itself!
The book is packed with photos and illustrations. He lists by name and sometimes manufacturer exactly what materials you need. Covers topics from Prismacolor pencils on Denril to Friskets and masking to pastels, acrylics and airbrushing....etc.

It's only weakness is that it's due for an update. First published in '92 before the internet explosion and before Adobe Photoshop and Synthetik Studio Artist became powerful enough computer based tools, this book focuses entirely on natural media. Just the same, an illustrator looking to set him or herself appart from the pack might want to set aside the software and use the proven techniques in this book!

One important flaw in this book.
While great for someone getting their feet wet in illustration, probably the most indispensible reference he mentions, "The Fairburn Visual Reference System", is impossible to find. Please e-mail me if you know where I can get the books.

Good Book For Aspiring Artists

More info about his book, along with a useful reading list for aspiring artists of the comic genre, available at Amazon.com, is available for your perusal at: ... Read more

Book Description

The most up-to-date survey available of one of the best known and best loved forms of Islamic art.

Walter B. Denny, Professor of Art History at the University of Massachusetts, offers new perspectives on one of the most popular Islamic art forms. Covering both Iznik pièces de forme and the famous Iznik tiles that decorate Ottoman imperial monuments, the book integrates the entire spectrum of Iznik production, both titles and wares, with the broader artistic tradition in which it originated.

Professor Denny begins with a discussion of the particular nature of Islamic art under the Ottomans. He then examines the relationship between the court style of Istanbul and the ceramic ateliers in Iznik in nearby Bithynia, and the crucial role of two styles—dubbed by the author the "enchanted forest" and "heavenly garden" (the saz and aux quartre fleurs styles)—and their creators, Shah Kulu and Kara Memi. Finally, he covers Iznik works with human or animal imagery, the patronage of non-Muslim communities within the Ottoman Empire, and the chronicle of destruction and damage of tiled monuments due to war, earthquake, and fire. The book ends with a look at the extraordinary historical legacy of Iznik ceramics, from early imitations in the Ottoman Empire and Europe to the astonishing appearance of ceramics in the Iznik style created by European studio potters in the nineteenth century.

The first study of Iznik ceramics to combine these different thematic elements, the book reflects Professor Denny's ambition, almost thirty-five years after completing his doctoral dissertation on Iznik tiles and after well over a dozen publications on the subject, to create a comprehensive overview of this beautiful and popular art form. 250 illustrations, 230 in color. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

"Decorative Art Yearbooks" Revisited
Decorative Arts 1970's is a presentation of "[t]he fascinating history of design traced by [the] Deorative Art Yearbook (Yearbook)...printed in a somewhat revised form." Divided into 8 sections: Architecture and Interiors; Furniture; Textiles and Wallpapers; Glass; Lighting; Silver and Tableware; and Ceramics, this book offers a plethora of color and b&w images, along with somewhat limited text, which is written in English, French and German.

The book is dominated by the Architecture section, which is filled with mostly b&w (some color) photos, floorplans and useful information about the structure, the architect and the interior design. The remaining sections, all much smaller, offer examples of the pieces, their designers, measurments, materials, distributors and countries of origin. The overall layouts of these sections, while pleasing to eye, are presented in a very confuseing manner. The description of each item is numbered, but instead of numbering each photo, a "key" is offered (in a different spot on each page), which maps out the number of each photo. Furthermore, the book goes for pages at a time without page-numbers, rendering the index difficult to use.

Overall, the book presents many interesting pieces of 70's design and includes works by all the usual suspects, along with some unusual ones. I would have liked to have seen sections devoted to plastics (some of which can be found in the furniture section) and electronics (completely missing in action), but overall I am not complaining. If you are a fan of books such as "Italy: The New Domestic Landscape" and "L'utopie du Tout Plastique" you are likely to enjoy this one as well! ... Read more

Book Description

The first comprehensive history of the theory and practice of collage.

Almost a century after its invention, collage has never been more popular. It picks up the discarded scraps and residue of everyday experience, turning them into art—a truly modern art, the artistic equivalent of the fragmented nature of contemporary life.

Beginning with the seminal moment in 1908 when the young Picasso first took a piece of brown card pasted with a "Magasins au Louvre" label and invented a new kind of picture, Brandon Taylor tells the story of how progressive artists have consistently used the medium to create challenging and provocative works, developing a cut-and-paste aesthetic that would go on to influence other, more traditional art forms such as sculpture and architecture.

