High jewellery has entered the 21st century with a spring in its step. Design has been as diverse as it has been innovative. The technical advances of the '90s and the new materials being used by this exuberant group of independent jewellers have helped pave the way to breaking down preconceived ideas of high jewellery. Some enjoy the adventure of finding the rarest of gemstones that speak to them, others seek to tell a tale or relay a secret message to the wearer and thus the onlooker. They are artists, engineers and adventurers; and, above all, they are passionate about their world, using only the best workmanship wherever it is to be found. From the great JAR, to James de Givenchy and Nicholas Varney in the West, and Michelle Ong, Wallace Chan and Bhagat in the East, 21st-Century Jewellery Designers: An Inspired Style is an exploration into the designers' worlds. Interviews reveal the designers' inspirations and passions, their signature materials, designing processes, and how their personalities influence their designs.

A fresh approach to the construction of "Anglo-Saxon England" and its depiction in art and writing. This book explores the ways in which early medieval England was envisioned as an ideal, a placeless, and a conflicted geography in works of art and literature from the eighth to the eleventh century and in their modern scholarly and popular afterlives. It suggests that what came to be called "Anglo-Saxon England" has always been an imaginary place, an empty space into which ideas of what England was, or should have been, or should be, have been inserted from the arrival of peoples from the Continent in the fifth and sixth centuries to the arrival of the self-named "alt-right" in the twenty-first. It argues that the political and ideological violence that was a part of the origins of England as a place and the English as a people has never been fully acknowledged; instead, the island was reimagined as a chosen land home to a chosen people, the gens Anglorum. Unacknowledged violence, however, continued to haunt English history and culture. Through her examination here of the writings of Bede and King Alfred, the Franks Casket and the illuminated Wonders of the East, and the texts collected together to form the Beowulf manuscript, the author shows how this continues to haunt "Anglo-Saxon Studies" as a discipline and Anglo-Saxonism as an ideology, from the antiquarian studies of the sixteenth century through to the nationalistic and racist violence of today.

The companion to Lorraine Clarke's first major UK exhibition since returning from Italy in 2000, this book explores the mysterious link between magic, medicine, and religion. Providing a full-color record of the show, it also includes a statement from the artist and an essay by medical historian Dr. Ruth Richardson. Clarke's work is an excavation of the human being, exploring the history of our bodily awareness and addressing contemporary issues.

The first book to explore the fascinating career and fantasy-driven worlds created by the acclaimed Argentinean artist Adrian Villar Rojas's works concoct imaginary realms. Usually made from clay, his colossal installations are transitory and so cannot be collected, as they disappear or decay over time. His practice confronts the public with ideas of obsolescence and extinction, but also with the possibilities of humankind and its endless imagination. This is the first book to include all of Villar Rojas' most significant projects, featured in international biennials such as Venice, Documenta, Shanghai, and others.

This volume examines the relationship between modern sculpture and architecture in the mid-twentieth century, an interplay that has laid the ground for the semisculptural or semiarchitectural works by architects such as Frank Gehry and artists such as Dan Graham. The first half of the book explores how the addition of sculpture enhanced several architectural projects, including Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion (1929) and Eliel Saarinen's Cranbrook Campus (1934). The second half of the book uses several additional case studies, including Philip Johnson's sculpture court for New York's Museum of Modern Art (1953), to explore what architectural spaces can add to the sculpture they are designed to contain. The author argues that it was in the middle of the twentieth century - before sculptural and architectural forms began to converge - that the complementary nature of the two practices began clearly to emerge: figurative sculpture highlighting the modernist architectural experience, and the abstract qualities of that architecture imparting to sculpture a heightened role.

Featuring 200 meticulous and anatomically accurate drawings that capture each magnificent owl in multiple poses and from every angle, this reference provides wildlife artists with the tools to draw, paint, sculpt, carve, and study these majestic birds. The comprehensive drawings and color graphs capture the essence of the owls' watchful and predatory nature, and scaled charts allow carvers to create their desired dimensions without sacrificing proportion. With the combination of in-flight and still photographs, everyone from wildlife artists and bird watchers to nature enthusiasts can create these formidable nighttime hunters in minute detail--down to the stripes, speckles, and streaks of their feathers.

