Overlooked in the history of artistic endeavors are the contributions of female writers, painters, and crafters of the Caribbean. The creative works by women from the Caribbean proves to be as remarkable as the women themselves. In Caribbean Women and Their Art: An Encyclopedia, Mary Ellen Snodgrass explores the rich history of women’s creative expression by examining the crafts and skill of over 70 female originators in the West Indies, from the familiar islands—Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico—to the obscurity of Roatan, Curaçao, Guanaja, and Indian Key. Focusing particularly on artistic style during the arrival of Europeans among the West Indies, the importance of cultural exchange, and the preservation of history, this book captures a wide variety of artistic accomplishment, including Folk music, acting, and dance Herbalism and food writing Sculpture, pottery, and adobe construction Travel writing, translations, and storytelling Individual talents highlighted in this volume include dancer Katherine Dunham, storyteller Louise Bennett-Coverley, paleontologist Sue Hendrickson, dramatist Maryse Condé, herbalist and memoirist Mary Jane Seacole, ballerina and choreographer Alicia Alonso, and athor Elsie Clews Parsons. Each entry includes a comprehensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources, as well as further readings on the female artists and their respective crafts. This text also defines and provides examples of technical terms such as ramada, slip, hematite, patois, and mola. With its informative entries and extensive examinations of artistic talent, Caribbean Women and Their Art: An Encyclopedia is a valuable resource for students, scholars, and anyone interested in learning about some of the most influential and talented women in the arts.

This volume covers Chinese art during the reign of the Sui and Tang Dynasties during which the various disciplines of plastic and performing arts all entered a stage of unprecedented prosperity and development. It also traces new explorations in calligraphy, painting, and mural art and highlights architectural achievements during the historic period. A General History of Chinese Art comprises six volumes with a total of nine parts spanning from the Prehistoric Era until the 3rd year of Xuantong during the Qing Dynasty (1911). The work provides a comprehensive compilation of in-depth studies of the development of art throughout the subsequent reign of Chinese dynasties and explores the emergence of a wide range of artistic categories such as but not limited to music, dance, acrobatics, singing, story telling, painting, calligraphy, sculpture, architecture, and crafts. Unlike previous reference books, A General History of Chinese Art offers a broader overview of the notion of Chinese art by asserting a more diverse and less material understanding of arts, as has often been the case in Western scholarship.

Folk art was neither widely collected nor highly valued in the early 1900s, when globetrotting Chicago socialite and philanthropist Florence Bartlett (1881-19540 began buying indigenous works encountered on her travels and dreamed of founding a museum to celebrate cultural diversity. Beartlett realised her goal in 1953, when the Museum of International Folk Art opened in Santa Fe near her long-time summer home. 50 years later, Bartlett's vision lives on in an ever-expanding museum collection that includes contemporary pieces as well as centuries old textiles, woodwork, pottery and ethnic garb.

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award A Smithsonian Book of the Year A New York Review of Books "Best of 2020" Selection A New York Times Best Art Book of the Year An Art Newspaper Book of the Year A powerful document of the inner lives and creative visions of men and women rendered invisible by America's prison system. More than two million people are currently behind bars in the United States. Incarceration not only separates the imprisoned from their families and communities; it also exposes them to shocking levels of deprivation and abuse and subjects them to the arbitrary cruelties of the criminal justice system. Yet, as Nicole Fleetwood reveals, America's prisons are filled with art. Despite the isolation and degradation they experience, the incarcerated are driven to assert their humanity in the face of a system that dehumanizes them. Based on interviews with currently and formerly incarcerated artists, prison visits, and the author's own family experiences with the penal system, Marking Time shows how the imprisoned turn ordinary objects into elaborate works of art. Working with meager supplies and in the harshest conditions-including solitary confinement-these artists find ways to resist the brutality and depravity that prisons engender. The impact of their art, Fleetwood observes, can be felt far beyond prison walls. Their bold works, many of which are being published for the first time in this volume, have opened new possibilities in American art. As the movement to transform the country's criminal justice system grows, art provides the imprisoned with a political voice. Their works testify to the economic and racial injustices that underpin American punishment and offer a new vision of freedom for the twenty-first century.