The whole sweep of the twentieth century is here: cubist, dadaist, and surrealist collage; the experiments of the Russian constructivists and Eastern European avant-gardes; the hard-hitting political satires of interwar Germany; the raw, aggressive styles of the United States' East and West coasts in the 1950s; the burgeoning pop aesthetic in 1960s America and Europe. Taylor ends his authoritative account by addressing the question of why the ideas behind collage are so much in harmony with the digital age. 200 illustrations, 80 in color. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Fantastic guide to all kinds of collage, inspirational
This is a fantastic book on creating a wide variety of great collage projects. It covers numerous collage techniques including using paper, mixed-media, fabric, decoupage, photomontage, computer art, found and three-dimensional objects. The beautiful galleries after each collage type are sure to inspire you.

In addition to the collage techniques you also get the basics of papermaking, papier mache, marbling and batik as well as painting and dyeing fabric. There are step-by-step instructions accompanied by demonstrating photos for all the techniques and projects. Don't expect to make exact replicas of the projects since your sources and materials will vary. Rather, the author expects you will follow her assembling directions to create a unique masterpiece of your own.

Some of the sixteen projects include a gorgeous butterfly lampshade, a painted paper fruit bowl collage, a clock decorated with magazine scraps and nature objects, and a sewn fabric book cover. Another great project is an easy to make yet sophisticated looking Japanese box covered with scraps of yuzen or chiyogami papers.

This book filled with fresh and interesting ideas is sure to help you create gorgeous collage artwork.

A delight - I'm so glad I bought this book!
I wanted to explore collage as an aspect of other paper crafts I'm trying to learn. I picked this one first and I really like it. Many other collage books are meant for people narrowly focused on collage who see beauty in their collages ..... that is truly not obvious to other people - so esoteric it appeals to a very narrow audience. The Crafter's Complete Guide to Collage is different. It's visually attractive. The samples of collages have much broader appeal. The excellent how-to photographs are tremendously helpful and NOT intimidating. It opened my mind up to more than paper possibilities - it discusses collages of paper, found objects, mixed media, fabric, multi-dimensional, decoupage, photomontage, even computer collage. Its a treat - I think you'd enjoy this book! ... Read more

Amazon.com

This is an extremely literate and somewhat scholarly look at the past, present, and future of the emerging art form of interactive narrative, where storytelling, visual imagery, and reader interaction meet. With an abundance of illustrations, including a comic strip that runs timeline-style along the bottom of each page, and a corner flipbook, Pause & Effect looks at what defines visual narrative, how it has developed through the centuries (from the religious paintings of 13th-century artist Giotto to the first-person shooter games of today), and the principles involved.

The book has four parts. In the first, "Theory," readers learn about perspective (both emotional/inside-the-skull and dimensional/outside-the-skull), Aristotle's definition of dramatic structure, the Freytag triangle (complication, climax, denouement), the three interactive narrative structures (nodal, modulated, and open), and other fundamental issues. The second part covers the 2-D topics of image and icon, including several examples of narrative imagery from the history of art (e.g., Velázquez's Las Meninas and Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2) and basic principles for designing a narrative that facilitates the four steps of interaction (observation, exploration, modification, and reciprocal change). The third section looks at the 3-D areas of place and space (how architecture and dimensional imagery affect narrative), as well as case studies from theater, game design (Deus Ex 2), the Internet (the graphical MUD Ultima Online), and more. The last section discusses the practical issues involved in developing interactive narratives and emerging trends.

Pause & Effect is for anyone interested in a serious analysis that touches on new media, storytelling, visual art, and literature. It would also make an excellent textbook for a variety of college courses, from game design to semiotics.--Angelynn Grant ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Beautiful, but lacking in history and context
This is a beautiful book, worth buying simply for the gorgeous design and the case studies and interviews of interactive works and creators. It's lacking as a theoretical discussion of interactive narrative, though. The book proposes a theory of interactive narrative that shows hardly any awareness at all of other work in the field. The use of visual metaphors and theory is often inspiring, as in the discussion of perspective as a way of thinking about interactive works. I would have liked to see a lot more knowledge of narrative genres and theory in a work attempting to analyse interactive narrative. I would also have liked to see more awareness of the history of interactive narrative and the theories of these works. Where to start? Try The New Media Reader, Cybertext, Hamlet on the Holodeck and see where that takes you.

From a web developer perspective...
I can't really do justice to this book by merely reviewing it. However, since this is meant to be a review, I'll muddle through as best I can.

