Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull’s J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator (1995) offers a magisterial exploration of Tolkien’s visual creativity, positioning his artwork not as ancillary curiosities but as integral expressions of his mythopoetic vision. Rather than treating the illustrations as mere complements to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Hammond and Scull frame Tolkien’s art as an … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull
The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon (1930) is often cited as the cornerstone of hard-boiled detective fiction, yet such classification risks underselling the novel’s literary sophistication and its subtle critique of American modernity. Beneath the façade of terse dialogue, clipped narration, and a noir ambiance, Hammett crafts a morally ambiguous world that destabilizes notions of truth, identity, and … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Ceramics for Beginners: Animals & Figures by Susan Halls
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 – Craft Perception and Practice: A Canadian Discourse, Vol. 1, edited by Paula Gustafson
Paula Gustafson’s Craft Perception and Practice: A Canadian Discourse, Vol. 1 is an ambitious, multifaceted exploration that positions Canadian craft not merely as an artisanal pursuit but as a site of critical inquiry and cultural negotiation. Gustafson—long known for her incisive editorial work in Artichoke magazine—assembles a slate of voices that interrogate craft’s epistemological foundations, its links … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Craft Perception and Practice: A Canadian Discourse, Vol. 1, edited by Paula Gustafson
The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – 400 Wood Boxes: The Fine Art of Containment & Concealment by Veronika Alice Gunter
Veronika Alice Gunter’s 400 Wood Boxes: The Fine Art of Containment & Concealment is at once an exquisite catalog and a meditation on the humble box as a vessel of meaning. Rather than treating this as a mere coffee-table volume, a literary scholar encounters in its pages a series of “micro-narratives” in wood—each crafted piece offering a … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – 400 Wood Boxes: The Fine Art of Containment & Concealment by Veronika Alice Gunter
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 – We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson stands as a masterful exploration of isolation, familial bonds, and the porous boundary between innocence and malevolence. Jackson’s final novel unfolds in the decaying Blackwood estate, where Mary Katherine “Merricat” Blackwood and her older sister Constance ek e out a fragile existence, ostracized by a resentful … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
The Adaptable Educator’s Book review – The Grimm brothers’ Complete Fairy Tales
The Grimm brothers’ Complete Fairy Tales, first published in 1812 (with subsequent revisions through 1857), stand as a cornerstone of Western narrative tradition. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, originally philologists and lexicographers, approached these tales not simply as children’s stories but as artifacts of a living oral tradition—repositories of communal memory, social norms, and psychological archetypes. This … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book review – The Grimm brothers’ Complete Fairy Tales
The New Renaissance Mindset 