Susan Halls’s Ceramics for Beginners: Animals & Figures positions itself at the intersection of pedagogical clarity and sculptural imagination. Aimed squarely at novices, this volume nevertheless aspires—even at the introductory level—to cultivate both technical facility and aesthetic sensibility in its readers. As a literary scholar might probe a text for subtext, narrative arc, and ideological underpinnings, so … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Ceramics for Beginners: Animals & Figures by Susan Halls
The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Art Forms in Nature by Ernst Haeckel
Ernst Haeckel’s Art Forms in Nature (original German title: Kunstformen der Natur, first published between 1899 and 1904) stands at a fascinating crossroads of science, art, and philosophy. Though often referenced primarily for its breathtaking lithographs of organisms—radiolarians, diatoms, jellyfish, and countless other invertebrates—Haeckel’s work extends far beyond mere naturalistic illustration. He fashioned a visual and intellectual manifesto … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Art Forms in Nature by Ernst Haeckel
The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Craft Perception and Practice: A Canadian Discourse, Vol. 2, edited by Paula Gustafson
Craft Perception and Practice: A Canadian Discourse, Vol. 2, edited by Paula Gustafson, represents a pivotal moment in the evolution of Canadian craft scholarship. Published by Ronsdale Press in 2005, this volume collects twenty-two essays and critical commentaries by nineteen independent critics, curators, professional artists, art historians, and studio art instructors. By bringing together voices … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Craft Perception and Practice: A Canadian Discourse, Vol. 2, edited by Paula Gustafson
The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – 500 Figures in Clay: Ceramic Artists Celebrate the Human Form,” edited by Veronika Alice Gunter
“500 Figures in Clay: Ceramic Artists Celebrate the Human Form,” edited by Veronika Alice Gunter, is an ambitious compendium that seeks to investigate one of the most enduring subjects in art— the human figure—through the tactile and revelatory medium of clay. In assembling the work of five hundred contemporary ceramicists from around the world, Gunter … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – 500 Figures in Clay: Ceramic Artists Celebrate the Human Form,” edited by Veronika Alice Gunter
The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Sculptural Ceramics by Ian Gregory
Ian Gregory’s Sculptural Ceramics emerges as a pivotal text within contemporary ceramic discourse, deftly bridging the divide between traditional craft and avant-garde sculptural practice. As both an artist and educator, Gregory crafts a compelling narrative that situates ceramics not merely as functional or decorative vessels, but as an expressive medium capable of engaging with complex conceptual frameworks … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Sculptural Ceramics by Ian Gregory
The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Picasso: Black and White, Edited by Carmen Giménez
In Picasso: Black and White, edited by Carmen Giménez, the reader is invited to traverse the often-overlooked monochromatic corridor of Pablo Picasso’s immense oeuvre—a space not of limitation, but of liberation. This exquisite volume, published in conjunction with the Guggenheim Museum’s 2012 exhibition, is not merely a visual archive; it is a meditation on the elemental … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Picasso: Black and White, Edited by Carmen Giménez
The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – ARh+ by H.R. Giger
In ARh+, Hans Ruedi Giger, the late Swiss surrealist and visionary designer, delivers a visceral autopsy of the human psyche through one of the most unflinchingly intimate portfolios of his career. Less a book than an arcane grimoire, ARh+collects artworks, diary fragments, photographs, and design sketches that together form a blood-soaked fingerprint of a singularly uncompromising imagination. … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – ARh+ by H.R. Giger
The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review = Paul Gauguin by Michael Gibson
Vision Beyond Civilization: In Paul Gauguin, Michael Gibson crafts more than a monograph—he offers a richly woven meditation on exile, modernity, and the impossible pursuit of paradise. Part biography, part philosophical reflection, this volume is as much a psychological exploration of the artist’s rupture with bourgeois society as it is an art-historical account of his stylistic … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review = Paul Gauguin by Michael Gibson
The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Picasso Drawings 1890–1921: Reinventing Tradition by Susan Grace Galassi and Marilyn McCully
Drawing deeply from the currents of academic rigour and the sensibility of an art historian steeped in modernism, Picasso Drawings 1890–1921: Reinventing Tradition by Susan Grace Galassi and Marilyn McCully emerges not merely as a catalogue raisonné but as a scholarly paradigm shift in our understanding of Picasso’s formative years. This review will examine the book’s structure, … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Picasso Drawings 1890–1921: Reinventing Tradition by Susan Grace Galassi and Marilyn McCully
The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – But Is It Art? An Introduction to Art Theory by Cynthia A. Freeland
Cynthia A. Freeland’s But Is It Art? is an accessible yet deeply analytical exploration of the philosophical questions that shape our understanding of art. Bridging aesthetics, cultural criticism, and contemporary artistic practices, Freeland provides a framework that is both historically grounded and relevant to modern debates. Her work, though introductory, does not sacrifice intellectual rigor, making it … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – But Is It Art? An Introduction to Art Theory by Cynthia A. Freeland
The New Renaissance Mindset 