The Beginner's Guide to Decorating Pottery: An Introduction to Glazes, Patterns, Inlay, Luster, and Dimensional Designs by Emily Reinhardt

 Ceramic artist and designer Reinhardt offers the third book (after Sunshine Cobb’s The Beginner’s Guide to Hand Building) in the “Essential Ceramic Skills” series. Reinhardt’s title is a great introduction to surface decoration; it focuses on the most appealing aspect of pottery making—the patterns and glazes. The book gives useful tips for safety and how to position pieces in the kiln. She also warns crafters to test underglazes. The book encourages experimentation and describes how it led to the author’s signature gold luster and the decision to make functional objects as well as art pieces. The author provides instructions for creating tableware, coasters, ceramic beads, and vases. For the tableware and spoons, there are explanations about how to use nontoxic, food-safe glazes. In the “Gallery” sections, the book spotlights the creative work of other ceramicists. There’s also an extensive list of supplies, tools, and publications, plus recommendations for books, workshops, residencies, and podcasts.

Functional and beautiful, this book will likely inspire readers want to perfect their pottery techniques. An excellent and useful purchase for libraries with vibrant art communities.

One Step Sideways, Three Steps Forward by Dr. Rosemary Grant

 

Research scholar emerita, B. Rosemary Grant recounts her amazing accomplishments with humility and humor in this delightful memoir. Growing up in the Lakes District in England, Grant was surrounded by wildlife. Since her village, Arnside, was near a tidal bore, she quickly learned to read the tides. She learned to love science because, as she puts it, she was surrounded by science. Like many women pursuing a career in the sciences, however, she faced numerous obstacles; hence, the “one step sideways” in the title. Even her forward-thinking father believed that a university career and a family were mutually exclusive. Fortunately, Rosemary met Peter Grant while teaching embryology in Canada. The two would fall in love, go on to marry, and forge a rare partnership that would greatly profit the field of evolutionary biology.  Though she had to forestall her Ph.D.  project while Peter actively pursued his, Rosemary later earned her Ph.D. from University of Uppsala. Combining research with family life, Rosemary produced a landmark study of rapid evolution in the Galapagos that germinated from forty years of research. 

Don’t miss this incredible story of an evolutionary scientist who combined her love for science with love and devotion to her family, the environment, and many social causes.  

This is Salvaged by Vauhini Vara

 

In ten stories, Vara describes the gamut of human predicaments and their corresponding emotional states: grief, isolation, obsession, shame, courage, and rage. 

Each story exists in isolation, but numerous stories mirror each other. Grief in response to losing a sister is apparent in “Hormone Hypothesis” and in “Eighteen Girls.” The unnamed character in “Hormone Hypothesis,” who is unconsciously looking for a sister figure, finds Fernanda. Though this stay-at-home mother is the narrator’s opposite, the two bond and find strength in their shared grief. 

A complementary story, “Eighteen Girls,” features two sisters, one of whom is slowly dying of cancer. The “eighteen girls” of the title are the same girl—the healthy girl reacting to her sister’s forceful personality. 

“The Irates” and “I, Buffalo” deal self-hatred and shame.  In “The Irates” a teen finds the world irretrievably altered after her much-loved brother dies. She works a job she detests—telemarketing—and becomes a person she hates—an “irate.”  Sheila, the main character of “I, Buffalo” has lost her high-stakes job after an embarrassing incident. Vara brilliantly describes emotional states, especially isolation.  

In “This is Salvaged,” a man has the lonely experience of trying to build a replica of Noah’s ark and in “Sibyls” a woman with a movie star’s name dies unnoticed. 

This is Salvaged is a compelling short story collection that visits aspects of the human condition with humor and nuance. 

Drawing Class: Animals, Learn to Draw with Simple Shapes and Online Tutorials by Heegyum Kim

 

Artists and doodlers will love this step-by-step method of drawing sixty different animals using simple shapes like rectangles, triangles and semi-circles. Kim makes the process easy with clear directions for making the cute critters. Graphic Designer and illustrator, Heegyum Kim, masterfully simplifies heads, torsos, legs of farm animals, woodland creatures, and animals from many other biomes. All of them have cartoon-like rounded features and appealing faces.  QR codes link to videos of Kim demonstrating her craft. Each animal is given a range of expressions and poses. Fun and easy to follow, this technique book will be enjoyed by all age groups.

The Drowning House by Elizabeth Black.

In her youth, Clare spent all her time with Patrick Carraday, the son of one of richest men in Galveston. Patrick who lives in the large historical home adjacent to her own is wild and reckless. Drawn to each other, they become confidantes and co-conspirators. After a shocking and horrifying incident that alarms both of their families, the two of them are sent away--to opposite corners of the world.

Clare is sent to Ohio where she marries and establishes herself as a successful photographer. After her daughter's death, though, and with her own marriage crumbling, Clare returns to the island that relentlessly calls out to her.  Though Eleanor, her mother, and Faline, the cook, try to dissuade her from seeing him, she persists in searching for Patrick who eludes her. 

Clare ostensibly returns to Galveston to create a photographic exhibit. Clare has an even more urgent need, however,  to excavate her past. She wants to understand her mother and father's coldness towards her. Most of all, she wants to know what happened after she and Patrick were sent away. 

Many stories swirl around the Carraday family, including the one about Stella who had become part of the island's lore. Clare identifies with Stella, who died while trying to escape the hurricane of 1900 with her architect boyfriend, Henry Durand, because Stella is also a rebel. 

As Clare sifts through ancient photographs, Clare tries to comprehend Stella's story. She planned on including Stella's story at her own photography exhibit. She is unprepared, however, for what she finds--a photograph of a woman that may be Stella.  If it is Stella, then the photo could prove the island's legend wrong. Stella may have survived the storm and she may have been forced to return to the Carraday house. 

Clare uncovers many more secrets--a secret relationship between Will Carraday and her own mother. As memories flood in, Clare begins to understand her difficult, complicated relationship with her father and sister. Clare pieces together the real reason she and Patrick were forcibly separated.

This novel captures the Galveston atmosphere perfectly as well as the isolation and the pride of its inhabitants. Inhabitants are proud to point out if they were BOI or born on the island. Black also depicts the island's rich history and its vulnerability. 

Clare mirrors the island's qualities. She feels isolated and vulnerable because certain facts have been kept from her. The truth, however, will set Clare free to be the artist that she was always meant to be. Black includes just enough mystery to keep readers hooked. 

Making Art and Making a Living

 

Is it really possible to make a living while pursuing your art?  Mason Currey explores this intriguing question in Making Art and Making a Living. Currey explains how Petrarch, Baudelaire, Van Gogh and other notables funded their art careers. In a breezy style, he places artists into categories. They either inherited wealth, mooched off of others, or worked odd jobs.  A select few worked parallel jobs, insurance, law, or medicine, while some worked in cultural institutions, e.g., Museum of Modern Art. During the depression, many artists benefited from the Federal Arts Project. This really isn't a how-to for funding art careers, but it satisfies those who are curious about artistic achievement.