MBR: The Art Shelf
MWBOOKREVW
Art Nouveau Glass Painting
Alan Gear & Barry Freestone
David & Charles/F&W Publications
4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236
0715314645 $19.99 1-800-289-0963
Glass painting experts Alan Gear and Barry Freestone effectively collaborate in
Art Nouveau Glass Painting to offer aspiring glass painters twenty superbly
presented, step-by-step projects in glass-painting that are vividly attractive
yet simple to finish. Full color photographs combine with detailed instructions
for crafting a mosaic-effect mirror, a frosted thistle vase, and iridescent
lily card, and more, comprise this fun, specialized, hands-on arts craft and
highly recommended do-it-yourself hobby guide.
Crystal Clarity, Publishers
14618 Tyler Foote Road, Nevada City, CA 95959
1-800-424-1055 crystalproductions.com
Crystal Clarity is justifiably famous for their instructional videos in the
arts. Two of their "student artist friendly" watercolor instructional videos by
watercolor artist and expert Gerald Brommer are especially recommended for both
personal and art school library collections. Watercolor: Materials And Basic
Techniques (CP-5361W, $24.95, 29 minutes) explores the diverse materials and
various properties of watercolor through a series of step-by-step
demonstrations and illustrative examples of watercolor paintings. These show
pieces include transparent and opaque watercolor, pigments, brushes, papers,
washes, glazes, and wet-in-wet techniques. The demonstrations use student
watercolors and papers and provide examples for classroom painting activities.
Watercolor: Special Techniques (CP-5362W, $24.95, 28 minutes) provides further
exploration and expansion on the fundamental concepts presented in Watercolor:
Materials and Basic Techniques. These more advanced concepts and techniques are
shown through a series of representative demonstrations which clearly instruct
aspiring watercolorists on how to use dry brush to create textures, glazes to
reinforce colors and combining different techniques. additionally, advanced
experimental techniques with "non-painting" tools and materials are included.
These two videos combined would serve as a core instructional resource for
either self-instruction or as a supplement to an established art school
curriculum.
Jesse Monongya
Lois Sherr Dubin
Hudson Hills Press
PO Box 205, 74-2 Union Street, Manchester, VT 05254
0966938283 $50.00 hudsonhills.com
Jesse Monongya: Opal Bears And Lapis Skies by Lois Sherr Dubin (Commissioner of
the Indian Arts & Crafts Board, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington,
DC) offers 175 full-color plates of vibrant earrings, pendants, bracelets and
more, as it showcases the vivid and memorably impressive quality of Jesse
Monongya's jewelry making drawn from and inspired by Hopi and Navajo tradition
and heritage. The informed and informative text thoughtfully describes the
feeling, tradition, quality, and respect wrought within each work by this
Native American artist and craftsman. A singularly impressive artbook, Jesse
Monongya is a welcome contribution to Native American Art Studies and highly
recommended for jewelry making enthusiasts and students.
Gilbert Munger: Quest For Distinction
Michael D. Schroeder & J. Gray Sweeney
Afton Historical Society Press
PO Box 100, Afton, MN 55001
1890434574 $40.00 1-800-436-8443
Michael D. Schroeder (the creator of www.gilbertmunger.org - a website
presenting the catalogue raisonne of Gilbert Munger's more than 200 known works
and documentation of the painter's life and art) and J. Gray Sweeney (Professor
of Art History, Arizona State University) combine their considerable insights
and expertise in Gilbert Munger: Quest For Distinction, an artbook that
presents the works and explorations of nineteenth-century American visionary
Gilbert Munger (1837-1903). It was Munger's travels which led him to represent
the American West with a keen eye for accuracy combined with a dash of
inspirational wonder. A very highly recommended addition to personal and
academic Art History collections, the gorgeous full-color reproductions of
Munger's artworks and informative and detailed text make Gilbert Munger: Quest
For Distinction an inherently fascinating and informatively revealing search
for the depth and meaning behind lasting works of Gilbert Munger's panoramic
art.
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