From the first page to the last, from Thomas Kinkaid (really ) to Matthew Barney, this book serves as a launching pad. Conclusions are perpetually delayed. Resolutions are continually postponed. The text is written for takeoff, not arrival. It is a first step for readers' explorations of current modes of art making and for their own future artistic achievements. The much-anticipated follow-up to "Art on the Edge... and Over," Linda Weintraub's highly accessible introduction to contemporary art since the 1970s, "In the Making: Creative Options for Contemporary Art" explores essential but sometimes elusive facets of art making today. In her trademark writing style--straightforward and jargon-free--Weintraub sets out to itemize the conceptual and practical concerns that go into making contemporary art in all its endless permutations. In six clearly defined thematic sections--"Scoping an Audience," "Sourcing Inspiration," "Crafting an Artistic 'Self'," "Expressing an Artistic Attitude," "Choosing a Mission," and "Measuring Success"--Weintraub moves artist by artist, in 40 individual chapters, using each to explain a different aspect of art making. Isaac Julien makes work for a highly specific audience; Michal Rovner communicates through metaphor and symbol; Charles Ray disrupts the viewer's assumptions; Pipilotti Rist is inspired by female emotions; William Kentridge is moved by apartheid and redemption; Vanessa Beecroft epitomizes the biography of a smart, attractive, Caucasian woman; and Matthew Barney achieves success through resistance. Through a compelling combination of renowned and up-and-coming artists, Weintraub creates a complex understanding of how to make and look at contemporary art--but in a simple, easily digestible format and language.
In addition to being a fine read for anyone who simply wants to understand how to look at contemporary art, "In the Making" is also an exceptional pedagogical tool, one that addresses what is fast becoming a huge gap in art education. Teaching artistic techniques no longer provides young artists with a sufficient education--a full range of conceptual issues needs to be considered in any well-rounded studio practice. Yet these very same conceptual issues are often those that are dealt with textually in art history and criticism classes. Weintraub persuasively offers a series of texts that fit squarely into this gap, addressing issues that concern anyone who is learning how to make art or how to understand it.
In addition, "In the Making" includes a series of interviews in which many of the artists discuss the practical issues of their life's work. Conducted by Weintraub's students at Oberlin College, the interviews pose questions about the artists' schooling, their studio space, and how they support themselves if their main income doesn't come from their art--the kind of questions every art student has always wanted to ask the artists whose work they see on gallery walls.

"To Life! Eco Art in Pursuit of a Sustainable Planet" documents the burgeoning eco art movement from A to Z, presenting a panorama of artistic responses to environmental concerns, from Ant Farm's anti-consumer antics in the 1970s to Marina Zurkow's 2007 animation that anticipates the havoc wreaked upon the planet by global warming. This text is the first international survey of twentieth and twenty-first-century artists who are transforming the global challenges facing humanity and the Earth's diverse living systems. Their pioneering explorations are situated at today's cultural, scientific, economic, spiritual, and ethical frontiers. The text guides students of art, design, environmental studies, and interdisciplinary studies to integrate environmental awareness, responsibility, and activism into their professional and personal lives.

By paying tribute to matter, materiality and materialisation, the examples of contemporary art assembled in What's Next? Eco Materialism and Contemporary Art challenge the social, cultural and ethical norms that prevailed in the twentieth century. This significant frontier of contemporary culture is identified as Eco Materialism because it affirms the emergent philosophy of Neo Materialism and attends to the pragmatic urgency of environmentalism. In this highly original book, Linda Weintraub surveys the work of 40 international artists who present materiality as a strategy to convert society's environmental neglect into responsible stewardship. These bold art initiatives, enriched by their associations with philosophy, ecology and cultural critique, bear the hallmark of a significant new art movement. This accessible text, written for students and a wider readership, is augmented with interactive opportunities that actuate eco material attitudes and behaviours. They invite readers to engage in this timely arena of contemporary art. Printed in high quality black and white throughout, colour reproductions of the artworks discussed are available to view through the author's website.