The first book celebrating Dolce & Gabbana Alta Gioielleria, a kaleidoscope of creativity in which formal invention is accompanied by rediscovery of historical Italian craftsmanship. Dolce & Gabbana Alta Gioielleria (High Jewelry) inaugurated its first collection in Taormina in 2012. Ten years after that memorable date, the fashion house has decided to celebrate this precious universe of art, beauty, and knowledge in a book for the first time. The creations of Dolce & Gabbana Alta Gioielleria have always been one-off pieces. While the exceptional quality of gems and diamonds is certified by the most renowned international gemological institutes, the goldsmithery which is carried out entirely by hand in the brand s workshops by skilled goldsmiths reinterprets highly refined processes, such as milgrain, filigree, and twisted wire. It embodies an extraordinary heritage of tradition and know-how, forging material to transform it into a work of art. Miniatures, enamels, corals, and marvelous gems from the most important deposits in the world and magnificent diamonds, some of which are characterized by the unprecedented Dolce & Gabbana cut, are the absolute stars of this volume. Edited by Carol Woolton, it reveals the unique creations of Dolce & Gabbana Alta Gioielleria to the general public for the first time.

Richard Wilson was born in London in 1953. Descended on one side from a line of builders and on the other of artists, his work often comes closer to engineering or even architecture than it does to traditional sculpture. Typically he transforms the viewer's environment into something unsettling and strange by the interventions he makes, whether in the internal space of a gallery, the structure of a building or in one of the ships with which he has a particular affinity. Perhaps his best-known work is 20:50, currently on show at, and probably the most popular exhibit in, the Saatchi Gallery in London. For 20:50, Wilson flooded a gallery space with oil, which has a highly reflective surface. Into the oil is built a kind of narrow pier or promenade down which one person at a time can walk, the oil perilously close to their body. So reflective is the oil that the room induces a strong sense of disorientation. Further along the River Thames, next to the Millennium Dome, is another Wilson piece that provides an unexpected sight. The skeletal ship A Slice of Reality, its sides removed and with the tides moving freely through it, is both a startling sculptural object in its own right and a comment on the vanished shipping industry that was once a mainstay of the river community. In Los Angeles, Wilson was inspired by one of the most ubiquitous symbols of Californian life, the swimming pool, suspending a fibreglass pool shell from a sixty foot-long pipe in MOCA's subterranean gallery (Deep End). In addition to and often in conjunction with these large-scale projects, Wilson makes films and sculpture, takes photographs and stages performance events and has been a formative influence on a generation of British artists. This lavishly illustrated career survey includes a new interview with Wilson and examines six key works in depth.

20 kawaii trinkets in polymer clay from Kawaii Studios! Kawaii is becoming the ultimate buzzword for all things cute and miniature, and in this new Twenty to Make title, Ruth Thompson shows you how to create 20 cute miniature charms and trinkets out of polymer clay. As well as learning how to colour the clay and add super-cute expressions, there's also advice on how to turn your charms into wearable jewellery. From adorable sushi earrings to panda paperclips, there's something sweet to suit everyone!

This rich collection of over twenty fully illustrated essays covers an array of medieval topics, with a particular emphasis on sculpture. The contributors, all friends and colleagues of the dedicatee, are prominent experts in their different fields, from the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States. The wide range of subjects covered includes ivories, wood carvings, alabaster, architectural sculpture, caskets, reliquaries, and questions of imagery and iconography. With a full scholarly apparatus, A Reservoir of Ideals is an invaluable work of reference. The volume celebrates the museum career and scholarship of Paul Williamson, a scholar and curator whose outstanding contribution to art history continues to expand and inspire the study of sculpture in general and medieval art in particular. Williamson joined the V&Ain 1979 as one of the youngest curators ever appointed. He took over as Chief Curator in 1989, and he was Director of the Collections from 2004-07, and Acting Deputy Director in 2013. During his 36-year career at the V&Ahe wrote 17 books and over 150 articles. Williamson's profound experience and expertise as a curator at the V&Ahave both enhanced his own well-deserved reputation as the leading expert in the study of European sculpture, and simultaneously enriched the standing and holdings of the collections themselves. The works acquired during his time at the V&A, and the gallery displays that he either oversaw or curated himself, amply demonstrate his tremendous range of knowledge and appreciation of art. Despite his wide-ranging expertise and enthusiasm for the art of all periods, it seems fitting that this volume is devoted to medieval art, and primarily to sculpture - the works of art that undoubtedly lie closest to his heart. It is a testament to his standing at the pinnacle of medieval studies that so many leading experts have eagerly contributed to this exceptional collection.

