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Books > Arts & Architecture > Art forms, treatments & subjects > Decorative arts & crafts > Folk art
More of that Pacific Northwest craziness you've come to worship and
adore Includes masterful works of creative genius by Scott Sparks
and Randy Long, with some other silly junk by Richard F. Yates.
Throughout the history of European modernism, philosophers and
artists have been fascinated by madness. Something different
happened in Brazil, however, with the "art of the insane" that
flourished within the modernist movements there. From the 1920s to
the 1960s, the direction and creation of art by the mentally ill
was actively encouraged by prominent figures in both medicine and
art criticism, which led to a much wider appreciation among the
curators of major institutions of modern art in Brazil, where
pieces are included in important exhibitions and collections. Kaira
M. Cabanas shows that at the center of this advocacy stood such
significant proponents as psychiatrists Osorio Cesar and Nise da
Silveira, who championed treatments that included painting and
drawing studios; and the art critic Mario Pedrosa, who penned
Gestaltist theses on aesthetic response. Cabanas examines the
lasting influence of this unique era of Brazilian modernism, and
how the afterlife of this "outsider art" continues to raise
important questions. How do we respect the experiences of the mad
as their work is viewed through the lens of global art? Why is this
art reappearing now that definitions of global contemporary art are
being contested? Learning from Madness offers an invigorating
series of case studies that track the parallels between psychiatric
patients' work in Western Europe and its reception by influential
artists there, to an analogous but altogether distinct situation in
Brazil.
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.
Read this book as art. There are no page numbers, the author is not
a writer. Love it for what it is. A view into the mind of the
creator. The book consists of inconsistent thoughts, topics,
moments of clarity, insanity and truth. This is art in book form.
"a bOok Of LiFe" offers new perspectives on many aspects of life as
well as many quotes collected from history which are as relevant
today as the day they were first spoken. The author has combined
his own amusing observations and philosophies while, presumably,
under the influence of marijuana with historic (and not so
historic) quotes, along with some interesting artwork and poetry.
This is actually quite the intelligent collection of words and
images and when used as directed this book may very well increase
your level of intelligence, spirituality and awareness. And, rumor
has it, hidden in these pages is literally, the meaning of life.
USE ONLY AS DIRECTED
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.
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