Magdalena Abakanowicz (1930–2017) was a Polish artist who revolutionised the use of woven forms in art. In the mid 1960s, she transformed the modest material of sisal into monumental hanging sculptures, known as Abakans, which captivated audiences and brought her international fame. In the 1970s she amassed them into vast organic environments, at times threading through reclaimed ship ropes. Imbued with meaning, they were spaces to contemplate, to immerse oneself in, to experience. This book explores the unique nature of these radical works and brings readers into Abakanowicz’s imaginal world. Delving into the lesser-known context of the art world from which Abakanowicz emerged, and touching on other aspects of a remarkable sixty-year career, it reveals her impact on environmental sculpture, as well as her deeply personal interests in natural phenomena and global cultures. Showcasing the Abakans in a whole new light, it is a celebration of the mastery and determination of this extraordinary artist.

John Dewey is known as a pragmatic philosopher and progressive architect of American educational reform, but some of his most important contributions came in his thinking about art. Dewey argued that there is strong social value to be found in art, and it is artists who often most challenge our preconceived notions. Dewey for Artists shows us how Dewey advocated for an "art of democracy." Identifying the audience as co-creator of a work of art by virtue of their experience, he made space for public participation. Moreover, he believed that societies only become--and remain--truly democratic if its citizens embrace democracy itself as a creative act, and in this he advocated for the social participation of artists. Throughout the book, Mary Jane Jacob draws on the experiences of contemporary artists who have modeled Dewey's principles within their practices. We see how their work springs from deeply held values. We see, too, how carefully considered curatorial practice can address the manifold ways in which aesthetic experience happens and, thus, enable viewers to find greater meaning and purpose. And it is this potential of art for self and social realization, Jacob helps us understand, that further ensures Dewey's legacy--and the culture we live in.

John Dewey is known as a pragmatic philosopher and progressive architect of American educational reform, but some of his most important contributions came in his thinking about art. Dewey argued that there is strong social value to be found in art, and it is artists who often most challenge our preconceived notions. Dewey for Artists shows us how Dewey advocated for an "art of democracy." Identifying the audience as co-creator of a work of art by virtue of their experience, he made space for public participation. Moreover, he believed that societies only become-and remain-truly democratic if its citizens embrace democracy itself as a creative act, and in this he advocated for the social participation of artists. Throughout the book, Mary Jane Jacob draws on the experiences of contemporary artists who have modeled Dewey's principles within their practices. We see how their work springs from deeply held values. We see, too, how carefully considered curatorial practice can address the manifold ways in which aesthetic experience happens and, thus, enable viewers to find greater meaning and purpose. And it is this potential of art for self and social realization, Jacob helps us understand, that further ensures Dewey's legacy-and the culture we live in.

Chicago is a city dedicated to the modern - from the skyscrapers that punctuate its skyline to the spirited style that inflects many of its dwellings and institutions, from the New Bauhaus to Hull-House. Despite this, the city has long been overlooked as a locus for modernism in the arts, its rich tradition of architecture, design, and education disregarded. Still the modern in Chicago continues to thrive, as new generations of artists incorporate its legacy into fresh visions for the future. "Chicago Makes Modern" boldly remaps twentieth-century modernism from our new-century perspective by asking an imperative question: How did the modern mind-deeply reflective, yet simultaneously directed - help to dramatically alter our perspectives on the world and make it new? Returning the city to its rightful position at the heart of a multidimensional movement that changed the face of the twentieth century, "Chicago Makes Modern" applies the missions of a brilliant group of innovators to our own time. From the radical social and artistic perspectives implemented by Jane Addams, John Dewey, and Buckminster Fuller to the avant-garde designs of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Mies van der Rohe, the prodigious offerings of Chicago's modern minds left an indelible legacy for future generations. Staging the city as a laboratory for some of our most heralded cultural experiments, "Chicago Makes Modern" reimagines the modern as a space of self-realization and social progress - where individual visions triggered profound change. Featuring contributions from an acclaimed roster of contemporary artists, critics, and scholars, this book demonstrates how and why the Windy City continues to drive the modern world.

The image of a tortured genius working in near isolation has long dominated our conceptions of the artist's studio. Examples abound: think Jackson Pollock dripping resin on a cicada carcass in his shed in the Hamptons. But times have changed; ever since Andy Warhol declared his art space a "factory," artists have begun to envision themselves as the leaders of production teams, and their sense of what it means to be in the studio has altered just as dramatically as their practices.

