Art + Drawing - Reference

Whether you are baffled by the relevance of the winged staff held by Mercury in a classical painting or wonder about the number of branches on the Hebrew menorah, this comprehensive directory will give you the information you're looking for, and place the explanation in its historical and cultural context. 1000 illustrations in 2 colors.

Now available in its fifth edition, The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques presents a comprehensive survey of all aspects of making ceramics for craft potters and ceramic artists. With its sound, practical explanations of ceramic processes, this indispensable reference book has gained a reputation as "the potter's bible." Professional potters, beginners, students, and collectors will find authoritative information clearly and logically presented.

Frank and Janet Hamer explain the sources and character of materials, the behavior of clays and glaze minerals during forming and firing processes, forming methods, and glaze construction. In addition to brief outlines and detailed articles with cross references to illustrations, color photographs illustrate glaze effects and surfaces featured in the work of inventive, contemporary potters. The varied techniques of Raku, maiolica, crystalline glazes, salt and soda, stoneware, and porcelain are also presented in a new color section.

This new edition has been updated to include auto-reduction, crystalline glazes, insulation, stains, and specialized firing and fuming techniques. With upwards of 800 illustrations to clarify everything in the ceramic world, in its fifth edition The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques will continue to serve as the authority on all things ceramic.

This book accompanies an exhibition of Nan Goldin’s photographs, drawn from the private collection of Gerry and David Pincus and jointly organized by the Palmer Museum of Art at The Pennsylvania State University and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Over the last thirty years, Goldin has attained international fame as a photographer who, building on the tradition of Robert Frank and Diane Arbus, has documented the lives of outsiders. But in Goldin’s case, the outsiders are her bohemian friends, whom she depicts with poignant and sometimes brutal honesty.

Jonathan Weinberg’s essay for this catalogue considers a number of Goldin’s now-classic photographs as well as her more recent, almost Baroque forays into landscape. In contrast to most earlier writers on Goldin’s work, who have emphasized its documentary character, Weinberg addresses the ways in which Goldin’s photographs might be said to constitute "fantastic tales." Weinberg considers the narrative construction of Goldin’s work from a double perspective—personal as well as critical—that complicates even as it enriches his interpretations.