Step inside a world of arcane imagery and rich esoteric symbolism in this deeply imaginative embroidery art book! Author Gayla Partridge draws upon her knowledge of phrenology, anatomy, floral design and Ouija to create unique twists on an age-old craft. Through extraordinary, stylised photography and detailed close-ups of designs, the pieces in 'Stitchcraft' are entirely achievable with basic embroidery stitches and easy-to-follow instructions, enchanting embroidery beginners and experts alike.

Under the Skin investigates the role of cross-cultural body modification in seventeenth-century and eighteenth-century North America, revealing that the practices of tattooing and scalping were crucial to interactions between Natives and newcomers. These permanent and painful marks could act as signs of alliance or signs of conflict, producing a complex bodily archive of cross-cultural entanglement. Indigenous body modification practices were adopted and transformed by colonial powers, making tattooing and scalping key forms of cultural and political contestation in early America. Although these bodily practices were quite distinct-one a painful but generally voluntary sign of accomplishment and affiliation, the other a violent assault on life and identity-they were linked by growing colonial perceptions that both were crucial elements of "Nativeness." Tracing the transformation of concepts of bodily integrity, personal and collective identities, and the sources of human difference, Under the Skin investigates both the lived physical experience and the contested metaphorical power of early American bodies. Struggling for power on battlefields, in diplomatic gatherings, and in intellectual exchanges, Native Americans and Anglo-Americans found their physical appearances dramatically altered by their interactions with one another. Contested ideas about the nature of human and societal difference translated into altered appearances for many early Americans. In turn, scars and symbols on skin prompted an outpouring of stories as people debated the meaning of such marks. Perhaps paradoxically, individuals with culturally ambiguous or hybrid appearances prompted increasing efforts to insist on permanent bodily identity. By the late eighteenth century, ideas about the body, phenotype, and culture were increasingly articulated in concepts of race. Yet even as the interpretations assigned to inscribed flesh shifted, fascination with marked bodies remained.

Making books by hand has never been cooler, with this inspiring guide to 30 top bookmakers working today, plus 21 tutorials for essential techniques to make your own books.
Crafters, artists, writers, and book lovers can't resist a beautifully handbound book. Packed with wonderfully eclectic examples, this book explores the intriguing creative possibilities of bookmaking as a modern art form, including a wide range of bindings, materials, and embellishments. Featured techniques include everything from Coptic to concertina binding, as well as experimental page treatments such as sumi-e ink marbling and wheat paste. In addition to page after page of inspiration from leading contemporary binderies, "Little Book of Bookmaking" includes a practical section of 21 easy-to-follow illustrated tutorials.

The visual journal is a simple hand-bound notebook in which to create, using mixed media techniques, works that serve as an expression of the soul and create a path to healing, internal freedom, and the sparking of passion. “Visual Journey Journaling” is an innovative artistic language taught by Rakefet Hadar and made up of seven elements: Intention, Magical Coincidence, Background, Images, Lines, Color, and Text. Visual Journey Journaling (VJJ) invites you to a fascinating world where you will reconnect with the your hidden inner artist to create "soul pages" using simple techniques and subtle guidelines to take a look inside yourself. Rakefet has taught these methods for many years, guiding even inexperienced artists to find the stories within themselves. In the first chapter of the book you will learn how to master the seven elements in your journal. There are many fun exercises and a step-by-step tutorial of how to start a simple journal. Next you will learn how to make a soul page in a step-by-step process with the seven elements. You will explore a variety of materials and how to work with them to find and create your pages. You will learn to build your journal and how to bind it into a finished book. Throughout the book and in the final section, you'll see and find the meanings in Rakefet's stunning private art journal pages and read her stories behind them.

Making Images Move reveals a new history of cinema by uncovering its connections to other media and art forms. In this richly illustrated volume, Gregory Zinman explores how moving-image artists who worked in experimental film pushed the medium toward abstraction through a number of unconventional filmmaking practices, including painting and scratching directly on the film strip; deteriorating film with water, dirt, and bleach; and applying materials such as paper and glue. This book provides a comprehensive history of this tradition of "handmade cinema" from the early twentieth century to the present, opening up new conversations about the production, meaning, and significance of the moving image. From painted film to kinetic art, and from psychedelic light shows to video synthesis, Gregory Zinman recovers the range of forms, tools, and intentions that make up cinema's shadow history, deepening awareness of the intersection of art and media in the twentieth century, and anticipating what is to come.

