Author: Alice North
Publisher: The Monacelli Press, LLC
ISBN: 1580935923
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 353
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Book Description
The first book to tell the stories of some of the most revered living Japanese ceramists of the century, tracing the evolution of modern and contemporary craft and art in Japan, and the artists’ considerable influence, which far transcends national borders. Listening to Clay: Conversations with Contemporary Japanese Ceramic Artists is the first book to present conversations with some of the most important living Japanese ceramic artists. Tracing the evolution of modern and contemporary craft and art in Japan, this groundbreaking volume highlights sixteen individuals whose unparalleled skill and creative brilliance have lent them an influence that far transcends national borders. Despite forging illustrious careers and earning international recognition for their work, these sixteen artists have been little known in terms of their personal stories. Ranging in age from sixty-three to ninety-three, they embody the diverse experiences of several generations who have been active and successful from the late 1940s to the present day, a period of massive change. Now, sharing their stories for the first time in Listening to Clay, they not only describe their distinctive processes, inspirations, and relationships with clay, but together trace a seismic cultural shift through a field in which centuries-old but exclusionary potting traditions opened to new practitioners and kinds of practices. Listening to Clay includes conversations with artists born into pottery-making families, as well as with some of the first women admitted to the ceramics department of Tokyo University of the Arts, telling a larger story about ingenuity and trailblazing that has shaped contemporary art in Japan and around the world. Each artist is represented by an entry including a brief introduction, a portrait, selected examples of their work, and an intimate interview conducted by the authors over several in-person visits from 2004 to 2019. At the core of each story is the artist’s personal relationship to clay, often described as a collaboration with the material rather than an imposing of intention. The oldest artist interviewed, Hayashi Yasuo, enlisted in the army during WWII at age fifteen and trained as a kamikaze pilot. He was born into a family that had fired ceramics in cooperative kilns for generations, but he rejected traditional modes and went on to be the first artist in Japan to make truly abstract ceramic sculpture. In the late 1960s, another artist, Mishima Kimiyo, developed a technique of silkscreening on clay and began making ceramic newspapers to comment on the proliferation of the media. She became fascinated with trash, recreating it out of clay, and worked in relative obscurity for decades until she had a major exhibition in Tokyo in 2015. Featuring a preface by curator, writer, and historian Glenn Adamson, and a foreword by Monika Bincsik, the Associate Curator for Japanese Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Listening to Clay has been a project more than fifteen years in the making for authors Alice and Halsey North, respected and knowledgeable collectors and patrons of contemporary Japanese ceramics, and Louise Allison Cort, Curator Emerita of Ceramics, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution. The book also includes conversations with five important dealers of contemporary Japanese ceramics who have played and are playing a critical role in introducing the work of these artists to the world, several detailed appendices, and a glossary of terms, relevant people, and relationships. Listening to Clay is a long-overdue and insightful book that, for the first time, spotlights some of Japan’s most celebrated contemporary ceramic artists through personal, idiosyncratic accounts of their day-to-day lives, giving special access to their creative process and artistic development.
Author: Christopher Benfey
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143122851
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 306
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Book Description
"Beautiful, haunted, evocative and so open to where memory takes you. I kept thinking that this is the book that I have waited for: where objects, and poetry intertwine. Just wonderful and completely sui generis." (Edmund de Waal, author of The Hare with Amber Eyes) An unforgettable voyage across the reaches of America and the depths of memory, this generational memoir of one incredible family reveals America’s unique craft tradition. In Red Brick, Black Mountain, White Clay, renowned critic Christopher Benfey shares stories—of his mother’s upbringing in rural North Carolina among centuries-old folk potteries; of his father’s escape from Nazi Europe; of his great-aunt and -uncle Josef and Anni Albers, famed Bauhaus artists exiled at Black Mountain College—unearthing an ancestry, and an aesthetic, that is quintessentially American. With the grace of a novelist and the eye of a historian, Benfey threads these stories together into a radiant and mesmerizing harmony.
Author: Clay Aiken
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 1418552909
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 296
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Book Description
In Learning to Sing, Clay Aiken tells the story of how his faith was integral to him learning valuable life lessons during his meteoric rise from life as an aspiring educator in Raleigh, North Carolina to instant stardom on "American Idol." Clay's advice is 1) Believe in yourself, 2) Believe in God, and 3) Be really stubborn. This personal relationship with God is key to personal success, as Clay has witnessed in real life experiences. When asked to "dirty up" his lyrics to increase sales, he resisted-and has sold more than 3 million albums. He refuses to make videos placing him in inappropriate situations, and considers his relationship with God the most valuable in his life. Learning to Sing is an account of Clay Aiken's extraordinary faith and will and perseverance, and an inspiring memoir by someone who became-against all odds-one of the biggest pop stars of his time.
Author: Clay Mills
Publisher: Bookbaby
ISBN: 9781098364335
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 128
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Book Description
Multi-hit songwriter Clay Mills breaks down the mystery of melody writing to give your songs an edge with the PRA method. Learn how to write inspiring songs without waiting for inspiration. Highlighting personal stories, easy-to-understand method explanations, classic and modern song examples, "Put It into Practice" exercises, and a free companion website, Mills and O'Hanlon's Mastering Melody Writing is the perfect songwriting handbook, whether you are just getting started on your journey or looking to sharpen your skills. Mastering Melody Writing will help you: Write memorable melodies in any genre using pattern, repetition, and arc. Write songs that artists want to sing and audiences will remember. Write lyrics that are more musical. Eliminate getting stuck and complete songs faster. Feel confident in any writing or co-writing situation. Turn good melodies into great melodies.
