Artists Books

This is an inspirational book, from the cover shot of Tiptoe Through the Tulips through the painted cars, the assemblage cars, and the more mutated vehicles. Art Cars are a strangely friendly version of Folk Art. Don't they put a smile onto your face when you see one driving past?

The earlier Harrod Blank book, Wild Wheels, ties in with the Wild Wheels movie on art cars, and this one is a continuation of that book with newer art cars and some helpful construction tips for your own art car.

All that have seen my copy have loved it. Hardly anyone could view this book and not smile. Too bad it's now gone out of print, but there are other wonderful books and a brand new movie by Harrod Blank.

I visited my niece in Seattle, and she KNOWS one of the art car owners, so showed me the book. What fun!!! I am buying it today!

One of the most joyous picture books ever published. Put a copy on your coffee table at home or your desk at work, then sit back and wait for your visitors to start chortling. It's impossible to look at just one page!

This book is just a blast -- it is so fun and inspirational. It made me happy that I own a crappy old car, because now I can run out and paint it without worrying about the resale value.

I can't say enough great things about this book. It's full of interesting projects to try, and the design of the book itself is great, light and airy, despite being packed with useful information.

You'll need some software to try the projects in it, an image editor of some kind and a printer. But that's all you need for most of the projects described. Janet Ashford has really creative ideas for transforming every day objects like metal tins and boxes, using computer designs.

I can just about guarantee, if you're artistic at all and you buy this book, you'll not only enjoy it, but you'll wind up designing some really amazing things as a result!

Being an arts and crafts designer from way back, I have always wanted to own this book. I couldn't find it on the shelves a couple of years ago and proposed to write such a book when I found myself inventing paper crafts for PrintMaster, a card design program produced by the Learning Company.

But Janet Ashford beat me to it. And she has the know-how it would have taken me years to acquire. This is a magnificent tome, one that inspires as well as informs the crafts addict. Her expanations are sophisticated but clear to anyone who has passed beyond the basics. Lots of the projects are very artful and have the look of "handmade" without being too cutsy or too advertisingly slick.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves crafts and has access to a computer with the big three type programs: layout, photo adjusting, and drawing. If you are new to computers, an accompanying book or class will set you up for this one.

The potential of the computer in craft has been seriously damaged by the excitement computers have generated. A parallel can be found when the Russian novelist Tolstoy was given a dictaphone to help speed up his writing. After a few weeks he threw it out the window. His neighbor asked if it didn't work. Tolstoy's reply was "It worked fine, but I got so excited using it I couldn't write." For almost two decades a generation of designers have succumbed to the excitement and hype of the computer without significantly adding any real content or substance to their work under the digitized banner. It is time for that to change, and Janet Ashford is a winning harbinger of that change.

It doesn't help matters that most design software seems to be written by the left-brain dominant spouses of craft practitioners...well intentioned souls with no sense of the real kinesthetics of working color, form, texture.

Janet Ashford has navigated through the difficult middle course between technology and entrancement. She draws! She creates custom palettes in her application software! She doesn't hit you over the head or talk down to the reader. Perhaps her experience of designing for and with her daughter has given her the wonderful tone of teaching someone she likes, who is lacking in knowledge but not in ability. That is a prized gift in any teacher, and Ashford has it mastered.

She has maintained her enthusiasm, her innocent pleasure in sharing the joys of color and pattern, line, light and form. She is conscientious in gathering really useful resources together into a book that can pay off in serious fun the first weekend you get to use it, without resorting to false expectations. Buy the book. Use the example. You, and your craft, will be enriched without hype or over-simplification. Serious artists and craftspeople do not expect the tool to do the real work of creation for them. This book is written for the serious artists and craftspeople at any stage of their careers...from about 9 years old on up.

Ashford knows the art of computer craftmaking and provides the reader with very good starting points for crafts that intertwine computer and manual art. Regarding hardware/software she clearly favors Mac/Adobe, so her recommendations reflect this. In spite of this slant, she gives some helpful overviews of the technological side of various formats, graphic standards, etc.
Want to intermingle computer graphics with your arts and crafts? Here's a good starting point.