Preston Studios, one of Florida's most innovative art glass studios, has generously opened up their photo archive of leaded glass installations to create an inspirational book of stained glass design. A book of this nature is designed to share new and imaginative images, designs and concepts. It can be an inspiration for new projects, a resource for commissions, or even more simply, a visual feast for anyone who loves art glass. Most of the 84 colour photographs showcase the glasswork in its installed environment, giving the reader a sense of the interior atmosphere.

In a fine assimilation of abstraction, myth, landscape and conceptualization, her art is threaded with the face, form and guration of the `goddess' in various incarnations of Rini's own design. This book is an attempt to understand and appreciate the dramatis persona, review her creative journey and take the reader through the various stages of her life and work until the present, with its focus on an exceptionally impressive and extensively varied repertoire.

Featuring decorative, religious, and utilitarian objects from the Geometric period to the Hellenistic Age, this is the ideal introduction to Greek sculpture Introducing eight centuries of Greek sculpture, this latest addition to The Met's compelling and widely acclaimed How to Read series traces this artistic tradition from its early manifestations in the Geometric period (ca. 900-700 BCE) through the groundbreaking creativity of the Archaic and Classical periods to the dramatic achievements of the Hellenistic Age (323-31 BCE). The 40 works of art featured represent a broad range of objects and materials, both sacred and utilitarian, in metal, marble, gold, ivory, and terracotta. Sculptures of deities and architectural elements are joined by depictions of athletes, animals, and performers, as well as by funerary reliefs, perfume vases, and jewelry. The accompanying text both provides insight into Greek art as a whole and illuminates centuries of Greek life. Detailed commentaries on each work and an overview of major themes in Greek art offer a fascinating, object-focused introduction to one of the most influential cultures in Western civilization. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press

With insightful essays and interviews, this volume examines how artists have experimented with the medium of video across different regions of Latin America since the 1960s. The emergence of video art in Latin America is marked by multiple points of development, across more than a dozen artistic centers, over a period of more than twenty-five years. When it was first introduced during the 1960s, video was seen as empowering: the portability of early equipment and the possibility of instant playback allowed artists to challenge and at times subvert the mainstream media. Video art in Latin America was--and still is--closely related to the desire for social change. Themes related to gender, ethnic, and racial identity as well as the consequences of social inequality and ecological disasters have been fundamental to many artists' practices. This compendium explores the history and current state of artistic experimentation with video throughout Latin America. Departing from the relatively small body of existing scholarship in English, much of which focuses on individual countries, this volume approaches the topic thematically, positioning video artworks from different periods and regions throughout Latin America in dialogue with each other. Organized in four broad sections--Encounters, Networks and Archives, Memory and Crisis, and Indigenous Perspectives--the book's essays and interviews encourage readers to examine the medium of video across varied chronologies and geographies.

Arnaldo Coen (1940) is one of the most prominent Mexican artists. As a result of his restless, transgressive and irreverent creativity, his work has never ceased to be fresh. He has made important individual exhibits in the Museum of Modern Art and in the National Hall of the Palace of Fine Arts. His work has been exhibited in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin America, featuring in important collections and exhibitions in different cultural venues such as the Museum of Modern Art, Tlatelolco Cultural Center, Museum of Contemporary Art, Isidro Fabela Cultural Center, Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago and the Bank of Mexico, to name a few. This award winning artist has also been the focus of several recognised art critics such as Octavio Paz, Raquel Tibol, Carlos Monsivais, Juan Garcia Ponce, Salvador Elizondo, Teresa del Conde, Sigrunn Paas, Josephine Siller. Arnaldo Coen is the first monograph covering the artist's pictorial and sculptural works from the 1960s to date, with some 300 images complementing this contemporary, provocative and irreverent compendium of Coen's legacy.

Artist Evelyn Rosenberg invented a remarkable technique to make sculpture by forming metal with plastic explosives. After many months of experiments in the mid-1980s with an Israeli explosives engineer, she discovered how to refine this unique process to make large-scale, intricately designed works of art and named the new art form Detonography. Working in the New Mexico desert, near where the first atomic bomb was tested at the Trinity Site, she transforms powerful weapons of destruction into tools of creation.

In this book, the first to showcase her work, she describes the history and genesis of Detonography and explains from conception to installation how a piece of explosive art is made. Her method is documented step by step with the richly detailed photography of John Trotter, a personal history, and an essay by Gideon Sivan, the explosives expert whose technical work served as Rosenberg's original inspiration.

