Plastic has shaped our daily lives like no other material. Originally associated with convenience, progress, even revolution, today plastic seems to have lost its utopian appeal. Plastic is everywhere, yet most conspicuous as waste and as a key factor in the global environmental crisis. This book examines the success story of plastic in the twentieth century and at the same time presents the different discourses on how we should manage the waste the material produces and also find solutions that take into account its entire life cycle in the future. Mark Miodownik, Susan Freinkel, and Nanjala Nyabola each contribute an essay that sheds light on the history of plastics from 1850 to today. A material-rich visual chronology illustrates how consumers' perception of plastics has changed over the decades. Brief descriptions of a selection of 50 objects examine the importance of plastics for material culture. Reprints of fundamental texts about the history of plastics-for example by Alexander Parkes and Roland Barthes-provide a context from the history of ideas. The book reflects the current discourse and state of research on plastic with numerous individual interviews and panel discussions that were held with designers, representatives from industry, researchers, and environmental activists. Underpinning these conversations are comprehensive data visualizations on plastic production and consumption, recycling.

The first book to study Vincent van Gogh’s fascination with cypresses, the “tall and dark trees� that feature in some of his most iconic pictures Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) immortalized the cypress tree in signature images that have become synonymous with his fiercely original power of expression. This richly illustrated publication illuminates the backstory of his invention for the first time, from his initial investigations of the motif in benchmark drawings from Arles to his realization of their full evocative potential in such iconic canvases as The Starry Night and Wheat Field with Cypresses, painted at the asylum in Saint-Rémy. Susan Alyson Stein retraces the Dutch artist’s inspired response to the flamelike evergreens as they gained ground in his works and artistic thinking over the course of his sojourn in the South of France. The volume provides further insight into Van Gogh’s creative process through a technical study focused on two celebrated works from the artist’s epic painting campaign of June 1889. The visual and literary heritage of the cypresses is featured in a compilation of images and excerpts from nineteenth-century poetry, novels, and travel writing—many translated into English for the first time. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press   Exhibition Schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (May 22–August 27, 2023)

This new publication is dedicated to the Baranger Motion Displays of the R. F. Collection housed at the Vitra Design Museum. Motion Displays were conceived as eye-catching and novel moving objects, which - primarily in the US - were used in jewellers' shop-window displays to attract customers. The Baranger Motion Displays were produced by Baranger Studios in Pasadena, CA between 1937 and 1957 and were lent to thousands of jewellers' shops over the years. Primarily during the 1990s, Rolf Fehlbaum, Vitra Chairman Emeritus and founder of the Vitra Design Museum, worked to assemble a carefully selected a comprehensive collection of these objects in Weil am Rhein. With large-scale illustrations of the different Motion Displays and an atmospheric photo essay featuring black-and-white details of the objects, the book provides an unprecedented and in-depth view into this collection. In an accompanying essay, Bill Shaffer traces the success story of the displays and sheds light on the significance of the red cases in which they were delivered to the jewellers. Along with Robots 1:1 and Space Fantasies 1:1, Baranger Motion Displays is the third publication to focus on the R. F. Collection. Visitors can view the collection of Motion Displays at the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein as part of the "Wunderkammer" (cabinet of curiosities), which also presents other parts of Rolf Fehlbaum's wide-ranging collection. In order for readers to be able to experience the wonders of these moving objects for themselves, each Motion Display has been given a QR Code in the book which links to an entertaining video clip of the display in action.

(Educational Piano Library). Volume 3 continues with the following concepts: note and rest recognition; time signatures 2/2 and cut time; note and rest groupings in the time signatures; demonstrations, exercises, and dictations covering these areas.

Ear Without Fear, Volume 2 continues where Volume 1 left off, introducing the following concepts: letter names and ledger lines; treble and bass clefs; sharps and flats; moveable do; intervals - 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and octaves; and more, with demonstrations, exercises, and dictations covering the topics above.

A new series in the Hal Leonard Student Piano Library, Rhythm Without the Blues is an innovative program aimed at building a clear understanding of rhythm and the ability to perform it accurately. This step-by-step method offers demonstrations, listening, performance opportunities, and rhythmic dictations to help students on any instrument reinforce and hone rhythmic skills. The accompanying CD features over 90 exercises, recorded by real instruments, to aid in these goals and make the learning process enjoyable.

(Educational Piano Library). Volume 2 continues where Volume 1 left off, covering: sixteenth-note rhythms; time signatures 6/8, 4/4, and C; the tie; the whole note and whole rest; dotted notes and rests; advanced dictation, tapping, and listening exercises; and more

Ear Without Fear is an innovative program aimed at building a foundation for reading music and developing the skills to perform it accurately. This step-by-step method offers demonstrations, listening exercises, sight singing, and melodic dictations to help students of any instrument reinforce and hone melodic skills. The accompanying CD features over 90 exercises, recorded by real instruments, to aid in these goals and make the learning process enjoyable.

Ear Without Fear is an innovative program aimed at building a foundation for reading music and developing the skills to perform it accurately. The authors have carefully chosen and organized the materials in this book to make the learning process as accessible to students as possible. The workbook and CDs are integrated to provide several learning approaches: aural, visual, and practical. The following concepts are introduced in level 3: major and natural minor scales; the keys of C, G, F, and D major; the keys of A, E, D, and B minor; the alto and tenor clefs; the order of sharps and flats; the major and minor 3rd and the perfect 5th; major and minor triads; demonstrations, exercises and dictations covering these areas; and more.