This is a good reference for general information about using a computer to enhance or create art. The author mainly uses Adobe products, such as Photoshop and Illustrator for editing images and graphics. Before you will be able to create these projects, you have to be familiar with your software AND have software to create some of the effect (image editor, paint and graphics program). If you are looking for a book that specifically tells you how to do these things, that will not be found here. You have to be "computer-literate" and software-literate to get the most from this book.

There is a lot of good information provided and several projects are shown using illustrations and photographs, not in a step-by-step format.

One of the best books by Olivia with nice pics from his works focused on Bettie. A must for pinup lovers.

This book appears small and thin but contains a very large amount of amazing Bettie inspired works by Olivia. Included are a few pages of the progression of sketches to reach a completed work. The opening comments from Hugh Hefner are excellent. If you love Bettie, Olivia and especially both, you will love this book.

Olivia strikes again with another beautiful publication. Olivia's books are always printed on high quality, glossy paper which emphasize her stunning work. I am proud to say that Olivia and I have shared thoughts on Ms. Page. Olivia is a very generous and gracious lady and her paintings will always amaze me. I now own all of her books and trading cards.

Nice book, no nudity, which is fine, because I was looking for nose art for my airplane.

this book is really perfect for those who loves bettie page and olivia's art...a perfect combination!Bettie Page by Olivia

I absolutely loved this book! It shows a teenage girl, who looses her grandmother and is stuck with her dad, is a fanstastic artists, but currently is expierencing artists block, and also finds her way with love. See how Taylor is stuck with her dad because her grandma is stuck in a nursing home because she collapsed. Her dad and Taylor begin a new relationship and her dad begins opening up and talking about Taylor's mom, who died when Taylor was young. Taylor takes us through a year of high school and some of her summer vacation. During her summer vacation she finds loves, learns how to overcome artists block, and and becomes even closer to her grandmother that doesent even remember her. This book was also a nominee for the 2004 Teens Top Teen Book, sponsered by the Young Adult Library Services Assocation through the American Library Association.

Drew Lamm's book, Bittersweet, is a joy to read. Beautiful, poetic images and a story that hits home. I loved this book and I can't wait to pass it on to my students.

Taylor is a gifted artist who is trying to get her art accepted by Salt Rock. But when her grandmother has a stroke and is put into a nursing home, everything begins to change. Taylor now has no mother figure and her dad is like a closed box, she starts to have feelings for a guy, Mike, who she has always hated, and, worst of all, her art talent has disappeared. Taylor is stuck in a tornado of emotions that can upset anything in its path. Her grandmother, Grams, always told her "sip the sweet juice out of each of your days," but lately Taylor's life has become bittersweet.
I enjoyed this book a lot because of how Taylor is trying to make it through life with so many impediments in her way. It is true that sometimes life throws curve balls, and I think it was quite inspirational seeing how Taylor solves her problems like any other teenager. I really love how Taylor describes Grams. She sounds loving, wild, full of life, wise, and most of all someone you can cry with. Also, I like how all through the story Taylor learns more and more about her deceased mother, and especially when she is given sentimental gifts that answer so many questions. The literary devices in this book let you take a peek into the soul of all the characters.
Bittersweet is mostly a girl book. If you are into art or have ever had an inspiration block, this is your kind of story. Bittersweet can pull you in for hours, and display all the human emotions as a creative collage worthy of any art gallery.

Drew Lamm is a marvelously poetic writer with a special gift for making deep, subtle feelings easily accessible to the reader. Bittersweet offers honest, positive insights about a teenage girl's struggle with the very serious subject of grief. In a harsh and noisy world that conditions people, especially young people, to "turn off" inside, Ms. Lamm's book is a special treasure. I'm recommending it to all my friends with teens, and it's going to the top of my Christmas gift list. I predict that Ms. Lamm is on her way to becoming one of our recognized authors. Can't wait to see what she does next!

