James Prosek


Book Description

Works by Prosek and others are juxtaposed with natural objects in an illuminating interrogation of the artificial boundaries we create between art and nature Award-winning artist, writer, and naturalist James Prosek (b. 1975) has gained a worldwide following for his deep connection with the natural world, which serves as the basis for his art and numerous popular books. In this cross-disciplinary catalogue, Prosek poses the question, What is art and what is artifact—and to what extent do these distinctions matter? Drawing on the collections of the Yale University Art Gallery and the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Prosek places man- and nature-made objects on equal footing aesthetically, suggesting that the distinction between them is not as vast as we may believe. In more than 150 full-color plates, objects such as a bird’s nest, dinosaur head, and cuneiform tablet are juxtaposed with Asian handscrolls, an African headdress, modern masterpieces, and more. Artists featured include Albrecht Dürer, Helen Frankenthaler, Vincent van Gogh, Barbara Hepworth, Pablo Picasso, and Jackson Pollack, as well as Prosek himself, whose works depict fish, birds, and endangered wildlife. Also included are an incisive essay by Edith Devaney and texts by Prosek that explore the magnificent productions of our wondrous interconnected world.




Trout of the World


Book Description

From the Oxus trout of eastern Afghanistan to the small golden brown trout of British chalk streams, Prosek has dedicated his unique painting talent to bringing to life trout from around the world.




Eels


Book Description

They spawn in the middle of the ocean but spend their adult lives in freshwater. They can overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles and even cross over land. They are revered as guardians and monster-seducers by New Zealand’s Maori, yet are often viewed with disgust in the West. They are a multibillion-dollar business in the Asian food market. They are often mistaken for snakes. They are eels—one of the world’s most amazing and least understood fish. (Yes, fish.) James Prosek offers a fascinating tour through the life history and cultural associations of the freshwater eel, exploring its biology, its myth and lore, its mystery and beauty. Eels is a mesmerizing biography of an intriguing and mysterious creature, as well as a telling look at humanity, the will to persist, and the ever-changing relationship between man and the natural world.




A Good Day's Fishing


Book Description

A child searches through the hooks, lures, bobbers, and other paraphernalia in his tacklebox for the one thing he needs to ensure a good day's fishing. Includes a detailed glossary.




Joe and Me


Book Description

When James Prosek was just fifteen, a ranger named Joe Haines caught him fishing without a permit in a stream near Prosek's home in Connecticut. But instead of taking off with his fishing buddy, James put down his rod and surrendered. It was a move that would change his life forever. Expecting a small fine and a lecture, James instead received enough knowledge about fishing and the great outdoors to last a lifetime. The story of an unlikely friendship, Joe and Me is a book for those who remember the mentor in their life, the one who changed the way they look at the world.




Simple Fly Fishing


Book Description

Modern-day fly fishing, like much in life, has become exceedingly complex, with high-tech gear, a confusing array of flies and terminal tackle, accompanied by high-priced fishing guides. This book reveals that the best way to catch trout is simply, with a rod and a fly and not much else. The wisdom in this book comes from a simpler time, when the premise was: the more you know, the less you need. It teaches the reader how to discover where the fish are, at what depth, and what they are feeding on. Then it describes the techniques needed to present a fly at that depth, make it look lifelike, and hook the fish. With chapters on wet flies, nymphs, and dry flies, its authors employ both the tenkara rod as well as regular fly fishing gear to cover all the bases. Illustrated by renowned fish artist James Prosek, with inspiring photographs and stories throughout, Simple Fly Fishing reveals the secrets and the soul of this captivating sport.




Go Fish


Book Description

"Go Fish, " a fly-fishing record keeper, includes space for notes, equipment used, and specifics about the type of fish caught, plus 26 spectacular watercolor portraits of trout. Concealed Wire-O binding. Consumable.




Early Love and Brook Trout


Book Description

"When I dream," begins James Prosek in this wonderful book, "sometimes I can smell the resin on my pillow as if I were in the tent again . . .. I think of first kisses with a freckled girl, of abandoned New England farms, and limestone Civil War Homes on Pennsylvania spring creeks, and bright brook trout."The more than 200,000 readers who have bought Prosek's previous books will find in Early Love and Brook Trout his most poignant and revealing work. His memoir includes images of his first love, a girl named Whitney; his rowing days at Yale; his relationship to an old game warden named Joe Haines; and a night spent trapped in a cabin during a flood at the foot of the Smoky Mountains. Always, as is proper for the superb painter he is, his eye catches everything: the way a tree splits when struck by lightning, the way people interact at a salmon camp, the way wood smoke rises from a cabin on Lac St. Jean, and especially the colors of a spawning brook trout. Brook trout are at the center of his memories: They are his home fish, and he follows their range from Quebec to Georgia, fishing, painting specimens from various localities, documenting the immense diversity of this species.Graced with more than forty stunning watercolors by the author, Early Love and Brook Trout is a book no angler will want to miss. (8 1/4 X 8 1/4, 164 pages, watercolors)




The Day My Mother Left


Book Description

Jeremy's whole life changed the day his mother left. When his mother leaves with the father of his worst enemy at school, nine-year-old Jeremy seeks to make sense of her abandonment. He throws himself into recreating the Book of Birds, a collection of drawings that his mother took with her on the day she left. While his father fights his own depression and his sister distances herself from their lives, Jeremy turns wholeheartedly to nature, and finds solace in the quiet comfort of drawing. In this novel, James Prosek tells Jeremy's story without blame, without self-pity, and without excuses. The Day My Mother Left should be read by anyone who has gone through the pain of losing a parent, and by anyone who wants to meet Jeremy, a boy who can see inside himself the person he wants to become.




The Complete Angler


Book Description

James Prosek has been called "the Audubon of the fishing world" by the New York Times. A passionate fisherman and talented artist from a young age, he published two illustrated books on fish and fishing while still an undergraduate at Yale. After winning a traveling fellowship to follow in the footsteps of Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler became his obsession. He was fascinated by Walton, a humble man who won the friendship of kings, and he was intrigued by the book's philosophies concerning the timelessness and immortality that could be achieved by fishing. Although Walton was sixty when The Compleat Angler was published and Prosek only twenty when he set off to visit England, they each had traits in common: a love of fishing and an extraordinary ability to make friends. This is the story of a young man's pilgrimage through England, fishing the waters that are now privately held. Along with wonderful stories about good times, great fishing, and fine eating, this trip becomes an exploration of Waltonian ideals: how to live with humor, wisdom, contentment, and simplicity. The original watercolors complementing the text are wonderful. Like Walton's book, The Complete Angler is not about fishing but about life. Or rather, it is about fishing—but fishing is life.