Book Description

Though Japan today has become one of the world's most industrialized, mechanized, and computerized nations, it still boasts one of the world's richest and most fascinating ceramic traditions.

Two of the country's most remarkable styles of pottery are Shino and Oribe, both originating in ancient Mino Province (modern-day Gifu Prefecture) from the time of Japan's artistic "renaissance" in the late sixteenth century.

Oribe ware is one of the most startling and innovative expressions not only of this period but of all Japanese pottery. In a departure from the more refined tea ceremony utensils that represent the meditative aspect of the ceremony, Oribe ware has a more earthy feel, with its layering of naturally occurring colors: a piece might be made of red and white clay, with green glaze over the white portion, and line decorations done in iron over a coat of white slip on the red part. This ware is named for Furuta Oribe, who in his time was the undisputed master of the tea ceremony and who, it is said, commissioned certain kilns to make these pots after his own designs.

Likewise, the tea ceremony ware known as Shino is widely considered to have its own unparalleled kind of beauty. With its thick, white, feldspathic glaze and stylized but seemingly spontaneous decoration in iron underglaze, it has an unmistakable sense of softness and naturalness.

Both Shino and Oribe are still being made today, but in many cases it is the older examples that are most striking. Classic Stoneware of Japan brings together these early great pieces with important newer work, in 150 color photographs, and outlines each ware in informative essays -- written by two noted authorities -- on each tradition's history and techniques.

Classic Stoneware of Japan offers a comprehensive visual survey and a basic understanding of these traditions' glazes, processes, shapes and decoration. The reader comes away with a clear idea of the essence of these wares and an ability to instantly recognize either. It will be invaluable for anyone interested in pottery, design or art.

Classic Stoneware of Japan is the combined edition of two earlier volumes, Shino and Oribe, originally published independently in the series Famous Ceramics of Japan. This new, combined edition is a fascinating guide to these enduring and vital art forms. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Classic book, classic subject
Say "stoneware" to anyone fond of traditional Japanese culture and most will respond "raku." Indeed, those loosely-shapen dark wonders of the low-fire kiln are the supercondensed span of an entire culture in an object you can hold. Yet in an almost artless preoccupation with doing just the opposite, two traditions expressing the same qualities of the tea ceremony using entirely materials and effect came into existence and rapidly became popular: Shino and Oribe ware. Both originated during Japan's artistic renaissance of the late sixteenth century (which interestingly was coterminus with the Europeam Renaissance beyond Italy, and just as tumultuous).

The tea ceremony's origins came in a gentler time, the Muromachi. It was as if the mix of vigor and experience hung in the air like a dust mote after a peaceful zephyr, the same way that war is in the air when come the winds of change. Though several theories claim to be the actual inspiration, the era is more definite. A 1932 chronicle relates, "In the first month of 1574, Kagemitsu, third son of Kageharu of the thirteenth generation after the first Seto potter Kato Kagemasa, moved to Akatsu. By virtue of a tea jar that he presented to Lord Oda Nobunaga, the latter formally recognized him as a retainer. Kakemitsu subsequently left Seto and moved to Kujiri, in Mino, in 1583. There . . . he continued working as a potter."

To diehard raku buffs, Shino ware must have seemed a bit overadorned, fussy perhaps. There are geometrics, abstracts, and representations of familiar fare such as birds, grasses, plus the occasional poem such as:

The inner essence
Of the fence of deutzia flowers
In a mountain village:
The feeling of treading a road
Covered with freshly fallen snow.

The authors convey all this with a mix of the poet and the historian. Here is an extended passage that carries the aroma of the whole text:

"To me [Shino ware's] charm lies in the feel of its surface and the mellow luster that accords so well with that surface. And there is the straightforward beauty of the pictures decorating Shino ware. The overall effect is intoxicating.
"Shino pictures are drawn with lively lines depicting the everyday scenery surrounding the potters-the bridges over the streams at Kuguri, a cypress fence and dew-covered path leading to its brushwood gate, a grove of trees in flower, the trees and grasses just outside the window, even the mountain road they traveled day after day.
"Such was the aesthetic of the Momoyama period in general. But the single tree, the few blades of grass these artists sketched are somehow pleasing because the designs pulse with life, the brushwork is clean and bold.
"The white of Shino can be compared to the first snow of the season, or to the last traces of the winter snow, which the warm spring winds are erasing as the bush warbler's first song rings out. Shino's white surface is soft like a mother's breast; it brings back memories of childhood.