I recieved this book as a present for Channukah, and I saw the cover and fell in love with the fablous artwork. Once I opened the book I was drawn into the hard life of Taylor Rose, who is having an artist's block, one thing, which I can assure you, I am all too familiar with. The sad tale was so addicting that, even tohugh I finished my studies at 11:00 I was up reading it until 2:30, when I had finished it. Though I was exausted the next day, the book was a great reward, I just wish that I hadn't finished it so quickly, for the book I am reading now has not engrossed me into its depth yet. This book is I am very glad to say a great acheivment in the world of books.

Bizzaro is one of the best comic strips I have ever seen. Even on the all too numerous occasions when it is clear that my political etc. views are diametrically opposite to Mr. Piraro's I find his comic strips funny and very clever. I even have a reproduction of one his 'strips framed and hanging on a wall in my house. This collection is one of the funniest comic strip collections I have seen and it is also published in a very high quality (for a paperback) format- it is *not* your typical flimsily bound and poorly printed paperback collection. I also like the fact that he reveals where his ideas come from. This brings me to my second point: it's one thing to include your political and religious beliefs in your book. These illuminate the origin of many of his ideas, but it's another to have them constantly shoved down your throat in a very childish fashion. He writes with the style of an angry and idealistic high school student with no thought that anyone else with very differing views could have valid ideas or - gasp- could even be correct. It get's tiring to be constantly told that anyone with opposing views is "whacked out", to use a common phrase of his. He replaces his idealized wishful thinking for facts, and it gets annoying. Here's one example: he writes about how he admires the native American Indians for living in harmony with nature. Clearly he has not read much on this matter because, I am sorry to inform this vegan, it is pretty much accepted by anthropologists and other scientists involved that "native" Americans wiped out the pleistocene megafauna, just like the "native" New Zealanders pretty much wiped out thier megafauna. I point this out because I grew tired of his constant know-it-all attitude, and I am sure other readers will as well. I only write this because I think even this very personal book goes way overboard for a comic book collection in his attacks on people whose views he dislikes and I expect a little more restraint more from an adult author- even a cartoonist with a poor formal educational background. Still in all, I would highly recommend this book to any fan of the daily comics and plan on buying his new hardcover collection upon it's release.

Dan Piraro is undeniably one of today's most talented newspaper cartoonists, and there's much to enjoy in this overview, if you can get past the tiresome, unrelenting narcissism and vegan proselytizing. More art (there's room on the pages) and less smug self-righteousness would've served this book better (and I AGREE with most of Piraro's politics).

This book provides insight into Dan Piraro, the most consistently humorous cartoonist of our day. Buy this book!

Pop quiz: Name an artist whose wildly popular daily cartoon frequently promotes veganism - and who is not Dan Piraro. Stumped? Well, there really isn't anyone else. Indeed, Piraro has that niche pretty much covered and is regarded as the veg community's most-recognized comic voice. His print cartoon, "Bizarro," which began two decades ago, is syndicated in more than 200 newspapers and routinely takes on topics ranging from animal rights and religion to gay rights and politics. The surreal cartoon has spawned a number of equally surreal book-length collections, the latest of which is "Bizarro and Other Strange Manifestations of the Art of Dan Piraro."

But this new volume is no mere anthology of "Bizarro" cartoons. Accompanying the pages of comics, paintings, sketches and personal photographs is an extended autobiographical essay that is at turns hilarious and a compelling indictment of agribusiness. The author-artist never misses an opportunity to promote the cruelty-free lifestyle (mentioning, for example, that he won't buy paint brushes made from animal hair), and the book chronicles Piraro's transformation from, as he puts it, "a creative misfit class clown in Oklahoma to a passionate animal-rights advocate in New York City."

As an outspoken vegan activist, Piraro proves himself to be articulate, well-informed and clever. He writes: "Some argue that while we started as vegetarians, we have `evolved' to eat meat. Biologically speaking, we haven't changed at all in this regard. You might as well say we've evolved to smoke tobacco. We've been doing it for centuries and we enjoy it, but we haven't developed a natural need for it, or a defense against its ill effects." You can bet I'll be keeping that analogy handy.