Eggshells, flowers, onion peels, sponge cake, dried bread, breast milk-these are just a few of the biological materials that some contemporary artists have used to make art. But how can works made from such perishable ingredients be preserved? And what ethical and conceptual dilemmas might be posed by doing so? Because they are prone to rapid decay, even complete disappearance, biological materials used in art pose a range of unique conservation challenges. This groundbreaking book probes the moral and practical challenges associated with displaying, collecting, and preserving these unique works of art. Theoretical considerations are complemented by a range of specific case studies, thereby affording a comprehensive and richly detailed overview of current thinking and practices on this topic. With contributions by conservators, scholars, curators, and artists, Living Matter is the first publication to address broadly these provocative issues, exploring the role of biological materials in the creative process and presenting a wide variety of possible approaches to their preservation. The free online edition of this publication is available at getty.edu /publications/living matter/ and includes videos and zoomable illustrations. Also available are free PDF, EPUB, and Kindle/MOBI downloads of the book.

The first complete survey of the work of the much-loved and collected contemporary Italian multimedia artist Paola Pivi - with more than 250 images, including previously unpublished work. Published in association with Anchorage Museum, Alaska; The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; The Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach; [mac] musee d'art contemporain de Marseille; and MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome. Probably best known for her playful, complex installations of life-sized, brightly-hued, feathered polar bears, Paola Pivi has created work across a range of media - including sculpture, video, photography, performance, and installation - throughout her 27-year career. Often using recognisable objects that are modified to introduce new scale, material, or color, her work challenges viewers to rethink their position. This in-depth monograph, made with the close involvement of the artist, is her most substantial publication to date and features more than 250 images, including previously unpublished work, together with five newly commissioned essays giving insight and perspective on her incredibly diverse body of work.

Accompanying the solo exhibition of Barabasi Lab at the Ludwig Museum Budapest and the ZKM in Karlsruhe, this book will be more than exhibition catalogue: it comes with a range of voices and viewpoints that give readers a sweeping view of the work Barabasi has done over the last twenty years and how it connects to art, science, and our general outlook on the world today. The Center for Complex Network Research (CCNR) at Northeastern University was founded 20 years ago and the lab is dedicated to a deeper thinking about networks—how they emerge and evolve, what they look like, and how they impact our understanding of complex systems. The backbone of this book are the extraordinary visualisations, in 2-D and 3-D, that Barabasi’s lab has evolved, and which are unique not only to his practice but to the world of network theory and science at large. A series of essays and statements by scientists and artists alike will be followed by a long, beautiful array of breathtaking plates. Given the current state of the world, the book will also explain how Barabasi’s work relates to Covid-19 and how understanding networks helps us predict and understand the spread of diseases.

Starting with James Abbott McNeill Whistler and ending with Matthew Barney, nearly every prominent figure in Modern art is represented in vibrant double-page spreads that show how these artists redefined norms and challenged tradition. Fascinating biographical and anecdotal information about each artist is provided alongside large reproductions of their most celebrated works, stunning details, and images of the artists themselves. From the Impressionists to the Surrealists, Cubists to Pop artists-readers will find a wealth of information as well as hours of enjoyment learning about one of the most popular and prolific periods in art history.

In Dismantling the Patriarchy, Bit by Bit, Judith K. Brodsky makes a ground-breaking intellectual leap by connecting feminist art theory with the rise of digital art. Technology has commonly been considered the domain of white men but-unrecognized until this book-female artists, including women artists of color, have been innovators in the digital art arena as early as the late 1960s when computers first became available outside of government and university laboratories. Brodsky, an important figure in the feminist art world, looks at various forms of visual art that are quickly becoming the dominant art of the 21st century, examining the work of artists in such media as video (from pioneers Joan Jonas and Adrian Piper to Hannah Black today), websites and social networking (from Vera Frenkel to Ann Hirsch), virtual and augmented reality art (Jenny Holzer to Hyphen-Lab), and art using artificial intelligence. She also documents the work of female-identifying, queer, transgender, and Black and brown artists including Legacy Russell and Micha Cardenas, who are not only innovators in digital art but also transforming technology itself under the impact of feminist theory. In this radical study, Brodsky argues that their work frees technology from its patriarchal context, illustrating the crucial need to transform all areas of our culture in order to achieve the goals of #MeToo, Black Lives Matter (BLM), and Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) representation, to empower female-identifying and Black and brown people, and to document their contributions to human history.

With the birth of contemporary museum culture and the advent of digital technologies, the 21st century has brought a whole new means by which to access art and its histories. How do we re-map the realm of contemporary art in light of a more inclusive awareness, taking into account the unprecedented global movements of artists today and representing the divergent histories of geographies that were once peripheral? The Artists Who Will Change the World is a new global map of art that points to the future. Unlike a traditional atlas, its cartography illustrates a world of international artists who may not yet be household names, but who will undoubtedly shape the art of tomorrow. Omar Kholeif provides an introductory field guide to what some of the most urgent contemporary artists are doing worldwide. These are artists whose work engages with the aesthetics of technology and the issues of tomorrow; artists who are developing concepts rarely tested before, or who are engaging with politics in new ways. The book is a journey of discovery that will influence generations of artists and art lovers to come.