"The Studio Reader "pulls back the curtain from the art world to reveal the real activities behind artistic production. What does it mean to be in the studio? What is the space of the studio in the artist's practice? How do studios help artists envision their agency and, beyond that, their own lives? This forward-thinking anthology features an all-star array of contributors, ranging from Svetlana Alpers, Bruce Nauman, and Robert Storr to Daniel Buren, Carolee Schneemann, and Buzz Spector, each of whom locates the studio both spatially and conceptually--at the center of an art world that careens across institutions, markets, and disciplines. A companion for anyone engaged with the spectacular sites of art at its making, "The Studio Reader "reconsiders this crucial space as an actual way of being that illuminates our understanding of both artists and the world they inhabit.

For Fernweh, eight established European and American curators traveled around Scotland, visiting art venues that investigate the relationship between place, hospitality, collaboration, distance and the urban-rural dialogue. Through text and photography, this publication documents the group's illuminating symposium.

Top 10 Title, Art/Architecture/Photography, Publishers Weekly Spring 2021 Announcement Issue The Phillips Collection--America's first museum of modern art--was founded in Washington, DC, in 1921 by Duncan Phillips as a memorial to his father, Duncan Clinch Phillips, and his brother, James, who died in the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic. Recognizing the healing power of art, Phillips sought to inspire others to "see beautifully as true artists see." This ground-breaking volume, planned in conjunction with the museum's centennial, offers an unprecedented breadth of insights and inclusive narratives on the Phillips's growing art collection from a range of voices, including artists, curators, and critics, who shed light on the museum's acquisitions since 2000. Seeing Differently features diverse artistic expressions across wide-ranging media by renowned artists from the 19th to the 21st centuries, including John Akomfrah, Benny Andrews, Esther Bubley, Edgar Degas, Anselm Kiefer, Simone Leigh, and Aime Mpane. This richly illustrated book includes an opening essay by Phillips director Dorothy Kosinski, artist conversations with John Edmonds, Whitfield Lovell, Alyson Shotz, and the late David C. Driskell, and 11 thematic essays by scholars and practitioners across disciplines. Its over 200 plates feature paintings, sculptures, videos, quilts, prints, and photographs, many with object responses by notable contributors, including artists Anthony Gormley, Sean Scully, Renee Stout, and Jennifer Wen Ma, among others.

How is art conceived, created, and experienced? How is it taught? How does the act of viewing a work make the viewer part of that work? "Learning Mind: Experience Into Art" addresses these questions as it documents the changing practices in the making, teaching, and exhibition of art. Timely, multifaceted, and instructive, this groundbreaking volume explores the contemporary art experience and its expanding presence in society through lively essays, revealing interviews, and provocative conversations with some of the most influential artists and educators of our time. Featured artists include Magdalena Abakanowicz, Ann Hamilton, Alfredo Jaar, Kerry James Marshall, and Ernesto Pujol, along with designers Walter Hood and Bruce Mau. Contributing authors include curators Marcia Tucker and Christopher Bedford, art critics Michael Brenson and Jerry Saltz, art historian David Getsy, educators Ronald Jones and Lawrence Rinder, philosopher Arthur Danto, psychiatrist Mark Epstein, theorist W.J.T. Mitchell, and chef-educator Alice Waters. In demonstrating the role that art schools and universities play in the creative process, "Learning Mind" offers students, teachers, and readers new and vital theoretical texts as well as practical strategies for integrating art into our daily lives. It is co-published by School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

A Lived Practice examines the reciprocal relationship of art and life: Artist-practitioners are shaped by their experiences, and they in turn create and enhance the experience of others. Based on a symposium held at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2014, this volume is intended to spur new thinking in the field of socially engaged art practice. Contributors, including Lewis Hyde, Ernesto Pujol, Crispin Sartwell, and Wolfgang Zumdick, address essential questions about what is art and who is the artist, and also explore how artists can lead meaningful lives.

An in-depth and current investigation of how the spiritual is manifestly present in contemporary art The spiritual is everywhere evident in contemporary art, and this publication fulfills a long-awaited need. Encountering the Spiritual in Contemporary Art addresses the subject in depth for the first time in over three decades. It significantly broadens the scope of previous studies to include new media and non-Western and Indigenous art (in addition to that of the West), presents art from diverse cultures with equal status, promotes cultural specificity, and moves beyond notions of "center and periphery," celebrating the plurality and global nature of contemporary art today. Major essays based on cultural affinities are interspersed with brief thematic essays to provide diverse perspectives and expand the knowledge of academic and general audiences. Encountering the Spiritual provides an alternative to the main currents of presentation and interpretation prevalent in contemporary art, appealing to believers, agnostics, and inveterate skeptics alike. This essential publication demonstrates that the need to address the fundamental questions of life are both innate and ongoing. Distributed for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art