Among the biggest treats in Piraro's revolutionary cartoons are the richly detailed backgrounds and extra jokes for those with the time (and eyesight) to look closely. Regular "Bizarro" readers know that Piraro hides symbols in his cartoons, such as spaceships, sticks of dynamite and pieces of pie. While he purports to explain these objects on his website, bizarro.com, he includes them simply for fun. More serious are the animal-rights messages punctuating his comics. A typical cartoon reproduced in Bizarro and Other Strange Manifestations depicts several men at a bar; one guy has a "no veal" button on his jacket while another sports a "Farm Sanctuary" tattoo. Yet another cartoon shows two characters (actually Piraro and his wife Ashley) walking past a vegan café. Perhaps best of all, the themes in these particular cartoons aren't even animal rights, making the premise of compassionate living all the more mainstream.

Even if you're not a fan of comics or Piraro's work, this oversized paperback will look great on your coffee table (even if you don't like coffee - or tables, for that matter). Who knows how many houseguests, unaware of the inhumane practices involved in factory farming, will peruse this colorful, hip-looking book, get to laughing and then realize the deeper truths within its pages? Piraro could be contributing these books for some time. He writes: "People in my family tend to live well past life expectancy, no matter how badly they abuse their bodies, so I figure with regular exercise and my vegan diet, I should live well into the next century." Let's hope so.

Mark Hawthorne, author of Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism

One of the few good reasons to spend retirement years in America is the dependable presence of at least one laugh in your morning newspaper, aside from those sardonic guffaws you suppress with a sob when you look at the front page. Now, none of you techno-whippersnappers had better tell me that the comics are available on-line anywhere I wander, anywhere I roam, cuz looking at Bizarro on a computer screen is about as gratifying as staring at a photo of a snifter of cognac. It's the smell of the newsprint and the satisfaction of snatching the pertinent image from your lovey at her sudoku. Yes sir, that's livin'! Gets you all stirred up for tooling around Sun City in your golf cart.

Dan Piraro has been amassing a comprehensive dossier of my own particular world-view for many years, one frame at a time, but I've been abroad enough to have missed any number of his sharpest insights. But with this here book in my suitcase, I can face moving to "The Sequoias" with equanimity. What name for an assisted living facilty, eh? The Sequoias. Piraro would appreciate it.

This is one of those "hmmmmm...interesting" books. George Rodrigue gives a compelling history about his roots and how Blue Dog came into creation. While I love the content of the book, I am even more facinated by the design. Inside you will find a "punch-out" blue dog mask, postcards and other little nifty interactive thing-a-ma-jigs that help make this book such a pleasure to enjoy.

This is a weighty (but not cumbersome) coffee table book that any thinking, feeling human being would be happy to own. Ever since I saw some original Blue Dog paintings in New Orleans, I've wanted to own one of them. Alas, I'm too poor. This book captures the spirit of the little alien-looking pooch and lets me borrow it for a price I can manage.

You just can't fully appreciate or understand the scope and delight of Blue Dog until you read this book. I adore Blue Dog. This silly, goofy blue dog provokes emotions in me that I have not experienced with art before...there is some strange, sad, beautiful, eerie, rapturous, haunting, joyful essence to this darn dog. This book is completely unique, fun, inspirational...I could go on and on. You just have to touch this book (the cover is fuzzy!) and open it...you will be hooked. The best coffee table book and a sure conversation starter, though that is hardly its value.

Any book with more of Blue Dog is great. This features more of the pop art world of Blue Dog than the previous books of Rodrigue's work. (I actually like the paintings of Blue Dog in cajun settings best.)