Author: William D. Powers
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1596918810
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306
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Book Description
"A haunting account of one man's determination and the struggles of a people living in a deeply troubled country."-Booklist When William Powers went to Liberia as a fresh-faced aid worker in 1999, he was given the mandate to "fight poverty and save the rainforest." It wasn't long before Powers saw how many obstacles lay in the way, discovering first-hand how Liberia has become a "black hole in the international system"-poor, environmentally looted, scarred by violence, and barely governed. Blue Clay People is an absorbing blend of humor, compassion, and rigorous moral questioning, arguing convincingly that the fate of endangered places such as Liberia must matter to all of us.
Author: Julia Navarro
Publisher: Seal Books
ISBN: 0385673965
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 698
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Book Description
A compelling new novel that combines past and present in a riveting search for the source of the Book of Genesis itself. In her provocative second novel, Spanish author Julia Navarro takes readers on an exhilarating journey across centuries and continents, as an upstart archeologist and a murderous group of conspirators vie for a treasure that will rewrite history–an explosive account of the world’s creation recorded millennia ago by a humble scribe onto the legendary Bible of Clay. Moving back and forth through time, from the tense months preceding the contemporary war in Iraq, to ancient Mesopotamia, to the atrocities of the last century, this tale of vengeance, obsession, and the wholesale plundering of the ancient world’s most priceless treasures is populated by an international cast of political opportunists, ruthless killers, and unsullied seekers of truth. The Bible of Clay is historical fiction at its richest, a sweeping saga that challenges at once both conventional geopolitics and the very foundations of modern religion.
Author: Octavia E. Butler
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 1538765454
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 210
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Book Description
A powerful story of survival in unprecedented times, from the award-winning author of Parable of the Sower. In an alternate America marked by volatile class warfare, Blake Maslin is traveling with his teenage twin daughters when their car is ambushed. Their attackers appear sickly yet possess inhuman strength, and they transport Blake's family to an isolated compound. There, the three captives discover that the compound's residents have a highly contagious alien disease that has mutated their DNA to make them powerful, dangerous, and compelled to infect others. If Blake and his daughters do not escape, they will be infected with a virus that will either kill them outright or transform them into outcasts whose very existence is a threat to the world around them. In the following hours, Blake and his daughters each must make a vital choice: risk everything to escape and warn the rest of the world, or accept their new reality -- as well as the uncertain fate of the human race.
Author: Clay Shirky
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101434724
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 188
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Book Description
The author of the breakout hit Here Comes Everybody reveals how new technology is changing us for the better. In his bestselling Here Comes Everybody, Internet guru Clay Shirky provided readers with a much-needed primer for the digital age. Now, with Cognitive Surplus, he reveals how new digital technology is unleashing a torrent of creative production that will transform our world. For the first time, people are embracing new media that allow them to pool their efforts at vanishingly low cost. The results of this aggregated effort range from mind-expanding reference tools like Wikipedia to life-saving Web sites like Ushahidi.com, which allows Kenyans to report acts of violence in real time. Cognitive Surplus explores what's possible when people unite to use their intellect, energy, and time for the greater good.
Author: DL Newcombe
Publisher: FriesenPress
ISBN: 1525545485
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 346
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Book Description
Walking, The Way is the inspiring true testimony of a man who was obsessed with his own needs and desires for over 35 years. A survivor of childhood sexual, physical, psychological, and emotional abuse, he became consumed by sin. Immorality, idolatry, pride, bitterness, hatred, anger, and drugs and alcohol came incredibly close to destroying his life. Then, one day, everything changed. In the time it took to see death coming and not even have the chance to take a breath—never mind pray for forgiveness—the man was spared. Awakened to how close he’d come to losing everything, including God, he was born again into a new life, and a new role as a disciple. In His mercy, God saved this man, delivered him from self-destruction and the surety of hell... all through His amazing Grace. A testament to the power and work of God the Holy Spirit, Walking, the Way reveals the importance of faith and trust in the only true God of the Bible. Learn how forgiveness begins the healing process, and how God’s Word is truly the only way to renew your mind. See how effectual prayer, done in awe of the amazing power of God and His love, is sustenance for the disciple, confirming one’s belief while granting the ability and strength to face life’s trials with confidence. Before it’s too late, consider your life, your thoughts, your actions. Remember what’s at risk—separation from Him, forever. Then ask yourself, “Am I born of the Spirit?”
Author: Bernard Clay
Publisher: Ohio University Press
ISBN: 173522426X
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 136
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Book Description
Autobiographical poetry from one of Kentucky’s rising Affrilachian literary stars. Bernard Clay’s autobiographical poetry debut, English Lit, juxtaposes the roots of Black male identity against an urban and rural Kentucky landscape. Hailed as one of the most authentic voices of his generation, Clay artfully renders coming-of-age in the predominately Black West End of Louisville, Kentucky. Balancing the spirited grit of a farmer and the careful lyricism of a poet, English Lit is a triumph of new Affrilachian—African American and Appalachian—literature.