Czech action art - a medium similar to performance art that does not require an audience - emerged out of the political and social turmoil of the 1960s. This movement has received little critical attention, however, as the Iron Curtain prevented its dissemination to an international audience. Here theorist and art historian Pavlina Morganova gives this art scene its due, chronicling its inception and tracing its evolution through to the present. Morganova explains the various forms of action art, from the "actions" and "happenings" of the 1960s; to the actions of land art that encompass stones, trees, water, or fire; to recent displays of body art; to the actions of the latest generation of artists, who are using the principles of action art in contemporary postconceptual and participative art. Along the way, she introduces the most prominent Czech artists of each specific niche, including Milan Knizak, Zorka Saglova, Ivan Kafka, Petr Stembera, Karel Miler, Jiri Kovanda, and Katerina Seda, and demonstrates not only the changes in the art forms themselves but also the shifting roles of artists and spectators after World War II. With over one hundred illustrations, Czech Action Art introduces this heretofore overlooked but fascinating art form to a global readership.

Louise Nevelson (1899-1988) was, with Calder, Noguchi and David Smith, one of the great American sculptors of the 20th century. She created extraordinary work, from room-size installations composed of boxes to gnarled and majestic steel structures. Her life story is no less interesting. She was born in czarist Russia, but her family emigrated to the States and she grew up in Maine. Nevelson endured a repressive marriage to a New York millionaire, whom she escaped to pursue the life of an artist. She gained recognition as an abstract sculptor at the age of 59, and spent the next 30 years taking the art world by storm, becoming a colourful New York personality and minor celebrity. Laurie Wilson, who knew Nevelson personally, draws extensively on her own research in this crisp new biography. She conducted interviews not just with Nevelson but with her siblings, son, and gallery owner Arne Glimcher. Wilson has also had complete access to Glimcher's archives, Nevelson's personal assistant, Diana Mackown, and Lippincott studios, where much of Nevelson's work was cast, among others

This is the first biography and reference book dedicated to Samuel Percy, a modeller who produced an impressive oeuvre of wax portraits and tableaux in the mid-to-late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Based in part on the author's own substantial collection of Percy waxes, this book follows Percy from his beginnings in Dublin, at the Dublin Society Drawing Schools, working with the famed statuary John Van Nost; to England, where he journeyed from town to town, putting advertisements in regional newspapers. These revealing advertisements have been gathered here for the first time, in order to track his travels. Whether taking the likeness of Princess Charlotte of Wales, or falling victim to a highway robber in Birmingham, these fragments of Percy's history paint a fascinating picture of his life as a wandering artisan. As well as a chronological narrative of Percy's life, this book commits an entire chapter to an area of his work that has never been studied before: his miniature tableaux. These portray various subjects, both religious and secular, from Christ on the Cross to playing children. They are catalogued in an appendix, and almost thirty are illustrated. Based entirely on original research, Mr. Percy: Portrait Modeller in Coloured Wax features over a hundred illustrations, celebrating both Percy's accomplishments and the works of other modellers for comparison.

Clay artist Lauren Tomlinson is your guide to polymer clay! Learn to create like a pro with a strong basic foundation, artisan techniques, and 15 jewellery and home decor projects.

Tracing the evolution of the Italian avant-garde’s pioneering experiments with art and technology and their subversion of freedom and control In postwar Italy, a group of visionary artists used emergent computer technologies as both tools of artistic production and a means to reconceptualize the dynamic interrelation between individual freedom and collectivity. Working contrary to assumptions that the rigid, structural nature of programming limits subjectivity, this book traces the multifaceted practices of these groundbreaking artists and their conviction that technology could provide the conditions for a liberated social life. Situating their developments within the context of the Cold War and the ensuing crisis among the Italian left, Arte Programmata describes how Italy’s distinctive political climate fueled the group’s engagement with computers, cybernetics, and information theory. Creating a broad range of immersive environments, kinetic sculptures, domestic home goods, and other multimedia art and design works, artists such as Bruno Munari, Enzo Mari, and others looked to the conceptual frameworks provided by this new technology to envision a way out of the ideological impasses of the age. Showcasing the ingenuity of Italy’s earliest computer-based art, this study highlights its distinguishing characteristics while also exploring concurrent developments across the globe. Centered on the relationships between art, technology, and politics, Arte Programmata considers an important antecedent to the digital age.