A recreation of events from the childhood and early career of Augusta Savage, a pioneering female sculptor and major figure of the Harlem Renaissance.

In the 1990s, the New Orleans murder rate exploded. In 1996, 350 people were killed—the highest number in the city’s history, and the highest rate in the nation. In response to this crisis, gallery owner and artist Jonathan Ferrara and artist Brian Borrello, launched a powerful project: Guns in the Hands of Artists. Over sixty artists, including painters, glass artists, sculptors, photographers, and poets, used decommissioned guns taken off the city streets via a gun buyback program to express a thought, make a statement, open a discussion, and to stimulate thinking about guns and gun violence in America. As gun violence continues to devastate the nation on a daily basis, Guns in the Hands of Artists reemerged in 2012 as a community-based social activist art project that has since traveled to six cities across the US. Using art as a mirror for life and interweaving the works of thirty diverse artists with the voices of seventeen national thought leaders, this book is an important outgrowth of the exhibition and an extension of its efforts to employ art as a vehicle for dialogue, as a call to action, and—ultimately—as an agent of change. Essays by: Walter Isaacson, Senator Tim Kaine, Lupe Fiasco, Richard Ford, Joe Nocera, Trymaine Lee, Lolis Eric Elie, John M. Barry, Dan Cameron, Lucia McBath, Harry Shearer, Jonathan Ferrara, Brian Borrello, Maria Cuomo Cole, Michael Waldman, E. Ethelbert Miller, Mayor Mitchell J. Landrieu, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and Captain Mark Kelly.

Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) was an influential and award-winning sculptor, a beloved figure in the Bay Area art world, and a devoted activist who advocated tirelessly for arts education. This lushly illustrated book by collage artist Andrea D'Aquino brings Asawa's creative journey to life, detailing the influence of her childhood in a farming family, and her education at Black Mountain College where she pursued an experimental course of education with leading avant-garde artists and thinkers such as Anni and Josef Albers, Buckminster Fuller, Merce Cunningham, and Robert Rauschenberg. Delightful and substantial, this engaging title for young art lovers includes a page of teaching tools for parents and educators.

Step-by-step techniques for modeling the portrait in clay, firing meethods and mold making.

The must-have guide for all artists who draw the human figure!

In Morpho: Hands and Feet, artist and teacher Michel Lauricella presents a unique approach to learning to draw the human body. In this book, Lauricella focuses exclusively on the hands and feet—arguably the most popular and, for many, the most challenging parts of the body to draw successfully. Breaking the subject matter down into the underlying skeletal shapes, followed by the musculature, then the skin and fat, and finally, the veins, Lauricella offers multiple approaches—from simple forms to complex renderings—and a plethora of positions and gestures are included to help you improve your drawing skills.

Geared toward artists of all levels, from beginners through professionals, this handy, pocket-sized book will help spark your imagination and creativity. Whether your interest is in figure drawing, fine arts, fashion design, game design, or creating comic book or manga art, you will find this helpful book filled with actionable insights.

(Publisher's Note: This book features an “exposed” binding style. This is intentional as it is designed to help the book lay flat as you draw.)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
Introduction
Hands
Feet
Resources

“It’s the perfect book to pick up to restore your faith in comics or help show infinite diversity in infinite combinations on display on paper using the world’s greatest artform.” — Comics Bulletin The Best American Comics showcases the work of both established and up-and-coming contributors and highlights both fiction and nonfiction — from graphic novels, pamphlet comics, newspapers, magazines, minicomics, and the Web — to make a unique, stunning collection. Frank Miller (Sin City, 300) called guest editor Scott McCloud “just about the smartest guy in comics.”

“There are more than 50 creative prompts for the artist (or artist at heart) to explore. Take the title of this book as affirmation, and get started.” —Fast Company More than 50 assignments, ideas, and prompts to expand your world and help you make outstanding new things to put into it Curator Sarah Urist Green left her office in the basement of an art museum to travel and visit a diverse range of artists, asking them to share prompts that relate to their own ways of working. The result is You Are an Artist, a journey of creation through which you'll invent imaginary friends, sort books, declare a cause, construct a landscape, find your band, and become someone else (or at least try). Your challenge is to filter these assignments through the lens of your own experience and make art that reflects the world as you see it. You don't have to know how to draw well, stretch a canvas, or mix a paint color that perfectly matches that of a mountain stream. This book is for anyone who wants to make art, regardless of experience level. The only materials you'll need are what you already have on hand or can source for free. Full of insights, techniques, and inspiration from art history, this book opens up the processes and practices of artists and proves that you, too, have what it takes to call yourself one. You Are an Artist brings together more than 50 assignments gathered from some of the most innovative creators working today, including Sonya Clark, Michelle Grabner, The Guerrilla Girls, Fritz Haeg, Pablo Helguera, Nina Katchadourian, Toyin Ojih Odutola, J. Morgan Puett, Dread Scott, Alec Soth, Gillian Wearing, and many others.