"Shino white is tidiness itself. And on that white the potters painted designs with an iron glaze made of oni-ita, a red clay rich in iron and manganese and abundant in the Seto region. The effect of flame in the kiln added distinctive fire marks. Shino is an elusive ware, capable of infinite transformations.
"The Shino potters thickly applied their glaze, which they made by carefully grinding feldspar and refining it in water. To this they added their own secret proportion of ash. Then, after offering sake and prayers to the gods of the kiln, and ritually scattering salt to purify the area, they entrusted their pieces to the fire."

In the depths of the heart
From which pottery springs
Flows a crystal clear stream
Reflecting nearby mountains.
-- Rosanjin Kitaoji

The above is but the glaze. To get the pot you must get the book. Be sure to look at pictures 2 and 3 on page 54: This seemingly unassuming Shino teabowl is considered the finest teabowl in existence.

Alas, or perhaps huzzah, styles last not long. The next innovation in Japanese teaware can be directly traced to a single man, Furuta Oribe, and as changes in teacups go, his was a doozy.

Japan in Oribe's time was a chessboard of warlords incessantly raiding each other for fun and profit. Oribe, among other things, also was a distinguished general. His tastes ran to the "robust, generous, vigorous, and distorted in shape." He introduce these qualities to the entire tea ceremony-most notably by making it part of a dinner event with a large number of others, all lubricated as much by saké as by tea. Hence Oribe commissioned not only tea ware but serving and dining dishes, saké ware, unusual geometrics, and heavy, dripping glazes the tea ceremony's predecessors would have deemed ghastly. This was not very Zen. On the other hand, Oribe's shaking up the establishment led directly to a great flowering of ceramics. Eventually more subtle tastes tamed down the founder's style-a process that can be seen vividly in the many illustrations of Oribe ware-and Oribe's great-great-great grandchildren's great grandchildren still being made today.

Alas, this review is all too brief. To sum the book in PR blurb terms, "Classic Stoneware of Japan: Shino and Oribe" is a comprehensive visual survey and text explication of the two traditions' glazes, processes, shapes, and decoration. You come away with a clear idea of the essence of these wares and with half an eye you can come to expertly recognize either. The detail is exhaustive given its scant 42 pages of text. Potters will celebrate it. Everyone else will learn from it. No one is likely to forget it. ... Read more

Book Description

Since 1975, the experimental work of Australian-born artist Jill Scott has evolved from making surveillance-performance events, to video art, to new computer art and interactive cinema. Coded Characters surveys her work, noting a persistent questioning of the role of the audience and an interest in the human body, which for Scott becomes both an interface and a player in the evolving zones of tech space and physical reality.

Essays by Robert Atkins, Anne Marsh and Yvonne Spielmann.
Introduction by Roy Ascott.

Hardcover, 7.5 x 9.75 in. 240 pages, 140 color, 60 b/w, with a DVD illustrations ... Read more

Book Description

One of the most important exponents of contemporary art in South America, Helio Oiticica creates multimedia room installations which intertwine social themes, experimental elements, and appropriations from popular culture, film, and music. This book focuses on works which have rarely been seen elsewhere, works in which Oiticica questions the traditional relationship between the audience and the world of the movies, such as his "quasi-cinemas," which combine slide projections and music. The lavish nine-part sequence "Black Experiments in Cosmacocoa" is published here for the first time, alongside Oiticica's own notes and critical texts.
Edited by Ann Bremner. Essays by Carlos Basualdo, Dan Cameron, Helio Oiticica, Ivana Bentes. Introduction by Sherri Geldin, Udo Kittelmann, and Lisa Phillips.