Teach an old dog new tricks? Absolutely, provided the pooch in question is Blue Dog, that colorful canine spawned from the mind of Cajun artist George Rodrigue. (For those no up to their four-legged friends fodder, the cobalt canine with the yellow eyes is based on three of the artist's now-dead dogs, and was first immortalized on slick papers back in 1994.) Who says a sleeping dog must lie? This babe is everywhere: portraits hang in the White House, on the set of "Friends" and in fan Whoopi Goldberg's abode; Blue Dog also stars in an Absolut ad. This volume boasts 60 gorgeous never-before-published paintings, along with commentary by Rodrigue on the birth of Blue Dog and its transformation into a pop culture icon. Tom Brokaw, an avid Blue Dog collector, wrote the book's forward. The cat's meow. Really.

Terrific book that is a keeper. If you can't get to see a portion of these works of art exhibited, at least you can enjoy what is being created out there by this wonderfully photographed and informative book. An added bonus was that it arrived sealed in plastic in mint condition!

This book is a wonderful review of the art of books as contemporary sculpture. As a fiber artist-bookmaker-handmade paper maker, I bought a copy for my own library, then gave another copy as a gift to a fellow artist who was interested in using books and book images in art. Inspirational as well as informative. I look forward to seeing the actual exhibition.

This is one of those products which is true to its theme from the moment you unwrap it.Being a book about the beauty and creativity of books it has itself to be worthy, which it certainly is. It is a pleasure to hold and to explore, as the design and concept have been carefuly considered.
The examples chosen are rich and varied and are divided thematically.The problem is that so many of the books are enormously intriguing that one wants to handle them to discover their mysteries. However the descriptions are usually very good and do allow one to at least understand the concept of the creator.If you love books as art, this is a truly wonderful possession.

Turning the book making into an art can make a book more attractive and collectible. This book demonstrates a lot of outstanding examples. Readers are completely satisfied by the books in this book.

One of the best! This book should be on your bookshelf if you are interested in the books as an art form. I would suggest it for any school or college media center. I would not include it on a list for coffee table books but if you have a serious home library which leans toward the book arts,artist journals and sketchbooks; by all means, put this out on the reading table.
The next best thing:Visiting the Museum in person!

My dad and Charlie were in business during their undergraduate days at UPenn. Dad would go out and take orders and Charlie would draw custom Christmas "and other special occasion" cards. I thought this was pretty neat. Nearing his deathbed, my dad finally confessed the he'd go out and take very specific instructions, gather photos, descriptions, etc. and bring other sordid details back to Charlie, who would then draw "pornographic" cards based on those orders. That revelation got me looking at Wednesday in a whole new light! It was enjoyable to read that Charlie was like that all his life.

One of the most commonly asked questions of cartoonists is, "Where do you get your ideas?"

And of course when the cartoonist is Charles Addams, this question leads to unrivaled speculation and disinformation, which over the years created its own brand of peculiar mythology.

Now comes an impressive new biography by Linda H. Davis. In "Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life" Davis takes on the stories that Addams slept in a coffin and drank martinis with eyeballs in them. Instead, what emerges is a surprising portrait of an amazing artist who led a full and colorful life.

Yes, Addams certainly had quirks and odd obsessions. But he was also universally loved, and so charming that he dated the likes of such luminaries of his time as Greta Garbo, Joan Fontaine and Jackie Kennedy Onassis (along with untold numbers of others). He drank hard, raced cars, and no party or social gathering was considered complete without him. His fan base ran the gamut from the criminally insane to Sean Connery and Alfred Hitchcock.

In this first ever biography of the subject, Davis charts Addams' meteoric rise and more than 50-year career as the most esteemed cartoonist at The New Yorker. With his cartoons, Addams became a significant cultural force by combining horror and humor, a genre that continues to flourish today. His impact and influence on generations of cartoonists is impossible to calculate, but it's fair to say that Gary Larson's Far Side would not have existed without him.

Addams' own unique creation of The Addams Family began as print cartoons which went on to inspire a popular TV series, animated cartoons and two Hollywood feature films. With these characters, Addams provided role models for eccentrics and nonconformists everywhere. The message of the Addams Family was simple: Namely that love and laughter can--and does-- flourish everywhere, even within families and social groups that seem outside society's norms.