For many years, Maud Lewis was one of Nova Scotia's best-loved folk painters. In the 1990s she was embraced by the rest of the country when the landmark exhibition of her work "The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis" travelled across Canada. By the time the tour was over, half a million people had become acquainted with her delightful work.

Between 1938, when she married Everett Lewis, until her death in 1970, Maud Lewis lived in a tiny one-room house near Digby, Nova Scotia. Over the years, she painted the doors inside and out, the windowpanes, the walls and cupboards, the wallpaper, the little staircase to the sleeping loft, the woodstove, the breadbox, the dustpan, almost everything her hand touched. Her house was a joy to behold, and it became a magnet for tourists as well as a focal point in her village. In 1979, after Everett Lewis died, the Maud Lewis Painted House Society worked diligently to raise funds to acquire, preserve, and display the house as part of the cultural heritage of the area as well as a memorial to their beloved artist.

In 1984, the house and its contents were purchased by the Province of Nova Scotia for the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. In "The Painted House of Maud Lewis," Laurie Hamilton, the conservator at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, shows how all the different parts of the house -- the building itself, the painted household items, even the wallpaper -- were catalogued, conserved, and prepared for exhibition. The preliminary stages of conservation treatment began in 1996 in a most unusual location: the Sunnyside Mall in Bedford, just outside Halifax., where conservators worked in full view of the public. The conservators used established techniques and invented new ones to complete their unique project and documented every stage of the restoration photographically.

The book also features more than sixty-five colour photos including several taken by noted photographer Bob Brooks in 1965 for the "Star Weekly." Today, anyone can visit the tiny house that has become a folk art phenomenon. The restoration story spans two decades, but the story of the Painted House continues as each new visitor to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia finds delight and inspiration in Maud Lewis's joyous vision.

This publication is a survey of European hand tools, from various woodworking and other trades, dating from the 16th century to the 19th century. The tools that are illustrated and analysed were either made decoratively or received surface decoration, often incorporating ancient symbols, dates and owners initials. Although all the tools featured were made to be primarily functional, the focus of the book is on the aesthetic qualities that transform such tools into examples of genuine folk art. Planes, braces, axes, compasses, saws and chisels, etc, are featured, including many that have not been previously recorded or published. The tools presented, via photographs, drawings and paintings have been sourced from various national museums across Europe and from private collections too.

Sunny cats, sad cats, grinning cats, bad cats, cats with scowls and cats with jowls ...hand-bound with a silk screened cover, "I Like Cats" features a gallery of irresistible feline characters from some of the best-known tribal and folk artists of India. A delight for cat lovers, art lovers, and artsy cat lovers!

This title shows you how to create beautiful and decorative pieces in the folk art tradition, with 35 projects. It is a historical and practical exploration of folk art, including interior decoration and craft ideas, illustrated with 300 inspirational photographs. It includes projects from traditional quilts and hooked rugs to decorations for walls and furniture, using crafts ranging from wood carving to punched tinware. You can learn how to use original techniques to cut or pierce tin, sew decorative samplers and bed covers, paint fabrics and wooden items, and create stunningly simple pattern motifs for surfaces around the home. You can make a painted sewing box, chair or bridal chest; sew an alphabet cot quilt, an applique cushion cover, a cross stitch pincushion or a sampler; or create a carved wood spoon rack or rocking cradle. Crafters and home decorators have long been delighted by the charming appeal of folk art effects, which are simple to achieve without special materials or training. This book explores and celebrates the pleasure of creating beautiful pieces for the home that have a practical purpose, using traditional craft-making techniques. The book features 35 ideas and functional items, ranging from embroidered or appliqued quilts and cushions, wall and floor coverings with attractive stencil patterns, to carved wooden or metal motifs, such as an Amish Sewing Box or a Pierced and Cut Lampshade. Lavishly illustrated, this book is an inspirational guide to an accessible decorative heritage, which will be treasured by every creative home decorator.

Painted screens have long been synonymous in the popular imagination with the Baltimore row house. Picturesque, practical, and quirky, window and door screens adorned with scenic views simultaneously offer privacy and ventilation in crowded neighborhoods. As an urban folk art, painted screens flourished in Baltimore, though they did not originate there--precursors date to early eighteenth-century London. They were a fixture on fine homes and businesses in Europe and America throughout the Victorian era. But as the handmade screen yielded to industrial production, the whimsical artifact of the elite classes was suddenly transformed into an item for mass consumption. Historic examples are now a rarity, but in Baltimore the folk art is still very much alive.