9 x 12 in.
50 color, 50 b/willustrations
English/German ... Read more

Reviews (16)

The Art Of Final Fantasy IX Is A Must-Buy
I strolled into EB one day, and upon purchasing Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (great game, by the way), they had this book at the counter. I was really happy and a bit sad as well: my last few bucks just went into Persona 2: EP. But a couple days later, my dad had heard of the book through my constant ramblings and picked it up for me as a gift. Happy like a Moogle with a Kupo Nut, I was. Final Fantasy IX is my favorite game, I loved every second of it. Not since Secret of Mana for the SNES have I loved a game this much. There are drawings of the main characters; non-playable characters; monsters; villages, castles, and dungeons; items and equipment; CG scenes; sketches; air ships and worlds--all of which are rich in both beauty in detail. Final Fantasy IX fans will notice the transformation the characters went through the most when they get a glimpse at their earlier sketches. They early drawings were much more life-like and had a more traditional Japanese look to them (especially Steiner); just try to picture them without their super-deformed look and you'd, for the most part, get the picture (Quina, Vivi and Eiko being the major exceptions). Personally, I think they should have left Amarant with the beanie. Much better than the red weave they gave him in the end. Another bonus is the few drawings you get of parts in the game that were cut. None of what was cut was a serious loss (a house here, a house there), but it would have been nice to have had them in the game. Still, at least we got to see them. Not all the charcters made it into the game (where's Cactrot?!), but they managed to put a good number of them in here. And, well it might be really picky of me, I kinda think the selection for the cinemas could have been better (that scene were Kuja was bleeding would have been nice... heh, not to mention more pictures of Garnet), but what they did put in was good enough. There were a lot of drawings that caught my attention (Garnet on the cover came to mind on that thought), but my favorite was on page 66, there's a picture of a black mage standing at the graveyard in the Black Mage Village. Pretty sad, actually. Anyway, at 159 pages (that might seem like a so-so amount, but when you see how big the book is, you won't think so) of beautiful pictures, you'll definitely love this. Saying this is a must for Final Fantasy IX fans is a bit cliche (not to mention obvious), but it's true, and not only that, but this is a must for fans of just art in general. I love that I can open this book up and relive my favorite Final Fantasy IX moments any time--definitely don't pass this up.

A book worth getting
The Art of Final Fantasy IX is a great artbook worth getting--even for a person who doesn't even have the game could enjoy this and get to know the all of the charicter's personalities before even getting the game. Besides being an art book, it has lots of informaition about the game. In a few sections, it shows how they created the charictor. The art is beautiful and any Final Fantasy fan will truly admire this creative and well-put-together book. ---plus, its in English and has some Japanese writing.

FF9 fans will be pleased.
It's got all the characters, all the settings, all the fun. FF9 was my favorited in the series so I just had to get this homage to it. It's just fun to look at the sketches and rough-drafts and such. The town designs are really amazing.

If you're a fan of the FF series, anime, or just incredible art, I suggest you check this out.

Beautiful, Just Beautiful Drawings from the Best
I love Final Fantasy!! I have been a die hard fan since part one was released in 1990. There are several books out that show the visual effects from the Final Fantasy series, but this one is by far the best. It is strait forward, art, from the original designer of FF characters, Yoshitaka Amano. Page for page you will see the steps that he followed making this characters shine.

The main reason that I took one star away was because most of the art in this book is finished up designs from Amano. I am a very big fan of his work, ex. Vampire Hunter D, FF1-6,and 9 adn several other Japaneese work. I enjoy his early sketches better, they are much more fantasy like. But that does not mean that this collection is not beautiful as printed.

This is a beautiful editon to any Final Fantasy collecton or just plain art or drawings collection. Dont pass this up.

Wonderful Art of Final Fantasy IX!!
When I bought this book, I expected mostly black and white photos and small screenshots from the game, but when I opened it up I was happily suprised with a book full of large, colorful artwork. Being a fan of the game series itself, this book especially appealed to me, as it probably would to many other FF players. But even those who do not play the game will find them selves impressed with the tons of fantastic artwork that fills its pages. I definitely recommened this book if you are a fan of the game or just love great art! ... Read more

Reviews (3)

What's going on with royo?!?
Everyone's favorite fantasy artist seems to have been going through some things lately. His last three books, of the Prohibited trilogy, have been skirting from fantasy to smut.