An esteemed biographer whose previous subjects have included Stephen Crane and Katherine White, Davis spent over six years on this book and interviewed more than 130 persons who knew Addams well, or as well as anyone could. Although Addams died in 1988, Davis had exclusive access to his personal effects and papers that had been in the possession of his wife Tee until her death in 2004. Addams' two other wives also participated in helping Davis to define the man nicknamed "Chill" by his friends.

Davis provides a wealth of detail, but wisely avoids drawing hard conclusions or offering up pseudo-psychoanalysis. Instead, the dichotomy between the artist's urbane and cheerful public persona and his morbidly dark humor are presented in a way that leaves the reader, if nothing else, even more appreciative of Addams' depth, genius and mystery.

With this approach Davis reframes the question of "where" Addams got his ideas to that of "why." Addams was unlike anyone else, and so it is only natural that his ideas would be unlike those of others. As for why he was the way he was, that's a question Addams seems to have taken to the grave with him. In "A Cartoonist's Life" we see that just as one question is put to rest, another rises up - a conclusion that Addams himself would have no doubt enjoyed.

Who was Chas (Charles) Adams? While you won't know by the time you finish this revealing biography, you'll certainly expand beyond the line sketch you probably have now of his life. If you are a New Yorker fan, you'll know him from his hundreds of cartoons and dozens of covers that expressed a most unique and other worldly perspective. If you are a fan of celebrities, you may know more about him as someone who drove classic cars, dated high-profile women, and favored allusions to death and dying. If you are a classic television fan, you'll know that his cartoon characters were the foundation for The Addams Family. If you favor camp, you know about his armor collection, his preferences for cross-bows, and other lethal items which he liked to display in public.

The biography also reveals a kindly man who was patient with everyone, including those he didn't particularly like. You'll also learn of his fascination with the Morticia appearance (based on having married two women who met the bill). More surprisingly, you'll find him to have been victimized by his second wife . . . even long after they were no longer married. The book also portrays a heterosexual version of Truman Capote who fascinated many of the most desirable women.

Most pleasingly, Ms. Davis does a delightful job of portraying the development of his cartooning style and art . . . including dozens of prime examples that are well reproduced. Even when there's no reproduction, Ms. Davis is good at capturing the essence of an image in a few words. She also provides a history of 20th century New Yorker cartooning, including how many of the final cartoons represented the influences of many people other than the artist who signed the final version.

While each of those aspects is well and thoroughly portrayed, the core of the man doesn't quite make it through. Addams seems like a case of arrested development in many ways, but his willingness to be kind and considerate of others displays greater maturity than his preferences for self-indulgence and his cartooning approach suggest. In today's world, he would clearly be just another clever self-promoter . . . except that his stunts seemed aimed at creating joy rather than a higher income. Clearly, he didn't take himself too seriously, yet he did take his work seriously. Ms. Davis has, however, done readers and cartoon fans a great service by writing this biography which will undoubtedly stir up other sources and perspectives to flesh out the man who shortened his first name because it looked better that way on a cartoon.

Addams has always been my favorite cartoonist and I snatched a copy of this book as soon as I saw it. Reading this book led me to have even more admiration for this man, who had a rather energetic personal life (although not of the sort some might imagine) and who also served in the Army as, what else, an illustrator.

A must-have for anyone interested in Addams' work and a damn good read even if you aren't. Also, I thought the cartoons picked to illustrate the book were a perfect for this work.

"Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life" is a warm and tenderly written biography in which the essence of the man behind the dark side of his cartoons is gently exposed. Author Linda H. Davis has offered a comprehensive look into Charles Addams's life and it has a few surprises.

