An inventive and intelligent, yet accessible, approach to drawing; recommended for everyone from amateurs to professionals.
Spears explores how drawing involves the neurological process of vision as much as it does the movement of the pencil in the artist’s hand.
Spears, an artist, instructor and poet, begins her first instructional book with a simple visual exercise, setting the tone for an interactive reading experience. Although the author acknowledges that some readers might not complete the drawing assignments, they nevertheless represent the heart and soul of the book. At its core, this is a drawing curriculum, and the book only fully comes to life when the reader takes pencil to paper. Spears is interested in the neurobiology of sight, frequently alluding to recent findings—most via functional magnetic resonance imaging—about what kinds of visual experiences make certain areas of the brain ignite with activity. “The visual brain sees,” Spears writes, “and sometimes loves what it sees and calls it ‘beautiful.’ ” That visual passion is hard-wired into our biology, she argues, and it is only the self-criticism, baggage, prejudices and assumptions we bring from the outside world that prevent us from translating that passion into art. The baggage, she says, is “around you and ready to encourage, discourage and generally interfere with your present efforts.” Spears’ heartening philosophy and approach are appealing and accessible (even if the neurological terminology gets a little weighty at times), and it’s easy to see that her assignments might be as useful to seasoned professionals as to beginners. Her own drawings, interspersed throughout the book among student illustrations, are lovely and sensitively wrought, giving credence and weight to her role as an instructor. There are moments when her exercises and instruction seem a bit overly prescriptive—for example, defining her philosophy of vision as empirically “accurate”—but overall, the book is welcoming and expansive. In an added attraction, numerous poets and philosophers offer words about art and vision, which are as inspiring as Spears’ own illustrations.
An inventive and intelligent, yet accessible, approach to drawing; recommended for everyone from amateurs to professionals.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2013
ISBN: 978-1617504501
Page Count: 270
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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