We all know Royo is an excellent artist in his genre ( or even out of his genre), but the last three, and especially Prohibited 3, are pretty..uh..graphic. His ability is undeniable, but his subject matter in the Prohibited series makes me a tad uncomfortable. (...)

quite explicit in book three of this series
As a new Royo fan, I ordered all three of the Prohibited books at once, so I was quite surprised at the increasing level of graphic sex depicted as the book numbers progressed. I would love to say this book's art makes up for this, but most are watercolour-type sketches. I would not advise Royo fans not to buy it, but please understand that the penetrations are not hidden/implied as in the other books. New fans should consider Secrets & Malefic first b/c not many--if any--of these prints will be on posters. I keep it shelved and enjoy the rest of his other books, except Women (which is worse than this b/c it simply does not represent the mature Royo we love---merely the Royo as cover artist who evolved to whom we now admire), when I want to browse his art.

Great for private veiwing.
But if your like me you tend to leave books lying around and carrying them places, I would recommend not having this book around others who are not likeminded. This was quite a big shift from Prohibited 2. The book contains a story which is slighty diffrent from the last one in that is goes along with the pictures. The story however, are more explict than that of 1 or 2. The quality of the art is improved, there are no longer sketches, but there are also no longer pieces such as the "The Flight IV" of 2. ... Read more

Book Description

Eric Feng's highly acclaimed illustrative style is collected here for the first time ever, revealing his surreal and beautiful art blending East and West, past and present, natural and mechanical. Hovering between fantasy and reality, interwoven with natural and mechanical beings, Fevolution is about infinite evolutionary possibilities. Feric's translucent layers provide a window on both the clarity and complexity hidden below the surface of his hybrid creations. ... Read more

Book Description

This groundbreaking catalogue is the first of its kind to examine the exquisite Chinese brown- and black-glazed wares (including those commonly known as "Temmoku"), tracing their evolution and development from the fifth to the fifteenth century. Illustrated with fine and important pieces from famous museum and private collections, it includes excellent essays and definitive entries by Robert D. Mowry, with contibutions on specific historical and technical aspects by Eugene Farrell and Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere. Reviewed by many experts, this book has become a standard textbook for students of Chinese ceramics and an essential reference for collectors, scholars, and other interested readers. ... Read more

Book Description

Gordon Matta-Clark (1943-1978) is one of the great heroes of late twentieth-century art, a cult figure as much in the contemporary art world as on the architecture scene, whose work is independent from any movement or school. This book is the first and definitive monograph on the artist, who died at the

age of thirty-five.

Born in New York and trained in architecture, Gordon Matta-Clark is most famous for his slicing through faÁades, walls and floors of derelict buildings. This 'deconstructing' gesture, provocative and extreme, turns architecture into astonishing sculptures, where the mass of the building is entwined with the light and air that penetrate it. Matta-Clark's interventions are always grounded in social or political convictions. Some of his projects include opening a restaurant (Food, 1971)

in the then-neglected district of SoHo in New York, purchasing at auction fractions of unusable urban land

in New York (Reality Properties: Fake Estates, 1973), dispensing oxygen to passersby in the streets of

New York from a self-made cart (Fresh Air Cart, 1972), and other visionary urban projects that he conceived

as a founding member of the New York-based Anarchitecture group. His practice remains one of the most unique, unequalled, and hugely influential of the past decades. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A beautiful book
Everything from the cover (with it's cut spine) to the interior layout and photographs are exquisite and give a nice feel for matta-clark's work. It is a nice complement to Pamela Lee's 'Object to be Destroyed'.

