The role of objects and images in everyday life are illuminated incisively in Material Vernaculars, which combines historical, ethnographic, and object-based methods across a diverse range of material and visual cultural forms. The contributors to this volume offer revealing insights into the significance of such practices as scrapbooking, folk art produced by the elderly, the wedding coat in Osage ceremonial exchanges, temporary huts built during the Jewish festival of Sukkot, and Kiowa women's traditional roles in raiding and warfare. While emphasizing local vernacular culture, the contributors point to the ways that culture is put to social ends within larger social networks and within the stream of history. While attending to the material world, these case studies explicate the manner in which the tangible and intangible, the material and the meaningful, are constantly entwined and co-constituted.

'i Paint' presents a select group of paintings, drawings and verse from Connecticut artist Ronald J. Sloan's 5 decade career. These images represent the power of creation and the commitment to free expression through the medium of paint and brush and whatever tool deemed necessary to convey pure raw emotion.

Zorg Zookwash was just murdered Find out how he met his demise in this international art book. White Lady Art Gallery in Dublin, Ireland, curated an art show called Green Eggs and Ham: A Dr. Seuss Exhibition. They asked artists to submit work that was inspired by Dr. Seuss. Autumn Steam submitted an interactive installation called The Unfortunate Zookwash. She handbound a 160 page book full of paper ephemera, maps, discarded blueprints and vellum paper. Then she wrote and illustrated the original story. When the book was displayed at White Lady Art, they asked artists and attendants to please write an alternate ending in the book. There were over 10 contributions added to the book in Ireland. The Unfortunate Zookwash made it's second and final appearance at Folk Yard: Fashion on February 15, 2013, in Portland, Oregon. Autumn Steam asked artists and attendants to also contribute an ending. This book is a direct copy of the original art book. You can learn more about the book on our website www.zookwash.com

Growing old doesn't have to be seen as an eventual failure but rather as an important developmental stage of creativity. Offering an absorbing and fresh perspective on aging and crafts, Jon Kay explores how elders choose to tap into their creative and personal potential through making life-story objects. Carving, painting, and rug hooking not only help seniors to cope with the ailments of aging and loneliness but also to achieve greater satisfaction with their lives. Whether revived from childhood memories or inspired by their capacity to connect to others, meaningful memory projects serve as a lens for focusing on, remaking, and sharing the long-ago. These activities often help elders productively fill the hours after they have raised their children, retired from their jobs, and/or lost a loved one. These individuals forge new identities for themselves that do not erase their earlier lives but build on them and new lives that include sharing scenes and stories from their memories.