"The Painted Screens of Baltimore" takes a first look at this beloved icon of one major American city through the words and images of dozens of self-taught artists who trace their creations to the capable and unlikely brush of one Bohemian immigrant, William Oktavec. In 1913, this corner grocer began a family dynasty inspired generations of artists who continue his craft to this day. The book examines the roots of painted wire cloth, the ethnic communities where painted screens have been at home for a century, and the future of this art form.

The sale of goods falsely represented as authentic Indian-produced arts and crafts has been a persistent and potentially growing problem in the United States. At least 1.9 million members of federally recognised Indian tribes live in the United States, some of whom are artisans who create pottery, baskets, rugs and other types of arts and crafts for sale to wholesalers, retailers or the public directly at Indian art shows and markets. Misrepresentation by sale of inauthentic products created by non-Indians, including imports from foreign countries, is a matter of great concern to Indian artisans, who may have to reduce their prices or lose sales because of competition from lower-priced imitation products. This book explores the misrepresentation problem of American Indian artisans which extends beyond tangible arts and crafts to include other types of traditional knowledge and cultural expression, such as song, dance and writings.

Founded in 1925 in Santa Fe, the Spanish Colonial Arts Society has become central to the collection and promotion of traditional Hispanic arts in New Mexico. Its extraordinary collection of some twenty-five hundred objects, both secular and religious, comprises the finest of its kind. Serving as the Society's 'museum on paper' this exceptional two-volume set includes vividly illustrated essays on New World santos, furniture, straw applique, tinwork, and textiles. Essays on historical arts, the revival period, Spanish Market, and contemporary masters of traditional Spanish arts record the development of this historic collection from the early Spanish New Mexicans to today's working craftsman. Books with slipcase.

A major new look at the work of one of America's foremost self-taught artists Bill Traylor (ca. 1853-1949) came to art-making on his own and found his creative voice without guidance; today he is remembered as a renowned American artist. Traylor was born into slavery on an Alabama plantation, and his experiences spanned multiple worlds-black and white, rural and urban, old and new-as well as the crucibles that indelibly shaped America-the Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Great Migration. Between Worlds presents an unparalleled look at the work of this enigmatic and dazzling artist, who blended common imagery with arcane symbolism, narration with abstraction, and personal vision with the beliefs and folkways of his time. Traylor was about twelve when the Civil War ended. After six more decades of farm labor, he moved, aging and alone, into segregated Montgomery. In the last years of his life, he drew and painted works depicting plantation memories and the rising world of African American culture. Upon his death he left behind over a thousand pieces of art. Between Worlds convenes 205 of his most powerful creations, including a number that have been previously unpublished. This beautiful and carefully researched book assesses Traylor's biography and stylistic development, and for the first time interprets his scenes as ongoing narratives, conveying enduring, interrelated themes. Between Worlds reveals one man's visual record of African American life as a window into the overarching story of his nation. Published in association with the Smithsonian American Art Museum

A reassessment of self-taught artist William Edmondson, exploring the enduring relevance of his work This richly illustrated volume reintroduces readers to American sculptor William Edmondson (1874–1951) more than 80 years after his historic solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. Edmondson began carving at the onset of the Depression in Tennessee. Initially creating tombstones for his community, over time he expanded his practice to include biblical subjects, the natural world, and recognizable figures including nurses and preachers. This book features new essays that explore Edmondson’s life in the South and his reception on the East Coast in the 1930s. Reading the artist through lenses of African American experience, the authors draw parallels between then and now, highlighting the complex relationship between Black cultural production and the American museum. Countering existing narratives that have viewed Edmondson as a passive actor in an unfolding drama—a self-taught sculptor “discovered� by White patrons and institutions—this book considers how the artist’s identity and position within history influenced his life and work. Distributed for the Barnes Foundation  Exhibition Schedule: The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia (June 25–September 10, 2023)  