The essays were insigtful, well written and provided a good overall personal and social context for his work. ... Read more

Book Description

translation and preface by Mary Ann Caws

"[T]his short book will be extremely useful for scholars of the avant-garde, particularly those who are interested in Artaud." -- Robert T. Ivey, Library Journal

Antonin Artaud (1896-1948)--stage and film actor, director, writer, drug addict, and visual artist--was a man of rage and genius. The Secret Art of Antonin Artaud is the first English translation of two famous texts on his drawings and portraits. In one, Jacques Derrida examines the works that he first saw on the walls of Paule Thévenin's apartment. His text, as frenzied as Artaud's, struggles with Artaud's peculiar language and is punctuated by footnotes and asides that reflect this strain ("How will they translate this?"). The more straightforward text of Paule Thévenin describes the history of Artaud's drawings and portraits. ... Read more

Book Description

This offbeat guide is packed with photographs of unbelievable vehicles—like an auto that actually has a working waterfall. “You’ll smile your way through this book as you look at the vehicles that artists and bona fide eccentrics have created. I think of a book like this as a source of inspiration... [This is] a journey into the core of creativity. Just turn the pages and have a good time.” —Creative Crafter.
... Read more

Reviews (6)

Buy it NOW!
I visited my niece in Seattle, and she KNOWS one of the art car owners, so showed me the book. What fun!!! I am buying it today!

This is such a fun book.
This book is just a blast -- it is so fun and inspirational. It made me happy that I own a crappy old car, because now I can run out and paint it without worrying about the resale value.

This guy is my muse!
I read Harrod's first book after seeing some art cars at The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. After that, the seeds were planted! In a few months I had made my first art car. I finally got to meet Harrod and get a copy of Art Cars when he appeared with several of us exhibiting our creations at Artscape. It was fun to ooh and aah over pictures of many other art car folks in this book who have become good friends of mine in the past few years. Art Cars will inspire you to go out RIGHT NOW and start decorating your vehicle!

Superb book about a superb phenomenon.
If this book doesn't bring a great big smile on your face & a sense of wonder & joy in your heart, well...it's probably clinical.

A picture could be worth a thousand sales
Not a review, but with this new book rising in sales and getting good reviews, can we see the cover???? ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Berger's Best Essays
Sense of Sight is possibly the best place to start with the impressive breadth and depth of Berger's essay writing. For anyone new to Berger, this is clearly the place to start. Even though "Selected Essays" features a longer time frame and over 600 pages of writing, "Sense of Sight" contains many of the works that make "Selected" such a powerful collection.

Berger's subjects in "Sense", as Lloyd Spencer says in his intro, fall into a number categories: "travel and emigration, dreaming, love and passion, death, art as activity and artifact, and the relation between work in language and the physical labour which produces and reproduces the world." Berger's confidence in tackling this array of stories is buoyed by his abilities. Few writers today would even tackle such a variety of areas because few command Berger's ability to weave stories and ideas together in the same cloth with the same commitment to both threads.

Highlights include:

- "The Moment of Cubism": a powerful and accessible study of one of the most profound developments in painting
- "Leopardi": an introduction to a man Nietzsche considered the greatest prose writer of the 19th century
- "The Eaters and the Eaten": an intriguing study of food, class, and feasts
- "The Production of the World": Van Gogh's compulsion to bring his canvas and reality ever closer together, "so close that the stars in the night became maelstroms of light"
- "Dürer: a Portrait of the Artist": what two self-portraits of an unrivalled artist reveal about art, independence, and religion on the cusp of the modern era
- "Ernst Fischer: a Philosopher and Death": a moving recollection of the writer's passions, insights, and final days

John Berger is alway relevant
It was a delight to return to John Berger's writings through this collection of essays. A few are previously unpublished and the rest date from 1960 to 1984. Old stuff? No. Some of the essays are timeless, those on art in particular. Some offer haunting pictures of a vanished world, travel pieces in Yugoslavia for example. And some are disturbing and dismaying for their current relevance. "On the Bosphorus" was written in 1979, just after the government of Turkey had declared martial law, again. Berger sets this story of modern Turkey, its people, and its politics, on a ferry across the Bosphorus carrying Anatolian, commuting workers, truck drivers and Kurdish porters. The impact of US intervention on Turkish politics appears in the details of lives situated in history and written on the bodies of Berger's fellow passengers and remembered friends. The essay that follows, "Manhattan," is eery for the juxtaposition, and the two engage the reader in a post-September 11th dialogue.
John Berger is an art critic who taught us another way of seeing 40 years ago, but his strength is in the relation between the visual and the verbal. He writes of the the stories told by works of art and fills his essays with pictures of particular. He is the story teller. ... Read more

