Artist as Author


Book Description

With Artist as Author, Christa Noel Robbins provides the first extended study of authorship in mid-20th century abstract painting in the US. Taking a close look at this influential period of art history, Robbins describes how artists and critics used the medium of painting to advance their own claims about the role that they believed authorship should play in dictating the value, significance, and social impact of the art object. Robbins tracks the subject across two definitive periods: the “New York School” as it was consolidated in the 1950s and “Post Painterly Abstraction” in the 1960s. Through many deep dives into key artist archives, Robbins brings to the page the minds and voices of painters Arshile Gorky, Jack Tworkov, Helen Frankenthaler, Kenneth Noland, Sam Gilliam, and Agnes Martin along with those of critics such as Harold Rosenberg and Rosalind Krauss. While these are all important characters in the polemical histories of American modernism, this is the first time they are placed together in a single study and treated with equal measure, as peers participating in the shared late modernist moment.




Artist/author


Book Description

from fanzines to books of visual poetry, sketchbooks to illustrated books, commercial fashion catalogs to photo albums. Defined loosely as a book done by an artist, which is itself a work of art, an "artist's book" is an idea that goes back to the time of illuminated manuscripts. Departing from that tradition however, which ended with the development in the 19th century of the livre de luxe, artists since the 1960's have attempted radical approaches to the book as autonomous art form. Spurred on in recent times by the advent of desktop publishing, this phenomena has continued to grow. This book features numerous examples, as well as informative text, and is sure to delight both bibliophiles and art lovers alike.




The Road to After


Book Description

This poignant debut novel in verse is a portrait of healing, as a young girl rediscovers life and the soothing power of nature after being freed from her abusive father. For most of her life, Lacey has been a prisoner without even realizing it. Her dad rarely let her, her little sister, or her mama out of his sight. But their situation changes suddenly and dramatically the day her grandparents arrive to help them leave. It’s the beginning of a different kind of life for Lacey, and at first she has a hard time letting go of her dad’s rules. Gradually though, his hold on her lessens, and her days become filled with choices she’s never had before. Now Lacey can take pleasure in sketching the world as she sees it in her nature journal. And as she spends more time outside making things grow and creating good memories with family and friends, she feels her world opening up and blossoming into something new and exciting.




The Organic Artist


Book Description

This is an art book which highlights the possibility of using natural, organic materials as art supplies and inspiration.




The Reverse Coloring BookTM


Book Description

Coloring books became a thing when adults discovered how relaxing and meditative they were. Jigsaw puzzles roared back into popularity as an immersive activity, not to mention a great alternative to television. How exciting is it, then, to introduce an activity that tops them both: reverse coloring, which not only confers the mindful benefits of coloring and puzzling but energizes you to feel truly creative, even when you're weary and just want to zone out. It's so simple, yet so profoundly satisfying. Each page in The Reverse Coloring Book has the colors, and you draw the lines. Created by the artist Kendra Norton, these beautiful and whimsical watercolors provide a gentle visual guide so open-ended that the possibilities are limitless. Trace the shapes, draw in figures, doodle, shade, cover an area with dots. Be realistic, with a plan, or simply let your imagination drift, as if looking a clouds in the sky. Each page is an invitation to slow down, let go, and thoughtfully (or thoughtlessly) let your pen find its way over the image. The Reverse Coloring Book includes 50 original works of art, printed on sturdy paper that's single-sided and perforated. And unlike with traditional coloring books, all you need is a pen.




Old In Art School


Book Description

A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, this memoir of one woman's later in life career change is “a smart, funny and compelling case for going after your heart's desires, no matter your age” (Essence). Following her retirement from Princeton University, celebrated historian Dr. Nell Irvin Painter surprised everyone in her life by returning to school––in her sixties––to earn a BFA and MFA in painting. In Old in Art School, she travels from her beloved Newark to the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design; finds meaning in the artists she loves, even as she comes to understand how they may be undervalued; and struggles with the unstable balance between the pursuit of art and the inevitable, sometimes painful demands of a life fully lived. How are women and artists seen and judged by their age, looks, and race? What does it mean when someone says, “You will never be an artist”? Who defines what an artist is and all that goes with such an identity, and how are these ideas tied to our shared conceptions of beauty, value, and difference? Bringing to bear incisive insights from two careers, Painter weaves a frank, funny, and often surprising tale of her move from academia to art in this "glorious achievement––bighearted and critical, insightful and entertaining. This book is a cup of courage for everyone who wants to change their lives" (Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage).




