art and culture – Page 27

Review: Artists In Their Studios: Where Art Is Born by Robert Amos

January 16, 2008 admin 0

Today, in January Magazine’s art and culture section, contributing editor Cherie Thiessen reviews Artists In Their Studios: Where Art Is Born by Robert Amos. Says Thiessen: Ever wanted to wander into Robert Bateman or Ted Harrison’s studio to see how they work? Ever wondered what Carole Sabiston or Pat Martin Bates’ studios might look like? It is a heady thing to be in the presence of a celebrated and gifted artist, and this book is […]

Best of 2007: Art & Culture

December 12, 2007 admin 0

Architectural Inspiration: Styles, Details, Sources by Richard Skinulis and Peter Christopher (The Boston Mills Press) 528 pagesIn a world gone mad with home renovations and new construction, Architectural Inspiration is the ultimate design and wish book. This is the go-to-guide for the homeowner facing rethinking their existing home — or designing a new one — helping filling in the blanks that would-be designers without an actual design background will encounter. Are you dealing with double […]

Holiday Gift Guide: Art and Culture

December 3, 2007 admin 0

24: Ultimate Guide by Michael Goldman (DK Books) 144 pages24 is one of those television programs that creates addicts. It certainly created one in me. I came late to the party, watching the seasons on DVD before having to endure the seven days between episodes that come when you watch every week on Fox. Seasons one through five were pretty epic most of the time, and season six tanked. Made almost no sense. Still. Now […]

Graphic Witness: Four Wordless Graphic Novels edited by George A. Walker

October 31, 2007 admin 0

It’s difficult to know quite what to make of Graphic Witness (Firefly Books, 423 pages). As soon as you hold it, you know you have here an impossibly important book. It seems at once seminal and historic, a graphic witness, as the title indicates, of the very roots of the graphic novel. Here we have four important stories told in woodcut and without words, collected for us by George A. Walker, himself an award-winning engraver, […]

The Big Book of Pop Culture by Hal Niedzviecki

October 29, 2007 admin 0

And while we’re on the topic of Hal Niedzviecki’s Big Book of Pop Culture (Were we? Kinda.) the book, which was published by Annick Press earlier this year, is amazing. In some ways, it’s quite beyond the scope of anything I’ve seen done for kids before, by someone who knows this topic about as well as it can be known. From the book: Creativity is often confused with originality. But when you create, the challenge […]

Review: Fremantle Impressions by Ron Davidson

October 24, 2007 admin 0

Today, in January Magazine’s art & culture section, contributing editor Sue Bursztynski reviews Fremantle Impressions by Ron Davidson. Says Bursztynski: The port of Fremantle in Western Australia is old. Founded in 1829, it’s actually older than Melbourne, which didn’t begin until 1835. Fremantle has been a center of whaling, of imports and exports, it has had convicts and Aboriginal rebels and union strikes and has seen the foundation of business dynasties. In the 1980s, it […]

Review: Uncovered by Thomas Allan

October 17, 2007 admin 0

Today, in January Magazine’s art & culture section, Tony Buchsbaum reviews Uncovered by Thomas Allan. Says Buchsbaum: What Allen has done is to take the covers of mass market paperbacks and carefully cut and fold and combine them. The result is an anthology of sorts, a gathering of intriguing, alluring stories unto themselves — all without having written a word. And speaking of words, they’d do these pieces zero justice — but imagine, if you […]

Review: Women of Our Time by Frederick S. Voss and Women Who Write by Stefan Bollmann

October 11, 2007 admin 0

Today, in January Magazine’s art & culture section, contributing editor Cherie Thiessen reviews two books that celebrate the lives and art of women. Thiessen finds a lot to like in Women of Our Time by Frederick S. Voss: Women of Our Time … gives us a sampling of notable women in the 20th century. In addition, we are privileged to see them through the eyes of great portrait photographers and can often chart how women’s […]

Review: Heavy Metal Fun Time Activity Book by Aye Jay

September 24, 2007 admin 0

Today, in January Magazine’s art & culture section, contributing editor and January art director, David Middleton, reviews Heavy Metal Fun Time Activity Book by Aye Jay. Says Middleton: You don’t tend to think of heavy metal music as a genre that is filled with an overabundance of jocularity or frivolity, but as I flip through Heavy Metal Fun Time Activity Book I must reconsider my position. Metal can be fun, silly and — yes — […]

Review: This Year Your Write Your Novel by Walter Mosley

September 4, 2007 admin 0

Today, in January Magazine’s art & culture section, a review of This Year Your Write Your Novel by Walter Mosley. If you or someone you know wants to write a novel — really wants to write a novel — I’m fairly certain that this book will help them get there. “I don’t promise a masterpiece,” Mosley warns in his introduction, “just a durable first novel of a certain length,” and later in the introduction he […]