A complete, beginner-friendly guide, this is an exciting resource that's filled with insight on setting up a workshop space, different tools and clays, common terms to know, and other clay-making basics. With over 50 elegant but simple clay projects, this craft book is a must-have for any maker and DIYer.
An exciting overview of contemporary ceramic art, featuring the work of ninety artists at the forefront of this booming fieldNo longer considered merely decorative, ceramic art has broken free from the dusty display cases to which it was once relegated and is now taking centre stage in contemporary galleries.Although often integrating traditional modelling, firing and glazing techniques into their output, the 90 artists featured here invite us to look at ceramics in a different way. Whether creating monumental installations or intricate miniatures, imaginary beasts or life-size human figures, they subtly blur the borders between art and craft, sometimes conceiving witty or unnerving twists on traditional ceramic forms, sometimes using cutting-edge technology, conceptual thinking and new platforms to push the boundaries of clay and broaden its appeal.Packed with works that are questioning and provocative, disturbing and seductive, this is an exciting overview of a booming field.
"Embroidery is traditionally associated with the feminine and domestic realm, but there is a new wave of makers drawing on its untapped potential to explore global, political and even transgressive themes. Featuring more than eighty international artists, From Thread to Needle shows how the timeless appeal of embroidery is not only surviving but thriving in the modern world. Taking a free-wheeling attitude to time-honored techniques, some artists choose to combine media, applying embroidery to photographs, plastic bags or even slices of bread; others allow their stitches to stand alone, creating densely textured surfaces or delicate networks of natural forms that intrigue the senses. From Thread to Needle is a testament to how the art of embroidery has been re-energized by visionary artists who push the boundaries of its meaning and limits"--
Showcasing over 80 international artists who incorporate embroidery into their practice, this book provides a survey of embroidery in contemporary art, illustrating the huge range of ways in which the craft has been embraced as a form of creative expression. Some artists evoke a kind of nostalgia, rediscovering skills that have fallen from fashion or promoting the value of ancient handicrafts in an industrialized world of mass-production. Others push boundaries by using embroidery on photographs, poetic installations, embroidered reproductions of everyday objects, or by using it to tackle political, personal or transgressive themes. Threads is a captivating exploration of their creative journeys, their influences, the technical challenges they face and the message they wish to convey
A stunning survey of yarn work in contemporary art, illustrating the myriad ways knitting and crochet have been embraced as a form of creative expression.