My son looked at me and my accoutrements with skepticism through narrowed eyes. This would be the son with the tattoo between his shoulder blades, the hand-rolled cigarette, the assortment of earrings, and the riot of curls that-at the right length-give him a jaunty, Viva la Revolucion Che Guevara vibe. He's a hard one to impress when it comes to unorthodoxy. "Mom, you look like you're ready to break into a chemical plant." From out of the mouths of babes... As though adjusting to courtrooms, spike heels and a chainsaw after forty weren't enough... Following in the high-heeled footsteps of Mary T. Wagner's two earlier inspiring and award-winning essay collections, "Fabulous in Flats" starts with the author's hair-raising introduction to running a chop saw, an endeavor lending itself more to flat shoes and safety goggles than stilettos. Whether decked out in a rhinestone tiara and a recycled mink at a Viennese Ball, embracing her inner "mother tiger" at her son's hospital bed, or reflecting on how nice it could be to channel Nancy Drew's fictional life for just a day, Wagner once again shares her wry and insightful style in essays sure to resonate. WHAT OTHER AUTHORS HAVE TO SAY... "I can't remember the last time I've laughed as hard as I laughed while reading Mary T. Wagner's wonderful memoir Fabulous in Flats." --Ann Hite, author "Ghost on Black Mountain" "A pleasure to read. I'm convinced Mary T. Wagner is the reincarnation of Erma Bombeck...in sexier shoes." --JOHN DeDAKIS, CNN Senior Copy Editor, "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer"author of "Fast Track" and "Bluff" "Stilettos, heels, even flats - I couldn't possibly walk in any women's shoes, but if I could without severely pulling a hamstring, I would want to walk in Mary Wagner's. Her personal stories are warm, funny, engaging, and fit perfectly - even on the feet of a man. These wonderful stories are not just observations about women, they're about all of us." --DAVID W. BERNER, author, Accidental Lessons: A Memoir of a Rookie Teacher and a Life Renewed "Mary Wagner is a brilliant essayist who combines wit with poignancy, bravado with humility, and can write her way out of the boxes in which most mere mortals place themselves. The hilarity of real life situations in court, at home and with shoes and power tools made me laugh out loud. Ms.Wagner's work is like the best, most compelling sweet treat... you just want to keep consuming until it is gone." --RICHARD McGINNIS, editor and publisher "Mindful Metropolis" Magazine "Mary's writing is honest, which is the best thing I think writing can be. Her humor, sincerity and attention to detail make her a writer for anyone in need of a good story. Heartfelt and witty, her pieces move to the beat of a woman-who-knows marching in stilettos. Brilliant " --ALYSON LYON, co-founder Chicago's "Essay Fiesta" "Mary Wagner has an artist's eye for detail, a keen sense of what is meaningful in life, and an unerring ability to capture it all in wonderfully readable prose. No woman who loves or works or dreams or simply lives in the world today will fail to find something with which to connect. Wagner's slice-of-life essays offer both a mirror into our own lives and a connection with a remarkable woman who, after a few paragraphs, feels like an old friend." --CYNTHIA CLAMPITT, author, Waltzing Australia

A dynamic tale of art and friendship, set between the World Wars, against the backdrop of a rapidly changing world Eric Ravilious is one of the best-known twentieth-century English artists. For many, his watercolors capture the spirit of midcentury England. But while he had a style of his own, he did not work in isolation; he worked within a network of artists that included fellow students at the Royal College of Art such as Edward Bawden, Barnett Freedman, Enid Marx, Percy Horton, Peggy Angus, and Helen Binyon. The story of this beloved artist is also a biography of the group of fellow creators with whom he associated—men and women who inspired, challenged, and influenced one another—from their student days up through the Second World War. Drawing on extensive research, Andy Friend considers the predecessors in the English watercolor and wood-engraving tradition that influenced the group’s art and demonstrates the significance of women artists, whose place within this interwar-era network has often been neglected. Published to coincide with the seventy-fifth anniversary of Ravilious’s death, Ravilious & Co. accompanies an exhibition of the same name, touring throughout England in 2017.

The Art of Fine Gifts: Twentieth-century painter, designer and wood engraver Eric Ravilious was responsible for a fascinating range of different works, from illustrations for books to designs for ceramics for the established Wedgwood pottery firm. This gorgeous new book features beautiful woodcut images of countryside life, watercolours of rolling landscapes and many of Ravilious' acute and profound war paintings.