Book Description

Artists can't always wait for perfect weather and lighting conditions to paint a dramatic sky, or drive to a distant coast to paint a stunning seascape. That's why reference photos are so essential--they save artists hours of time, frustration and unnecessary work. The Artist's Photo Reference: Water and Skies makes finding those much-needed images easy, by placing hundreds of magnificent, high-quality photos at the artist's fingertips.

Streams, rivers, waterfalls, waves and breathtaking cloud formations are just some of the themes that will be sure to spark creativity.Also included are 6 step-by-step demonstrations by a variety of artists, painted from some of the actual photos included in the book.A special introductory section instructs readers on how to take their own inspiring photos. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Just Wonderful
I just absolutely love this book. I bought this with the Landscape part of the series, with the hope to get more water. This book has it. It has a wonderful selection of snow scenes and even frost!!! It then has several different types of beach and ocean scenes. The one thing that I was really looking for that this book didn't have, which is why I gave it a 4, was that there was no rain. There were plenty of fog and mist, which were wonderful, but not a single rain picture. They had a few rainbows, but no rain. I thought it was interesting, but perhaps its just really that hard to take a picture of rain. So if your looking for a book with rain, I would suggest looking elsewere. If your just looking for a great book with lots of water and sky, this would be my pick!!

Artist's Photo Reference: Water & Skies
What a fantastic book! The photos and the art are all Breathtaking. Its a must for any landscape artist's book shelf. I've used it time and time again. ... Read more

Book Description

Looking at how artists from all over the world have modeled the human form in ceramics, The Figure in Fired Clay provides lavish full-color illustrations and examples from prehistoric times to the present, along with the historical, mythological, and methodological background to this fascinating subject. Stunningly beautiful drinking vessels and pottery, some fashioned in the shape of people or animals, some with these figures painted on their exterior, have enhanced the domestic rituals of all cultures, and are brilliantly depicted and examined alongside the experiments of the modern masters-Picasso, Mo Jupp, Eric Mellon, and others. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A new view by a famous potter
Betty Blandino's new book, The Figure in Fired Clay is spectacular. The collection of gorgeous photos alone make it a very thumbable coffee table book, but--make no mistake--it is more than that.

Blandino reviews the history of the seemingly universal tendency of people all over the world to take a lump of clay and mold it into a recognizable figure. Many of these artefacts come from civilizations of which we have no other surviving record. I loved the section on the earliest clay figures, and also the wonderful photographs of the work of contemporary ceramicists, many of whom were quite new to me.

Betty Blandino is a distinguished potter herself, and this is what brings this book to life. As she says in the Foreword: "Nothing but a small lump of soft clay accompanying these paper pages could have allowed those who have not used it to understand and feel the pleasure of this tolerant, flexible material as well as appreciating the wilfulness of its character."

I highly recommend this book if you are interested in pottery, and/or the human form, and perhaps like me have not seen how these two interests go together. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Explore Experimental Mixed Media and Collage Painting
I've been a realist painter all of my life yet I've always enjoyed experimental and non-realist paintings. I'd even made several attempts to make my own experimental paintings yet ended up throwing them away in disgust since they showed that I didn't really know what I was doing. I was at a loss and wondering how people make abstract and experimental paintings at all.

Then I found this book and what a big difference it has made. The paintings in it are beautiful and made me want to try experimental painting again. I was SO thankful Ms. Dews breaks down her approach step-by-step with photos for each stage. So, for example, you read something like, "In this section I demonstrate some of the techniques I use in my paintings. They are simple to follow. As you practice these techniques, you will not only learn about the various techniques, you learn about the color, paper and how to use various tools." That chapter then procedes to do exactly that. Photos and explanations abound of techniques for texturing, shaping, coloring, various paper surfaces, etc and how each contributes to particular effect.

