When 'Living and Sustaining a Creative Life' was published in 2013, it became an immediate sensation. Edited by Sharon Louden, the book brought together forty essays by working artists, each sharing their own story of how to sustain a creative practice that contributes to the ongoing dialogue in contemporary art. The book struck a nerve how do artists really make it in the world today? Louden took the book on a sixty-two-stop book tour, selling thousands of copies, and building a movement along the way. Now, Louden returns with a sequel: forty more essays from artists who have successfully expanded their practice beyond the studio and become change agents in their communities. There is a misconception that artists are invisible and hidden, but the essays here demonstrate the truth artists make a measurable and innovative economic impact in the non-profit sector, in education, and in corporate environments. The Artist as Culture Producer illustrates how today's contemporary artists add to creative economies through out-of-the-box thinking while also generously contributing to the well-being of others. By turns humorous, heartbreaking, and instructive, the testimonies of these forty diverse working artists will inspire and encourage every reader from the art student to the established artist.

What was the place of the artist in a new society? How would he thrive where monarchy, aristocracy, and an established church—those traditional patrons of painting, sculpture, and architecture—were repudiated so vigorously? Neil Harris examines the relationships between American cultural values and American society during the formative years of American art and explores how conceptions of the artist's social role changed during those years.

"A modern painter discusses meaning and form in contemporary painting and offers advice to aspiring artists."--

After losing someone she loved, artist Candy Chang painted the side of an abandoned house in her New Orleans neighborhood with chalkboard paint and stenciled the sentence, "Before I die I want to _____." Within a day of the wall's completion, it was covered in colorful chalk dreams as neighbors stopped and reflected on their lives. Since then, more than four hundred Before I Die walls have been created by people all over the world. This beautiful hardcover book is an inspiring celebration of these walls and the stories behind them. Filled with hope, fear, humor, and heartbreak, Before I Die presents an intimate portrait of the dreams within our communities and a chance to ponder life's ultimate question.

Art and Artist in Society is a compilation of essays that examine the nexus between artists, the art they create and society. These essays consider how art has changed its form and role both to accommodate newer trends and to fully participate in society. Divided into six thematic sections, the book examines the works of a diverse group of artists working in a range of art forms, such as writers Milan Kundera and Judith Ortiz Cofer, filmmakers Humberto Solás and Walter Salles, performers/photographer Daniel Joseph Martínez and feminist-activists Suzanne Lacy and Leslie Labowitz. The analyses of the work of these artists and other artists offer readers an opportunity to explore a number of important issues in art today, such as the representation of the Other, the exploration of alternative sources of knowledge and the construction of the self. For the array of works it analyzes, this book offers fascinating insights into the art and the artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.