In recent years Eric Ravilious has become recognized as one of the most important British artists of the 20th century, whose watercolours and wood engravings capture an essential sense of place and the spirit of mid-century England. What is less appreciated is that he did not work in isolation, but within a much wider network of artists, friends and lovers influenced by Paul Nashs teaching at the Royal College of Art Edward Bawden, Barnett Freedman, Enid Marx, Tirzah Garwood, Percy Horton, Peggy Angus and Helen Binyon among them. The Ravilious group bridged the gap between fine art and design, and the gentle, locally rooted but spritely character of their work came to be seen as the epitome of contemporary British values. Seventy-five years after Raviliouss untimely death, Andy Friend tells the story of this group of artists from their student days through to the Second World War. Ravilious & Co. explores how they influenced each other and how a shared experience animated their work, revealing the significance in this pattern of friendship of women artists, whose place within the history of British art has often been neglected. Generously illustrated and drawing on extensive research, and a wealth of newly discovered material, Ravilious & Co. is an enthralling narrative of creative achievement, joy and tragedy.

A facsimile edition of the classic High Street, which pairs the timeless illustrations of Eric Ravilious with a fascinating text by architectural historian J. M. Richards. First published in 1938, this charming book introduces the British high street. Shops include the family butcher, the cheesemonger, the baker and confectioner and the oyster bar, as well as specialized establishments such as the plumassier, the clerical outfitter and the submarine engineer. Only 2,000 copies of the original book were printed before the lithographic plates were destroyed in the London Blitz. As a result, it has become one of the most collectible of all artists' books from this period. This beautiful facsimile edition features all 24 of Ravilious's colour illustrations, and includes an essay by Gill Saunders, Senior Curator of Prints at the Victoria and Albert Museum, that sets the book in its historical context.

Eric Ravilious was among the foremost of English artists to emerge between the wars - and one of the great original wood engravers. His body of work was wide-ranging and multi-faceted; in his relatively short career after he left the Royal College of Art he produced an extraordinary amount of work - murals, watercolours, wood engravings, lithographs, pottery designs for Wedgwood. Successful and enterprising as he was in these diverse fields, it was in the field of landscape painting in watercolour that Ravilious excelled. His tragic and untimely death in 1942, while on service as an Official War Artist, meant that his great promise was never fulfilled and it has been left to Helen Binyon to present this fascinating study of the artist to aworld largely unaware of his presence. The author knew Ravilious well from their student days and has been able to draw upon her intimate knowledge of this vivid and exciting artist to make this a compelling account of a genius.Eric Ravilious is introduced by Richard Morphet, former Keeper of Modern Art at the Tate Gallery, who places Ravilious in the context of modern-day appreciation of his work and describes the close relationship between Eric Ravilious and Helen Binyon, which led her to write this illuminating book.The book is lavishly illustrated with examples of Ravilious's work from his student days to his powerfully realised drawings and paintings as an Official War Artist.

From one of Britain’s leading historians and the director of the Victoria & Albert Museum, a scintillating biography of Josiah Wedgwood, the celebrated eighteenth-century potter, entrepreneur, and abolitionist Wedgwood’s pottery, such as his celebrated light-blue jasperware, is famous worldwide. Jane Austen bought it and wrote of it in her novels; Empress Catherine II of Russia ordered hundreds of pieces for her palace; British diplomats hauled it with them on their first-ever mission to Peking, audaciously planning to impress China with their china. But the life of Josiah Wedgwood is far richer than just his accomplishments in ceramics. He was a leader of the Industrial Revolution, a pioneering businessman, a cultural tastemaker, and a tireless scientific experimenter whose inventions made him a fellow of the Royal Society. He was also an ardent abolitionist, whose Emancipation Badge medallion—depicting an enslaved African and inscribed “Am I Not a Man and a Brother?”—became the most popular symbol of the antislavery movement on both sides of the Atlantic. And he did it all in the face of chronic disability and relentless pain: a childhood bout with smallpox eventually led to the amputation of his right leg. As historian Tristram Hunt puts it in this lively, vivid biography, Wedgwood was the Steve Jobs of the eighteenth century: a difficult, brilliant, creative figure whose personal drive and extraordinary gifts changed the way we work and live. Drawing on a rich array of letters, journals, and historical documents, The Radical Potter brings us the story of a singular man, his dazzling contributions to design and innovation, and his remarkable global impact.