You Are an Artist


Book Description

“There are more than 50 creative prompts for the artist (or artist at heart) to explore. Take the title of this book as affirmation, and get started.” —Fast Company More than 50 assignments, ideas, and prompts to expand your world and help you make outstanding new things to put into it Curator Sarah Urist Green left her office in the basement of an art museum to travel and visit a diverse range of artists, asking them to share prompts that relate to their own ways of working. The result is You Are an Artist, a journey of creation through which you'll invent imaginary friends, sort books, declare a cause, construct a landscape, find your band, and become someone else (or at least try). Your challenge is to filter these assignments through the lens of your own experience and make art that reflects the world as you see it. You don't have to know how to draw well, stretch a canvas, or mix a paint color that perfectly matches that of a mountain stream. This book is for anyone who wants to make art, regardless of experience level. The only materials you'll need are what you already have on hand or can source for free. Full of insights, techniques, and inspiration from art history, this book opens up the processes and practices of artists and proves that you, too, have what it takes to call yourself one. You Are an Artist brings together more than 50 assignments gathered from some of the most innovative creators working today, including Sonya Clark, Michelle Grabner, The Guerrilla Girls, Fritz Haeg, Pablo Helguera, Nina Katchadourian, Toyin Ojih Odutola, J. Morgan Puett, Dread Scott, Alec Soth, Gillian Wearing, and many others.




I Am An Artist


Book Description

Meet the boy who can't stop creating art! He loves colours, shapes, textures and EVERYTHING inspires him: his socks, the contents of the fridge, even his cat gets a new coat (of paint!). But there's just one problem: his mum isn't quite so enthusiastic. In fact, she seems a little cross! But this boy has a plan to make his mum smile. He's about to create his finest piece yet and on a very grand scale . . . Funny, irreverent and perfect for creative children and adults, I Am An Artist by Marta Altés is a sharp, silly, fabulous book which shows that art is EVERYWHERE!




Oh, To Be a Painter!


Book Description

Virginia Woolf’s collection of writings on visual arts offer a whole new perspective on the revolutionary author. Despite wide interest in Woolf’s writings, and in the artists and art critics in her Bloomsbury Group circle, there is no accessible edition or selection of essays dedicated to her writings on art. This newest edition in David Zwirner Books’s ekphrasis series collects her longest essay on painting, “Walter Sickert: A Conversation” (1934), alongside shorter essays and reviews, including “Pictures” (1925), and “Pictures and Portraits” (1920). These formally inventive texts reveal the centrality of the visual arts to Woolf’s writing and vision. They show her engaging with contemporary debates about modern art and are innovative in their treatment of ideas about color and form, including in response to the work of her sister, the painter Vanessa Bell, who designed many of her book cover jackets. In these essays and reviews, Woolf illuminates the complex and interdependent relationship between the artist and society, and reveals her own shifting perspectives during decades of social and political change. She also provides sharp and astute commentary on specific works of art and on the relationship between art and writing. An introduction by Claudia Tobin situates the essays within their cultural contexts.




The Artist's Date Book


Book Description

In The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron addressed a complex subject in a way that has allowed millions of aspiring and working artists to tap into their own creativity. With her companion book The Artist's Way Morning Pages Journal, Cameron focused readers on one of two primary tools in her programs. Now The Artist's Date Book directs readers toward the second tool. Encompassing a year of creativity, with illustrations by Elizabeth Cameron Evans, 365 provocative tasks, and ample inventory space, it is whimsical, inspiring, entertaining, and wise. The book leads readers to involve themselves in daily meetings with their creative self, guiding them to authentic growth, renewal, and confidence.