Addams, born into relative prosperity in Westfield, New Jersey just prior to World War I, could have lived a rarefied life (and in some ways he did) were it not for his penchant for seeing the world in a different way from most of us. Davis points out that Addams, although never admitting to liking children and never having any of his own, nonetheless gravitated toward children at parties and visits to friends' homes. He was wildly popular with the children he got to know and that childlike quality is evident in the cartoons he drew. He disliked the word "macabre" in describing his work and as the author points out there is never any outward blood and gore in his cartoons. The ghoulishness is implied and having been treated to several of Addams's cartoons in this book I would agree with Addams himself....his best cartoons are uncaptioned.

Charles Addams's personal life was another matter. Married three times, his second wife, Barbara Colyton, had the most and longest lasting effect on him. Control and money were her issues and she dominated the cartoonist for years after their divorce. Yet as Davis points out, Addams never had too much of an axe to grind with her or other women in his life. Indeed, he had many women as confidants...something most men eschew.

It is surprising to see how little money Addams made in his life, relatively speaking. He seemed to care about other things and one of the great loves of his life was his dog, Alice. Remarkably, too, Addams lived in an age where, at the New Yorker at least, cartoonists were mostly given ideas from which to draw something. It appears that his originality came later rather than earlier in his career.

Linda Davis has done a fine job in taking us through the life of this wonderfully warm, if complicated man. As his friend, the writer Philip Hamburger remarked on Addams's death in 1988, "Charles Addams was 'sui generis'". Without a doubt he must have been. I think Addams would have been a lovely dinner guest, replete with humor and full of attentive, quiet listening to his fellow guests. I wish I had met him.

I caught this exhibition at the Indiana State Museum while it was on a nationwide tour. It was so interesting that I took full advantage of my museum membership and came back and saw it several times while it was here in Indianapolis. I picked up the book as the exhibit was winding down but only recently read the well-written introductory essays that make up the first 35 pages or so of the book.

Cheech Marin has created a high-quality full color text of this travelling show which is mostly comprised of pieces from his own personal collection. Marin's taste tends to run towards political art, but there is plenty that speaks of life for artists who are both Chicano and American, as the exhibition title (also the book title) imply.

Artists that grabbed my attention include:

Carlos Almaraz - his car crash paintings were gigantic attention getters in the gallaries. His other works are great as well.

David Botello - his Monet-like style is fascinating.

One of the best paintings may well be "Janine at 39, Mother of Twins" by Margaret Garcia. Cheech Marin's comment on page 67 hits it on the head: "If there is a visual definition of the lushness, the strength, and the beauty of women, this painting is it."

Cesar Martinez's "Hombre que le Gustan las Mujeres (The Man who Loves Women)" is funny and a sadly realistic portrayal of the ways that men see women.

Patssi Valdez was the painter that stole the show in Indianapolis, at least from the comments I heard. Her pictures are so bright and have the power to mae the viewer feel as though he or she is being drawn in to the canvas, especially with works like "Room on the Verge." Another painting of hers graces the cover of the book.

I did not care for the works of a couple of established artists: Gronk and Mel Casas. The Casas pieces in this show seemed less like a work of art and more like very large, not very clever political cartoons. That being said, it was entirely appropriate to include their works considering their standing in the Chicano art movement.

I bought this book for my brother (artist) and he loved it! it had a great collection of chicano art throughout Los Angeles. Any 'Chicano artist' would like to take a look at other inspiring work.

Cheech Marin has collected some of the most amazing, enthralling pictures (paintings, drawings, etc.) by Chicano artists that I've come across! This book is such a rich collection to own because some of us can't afford to buy art, but we can look again & again at the copies he's put together. There are well-known artists, unknown artists, and people I'm thrilled to have found out about because their work is so brilliant. Some places where I've seen "Chicano" art collected before have stuck to one style, very pastely, very soft colors, a certain women's painting style that has its place but isn't representative. This book isn't like that. Marin has collected paintings of incredible scenes, showing car wreck victims, cholos, lovers embracing, a drive-by shooting in progress, a freeway accident, & a police shake down to name a few. The "realist" aspect of these pictures is so entertaining that it will provide owners of the book hours of transfixing study & discussion! Buy it!

Absolutely breathtaking. A great addition to my collection.