I appreciated especially the chapter on how to cultivate new ideas for your next painting. I also enjoyed the chapter finishing up by showing step-by-step how two artists can interpret the same subject. A photo of an iris was used for the demonstrations and Ms. Dews' result was an abstracted background with a more realist flower as the focal point. The other guest artist had a completely experimental, abstracted painting. I would've never known the original subject was a flower had I not been able to follow her painting from start to finish.

Two other chapters that really helped me a lot were the ones on viewing, cropping and collage. Ms. Dews is not afraid to crop her paintings if one area is working well but the rest of the painting is not. Alternately, sometimes she uses collage to rescue an area or painting that isn't working out. I wish I'd known about this on my first attempts. Had I thought to do these things I may have not thrown my paintings away, just cropped or collaged the disappointing sections.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone curious about trying a more experimental approach to painting. It has tons of mini-demonstrations, full painting demonstrations, discussions on using a wide variety of tools, surfaces, stencils, collage papers, mediums, etc. and techniques. It's got a lot of photos so you can see as well as read what the author is doing. Overall, it's a good reference to get started painting more freely.

This book breaks through creative blocks!
I ordered this book without seeing it. The customer reviews that summarize Dews' freedom and enjoyment of painting are true. She writes wonderfully and explains perfectly. When I received the book, I read all of it. She has more fun and coaxes her readers to jump up and run to the paint and, on the way, grab anything that doesn't move to add to the experience. A real fresh look at enjoying art.

A wonderful teaching guide for unique watercolor techniques!
We are so lucky that a talented artist like Pat Dews reveals her painting techniques to everyone. A beautifully put together book with great action photos and easy to follow directions. I especially love the painting for keemakoo. Highly recommend!!

This is a most helpful book.
Pat Dewsbook"Creative Discoveries in Watermedia" is the most informative and comprehensive book in my art library.Her "how to"examples are well defined which is a tremendous help to those who are new to the abstract genre and to many who need inspiration.

Exciting and Energizing makes you want to pick up a brush.
When I saw the cover I knew this would be a book I would love. This is a inspiring book, not a "copy me" book. ... Read more

Amazon.com

For more than 20 years, Gregory Battcock's Minimal Art: A Critical Anthology has been the book on this deceptively simple approach to art-making, which sought to remove any trace of the artist's hand or emotion from the work. (Detractors naturally found it ludicrous that such reductive sculpture, often consisting of no more than a few basic modular units attached to the wall or placed on the floor, generated such a voluminous and dense stream of critical analysis, beginning in the mid-1960s.)

Part of Phaidon's Themes and Movements series, Minimalism offers the first straightforward and useful summary of the output and outlook of the artists associated with minimalism in its heyday, as well as its subsequent development into more nuanced visual forms and its relationship to postmodernism. Editor James Meyer is a specialist who has written extensively on Carl Andre, Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, and Sol LeWitt, four of the seminal minimalists (the fifth is Robert Morris). Despite the intellectual thorniness of this art, Meyer avoids the turgidity that marks much of the writing associated with it.

Tracing the origins of minimalism primarily to Frank Stella's "Black Paintings" of 1959, Meyer outlines the shifting, often warring definitions of this new kind of art. Once sculptors Andre and Judd had made their mark, there was doubt that painters could be minimalists. Brice Marden and Robert Ryman made the cut because their work was believed to be purely about the process of painting. Interestingly, although this was overwhelmingly a male club, curators also initially embraced the work of several women artists (including Agnes Martin and Anne Truitt) who retained such minimalist no-noes as irregular, handmade marks, color that could be perceived independently of form, and a belief in transcendent meaning.

The 141 pages of color and black-and-white photographs (including rare glimpses of early work by some artists) and a generous assembly of texts by such key commentators as Michael Fried, Barbara Rose, Rosalind Krauss, and the artists themselves (including previously unpublished or hard-to-find material) make this volume indispensable for anyone seriously interested in contemporary art. --Cathy Curtis ... Read more