Art, Observation, and an Anthropology of Illustration examines the role of sketches, drawings and other artworks in our understanding of human cultures of the past. Bringing together art historians and anthropologists, it presents a selection of detailed case studies of various bodies of work produced by non-Western and Western artists from different world regions and from different time periods (from Native North America, Cameroon, and Nepal, to Italy, Solomon Islands, and Mexico) to explore the contemporary relevance and challenges implicit in artistic renditions of past peoples and places. In an age when identities are partially constructed on the basis of existing visual records, the book asks important questions about the nature of observation and the inclusion of culturally-relevant information in artistic representations. How reliable are watercolours, paintings, or sketches for the understanding of past ways of life? How do old images of bygone peoples relate to art historical and anthropological canons? How have these images and technologies of representation been used to describe, illustrate, or explain unknown realities? The book is an essential tool for art historians, anthropologists, and anyone who wants to understand how the observation of different realities has impacted upon the production of art and visual cultures. Incorporating current methodological and theoretical tools, the 10 chapters collected here expand the area of connection between the disciplines of art history and anthropology, bringing into sharp focus the multiple intersections of objectivity, evidence, and artistic licence.

This book offers a visual celebration of the Islamic pilgrimage on house facades all over Egypt. Since the seventh century, the Hajj, or Great Pilgrimage to Mecca, has been a lifelong goal of devout Muslims throughout the world. Egyptian pilgrims traditionally celebrate their sacred journey by commissioning a local artist to depict their religious odyssey on the walls of their homes. "Hajj Paintings" is the first visual record of the richness and variety of this naive art form. Photographer Ann Parker and writer Avon Neal spent a decade exploring towns, villages, and isolated farm communities along the Nile, across the Delta, down the Red Sea coast, and into Sinai. On the walls of buildings ranging from alabaster factories to mud-brick farmhouses they found brilliant murals illuminated by the desert sun, portraying beloved icons of the pilgrims' faith and scenes from the Qur'an. Their nearly 150 color photographs and accompanying descriptions record the radiant palette of the mostly self-taught artists.

African-American art has made an increasingly vital contribution to the art of the United States from the time of its origins in early-eighteenth-century slave communities. This major reassessment of the subject discusses folk and decorative arts such as ceramics, furniture, and quilts alongside fine art -- sculptures, paintings, and photography -- produced by African Americans, both enslaved and free, throughout the nineteenth century. It explores art and politics, the influence of galleries and museums, and examines the New Negro Movement of the 1920s, the Era of Civil Rights and Black Nationalism through the 1960s and 1970s, and the emergence of new black artists and theorists in the 1980s and 1990s. African-American Art shows that in its cultural diversity and synthesis of cultures it mirrors those in American society as a whole.

`a much needed text. . . breaks down the barrier between folk and formal art, and articulates an interrelationship of both concepts to African-American people and their culture' Keith Morrison, Artist and Dean of the College of Arts, San Francisco State University.

`a fine survey of contemporary African-American art and ideas... a volume, which, like no other, can be used both as an unusual reference book and a good read' Emma Amos, Artist and Professor of Art at Rutgers University

Soul Mates takes a serious and ironic look at popular icons in western American culture--cowboy boots and masterpieces in western art--to explore American cultural values and pervasive themes in twentieth century art. Cowboy boots are examined as markers of western life, as works of art, and subjects of works of art. The author has selected stellar examples of boots made by skilled and famous boot makers, including Lucchese, Tony Lama, and C. C. McGuffin, to offer a counterpoint to the "fine art" more typically considered. He has also selected drawings, paintings, prints, and photographs that reflect the changing attitudes and perceptions of western culture over the past 50 years and raise conceptual issues about western mores and modern life. Featured are works by Barbara Van Cleve, Frederick Hammersley, Bruce Nauman, Hal West, Luis A. Jimenez, Jr., and many others whose art define and redefine aspects of Western mythology and culture. The text examines the contemporary art forms that shape the current representation of the cowboy and the West in modern life and explores the origins of cowboy imagery; the isolation of ranch life; the non-traditional roles of female cobblers; and the depictions of boot wearers (both male and female) as powerful, sexual, and independent. Soul Mates is published to coincide with an exhibition to open at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico in May 2010.