Pause & Effect is aimed at designers who want to do more than shove information at a target audience, or get people to buy stuff online. Mark Meadows discusses interactive narrative and how it relates to actual experience in online situations, as well as real life. He does this by example, by logical argument, and by simply conversing. While there is some deep theory, the text is extremely approachable, and eye-opening to say the least. You won't find formulas to make you a better designer or artist, nor will you come away with a set of rules or guidelines. What you will find is a new approach to recognizing and developing media, perspectives most people are not likely to have thought about, let alone design from.

This book has the potential to drastically change the designer and developer mindset from implementation to creation, from problem solving to architecting new challenges and solutions.

Let me be clear; you will have to work. And it will be a joy. Meadows requires the reader to get involved, to seriously consider the ideas presented and run with them. Pause & Effect will be useless to those who are happy with flashing ad banners and multitudes of pop-up/under/over/behind windows or other annoying attempts at grabbing attention. However, if you want to understand and ponder the very basis of human interaction and involvement with your visitors, this is a wonderful place to start.

Absolutely No New Concepts
There are no new concepts put forth in this book, and worse, it's filled with painful stabs at humor, practically worthless information (most of which seemingly to get the reader from one picture to the next). I just don't think many people realize that Meadows has rewritten existing ideas as little "revelations" he has had himself, and so, I advise any prospective shoppers to move on, look toward online journals or monthly magazines in this field (like Speculative Reviews of Narrative, etc). There's nothing to see here.

A composed approach to a large problem
Other readers have found the book shallow. Unfortunately this is an indication of the reading that went into the book, not the writing. Pause and Effect assumes a level of reader education, reader participation, and it moves over large ideas quickly. The book points to the invention of visual narrative and goes on to explain how it has changed over time, showing why video games are part of a much larger narrative history and that "interactive narrative" is an emerging process.

It is rare to find an academic book that is both as carefully constructed and as beautifully co-ordinated as Pause & Effect. There is nothing shallow about showing how visual art, interaction, and writing are combining in new ways, and what this means to contemporary literature. One has to only read the table of contents to see that Meadows is being conscientious about his approach. Each of the 4 chapters (Theory, 2D, 3D, and Practice) are viewed through the triple lenses of perspective, narrative, and interaction. It makes for a 12-part composition that only a careful eye will notice.

The book is overambitious, as it sifts through 2,500 years of history and better examples could be found, but in the end it is an excellent read and one that stands alone in a field where consideration is needed.

Good for the eye, bad for the brain, okay for the stomach
This is a beautiful text visually, and the author has done an excellent job of bringing together very interesting experiments in interactive design. However, his analysis, as several other reviewers have noted, really is best described as "shallow." His interpretations lack insight and the details examined seem selected randomly. The interviews he includes often lack proper contextualization, and I think he stretches the term "narrative" far too much, trying to subsume things like games and theater as narratives only, without attending to their game-ness or theatricality. The problem is that there aren't many other books dealing with this genre of work yet, so some readers will find it useful for the excellent example of interesting case studies at least until someone with better analysis writes a book. Theoretically, Marie Laure-Ryan's book on Narrative as Virtual Reality is also a good selection. ... Read more

Book Description

Europeans unraveled the secret of producing porcelain in Dresden around 1710 and then built a porcelain factory at Meissen in Germany. The Rijksmuseum, renowned for its rich and varied collections of European decorative arts, holds the most outstanding collection of Meissen porcelain outside Germany. This sumptuous book, the result of nearly half a century of dedicated study, makes these marvelous creations of the 18th century available to both specialists and the public at large. The objects are described in chronological order, with an attempt to keep works by indivual modelers together, and include vases, dinnerware, tea and coffee sets, animals and birds, and figures and groups. Entries are included for 340 objects, including large color photographs and many details of each. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

One of the best books
It's not for an amateur craftsman (artist).
If you want to get into this highly profitable and highly competitive
ancient art of mosaics this book is for you.
But this art resemble very much masonary.

packed full of information
This is a very comprehensive book full of usefull information, however it is a book for those serious in learning the craft of the mosaic. If you are looking to see prety mosaic works and want to do home products this is not for you. This book does offer a great history of the art of mosaics. I found it to have the most comprehensive tool and technique section of most other books.

Exciting¿but daunting¿projects
For those who want to get into "building" mosaics-concrete slabs and 3-D objects d'art-this book tells all. It's for serious commercial mosaicists rather than weekend crafters, hobbyists, or even full-time crafters. The materials are expensive; the equipment, cumbersome. You need a large workshop for many of these projects. In addition, the work