I am insanely jealous of Cheech Marin's art collection, or at least those pieces that are featured in this book. A true artist is one who can make the ugly beautiful, or at least make you look at it with a different perspective, such as David Botello's "Alone and Together Under the Freeway"

Frank Romero's "Arrest of the Paleteros" is tragic and funny at the same time, with the hapless ice cream sellers lined against a wall in front of robot-like cops.

Adan Hernandez' "Sin Titulo II", while not owned by Marin, is included in this book, and gives a peeping-Tom's eye view of a family's living room-it is stunningly beautiful and menacing at the same time. Other works in this book are excellent, and it is inspiring for any artist in a rut, who needs a fresh look at some unusual talents.

Kirk Johnson of the Denver Museum of Natural History and his traveling companion, artist Ray Troll, take us on a goofy whirlwind tour of fossil sites in the West that is funny and also informative. Kirk Johnson explains a lot of geological concepts along the way, while weaving in great anecdotes and entertaining sketches of the whacky characters who live and work at many of the sites they visit. Ray Troll's art, as always, is great and often quite surreal, and there's lots of it on every page. Highly recommended!

The book was listed in Science News, which is a weekly publication with current news in the world of Science. My spouse, who is a Registered Professional Geologist, asked me to purchase it for her. At first glance she thought it was a children's book, however; in reading further realized the book was intended for adults. Her rating is that the publication was very good, both well written and illustrated. This rating means a lot because it is from someone who must have at least a zillion books on Geology and also has a Masters Degree in the subject.

Caution! Paleo fever is catching. I already had a light dose of it before reading the book. Not many people carry around a small chunk of dinosaur rib in their purse just for the heck of it. (It makes a hilarious conversation piece at security check points. Most screeners don't want anything more to do with the purse after finding the bone.)

Now, after reading the book, I have a full blown case, and am itching to get back on the road. This book strikes just the right balance between hard information and just plain fun.

We went to Montana last summer and met several people who were at least as interesting as the bones - with strange tales of discovery and survival. Guess what! after reading the book, I now know that there is a whole world of fossils and people just waiting to be discovered.

This book answers a lot of questions that I had - i.e. what on earth is a concretion? Before reading the book, I could recognize one, but couldn't define what it was. Now I know more about what they are and how they form.

The book delivers a steady drip of valid scientific information that you almost don't realize that you are getting. (The author is a curator at the Denver Museum.)

The book will also tell you how to recognize and find dinosaur tracks at 65 miles an hour. - I won't give away the secret,but, I'll give you a hint: it involves birthday cake and ants.

Be warned! If you read this book, you will be left screaming for a ROAD TRIP in the great old American tradition.

Funny,thought-provoking story with historic information on paleontological sites and the people who search for fossils.

One part Easy Rider, one part On the Road with Charles Kuralt, and one part "stuff to find by the side of the road." Mix up these three and add an interesting commentary of "how things got to be the way they are" and you'll have some idea of what "Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway" is like. I've read "The Bone Wars" (Cope vs Marsh) and, while I find the topic interesting, I had to drag myself through parts of it. I also have a number of "Roadside Geology" books that I'm generally disappointed with. In "Cruisin'," Dr. Johnson gives details about the first scientists on the scene, plus precise locations & basic geology, and manages to make it all humorous and entertaining. The Easy Rider camaraderie between Johnson and artist Troll is often quite amusing, and the sketches of personalities they meet along the road makes what could be a very dry subject full of personable details. The octogenarian racing to beat Johnson to a fossil, the 16 year old girl with an Allosaurus under her bed, the "King of Trilobites" who has little more than disdain for fossils ... all keep the narrative far from a textbook coverage of geology. No, I don't know the author well enough for him to buy me lunch or have a piece of the royalties. I just really enjoyed both the personalities and the fossil info in the book. If you're serious about collecting, get the separate map as well: not only is it covered in Trollish art, but it provides an accurate index of fossil locales throughout the Western states (in much more detail and over broader areas than the book ... and better than any other source I've seen).