Clay Books

In the November 2000 issue of The Bloomsbury Review, in the "Gifts for Booklovers" section Lori D. Kranz wrote:

Her medium is clay, her inspiration the Galisteo Basin where she lives and works. Native New Mexican Priscilla Hoback makes what she calls "clay murals" or fired clay paintings. Hoback started out as a self -taught potter in Santa Fe, where she was born, and for many years created and sold functional pieces for the kitchen in her studio/shop on Canyon Road and at local craft fairs. In 1977, with her children gone to college, she yearned for a change, for a more peaceful life in the country, and so she bought a small, run-down ranch near Galisteo village, which she turned into a studio, a house, a garden, and a home for her horses, dogs, ducks, and chickens. In her meanderings through the basin valley, she became fascinated with its geology, wildlife, ancient petroglyphs, and abandoned mines-particularly clay mines. Her work grew in both size and inventiveness as she began to incorporate these influences, gathering raw materials from the land, experimenting with her own recipes, and firing them in a large kiln of her own making.

For her murals, Hoback uses the wet clay as her canvas, drawing images on it with her fingers, a pen, or a trowel. Then she brushes on pigments and creates texture by scraping away or building up layers of clay. Her imagery is of animals :horses, buffalo, deer, antelope, birds, and her favorite, bears. Before it has dried, she cuts the clay slab into smaller pieces and punches holes in them, which allows them to be screw-mounted on plywood for later hanging. Then comes what she considers the best part: the firing. Hoback sees kilns as "combinations of dragon, slave, and ancient god." The result of her efforts is a unique blend of ceramic art, painting, and installation art.

Living Clay is Hoback's story : her life, her process, her creations, her beautiful desert surroundings, all illustrated in full color. From an accomplisher potter she has become a singuar artist. "Hands ask, clay responds." she says. Her book is a testament to the beauty of what hands are capable of.

"I gather the clay for my work, one mural at a time." ~Prinscilla Hoback

While traveling across America as a teenager, I remember borrowing money from my brother in order to buy a set of clay dishes in New Mexico. I was fascinated by the colorful glazes and simplicity of the design. Prinscilla takes clay to new levels of creativity. I love her "Earth Dancers, 1998 Mural" that shows horses dancing like spirit horses across clay backgrounds. She finds horses visually exciting and loves the image of horses silhouetted against the sky.

Prinscilla Hoback started to make bowl forms, pitchers and plates and platters. She fell in love with clay and while working at her mother's restaurant, The Pink Adobe, she learned to make pots. Soon, she was selling sugar bowls, cream pitchers and coffee mugs. As she states, it was a "earn as you learn" situation.

Now she spends her time quarrying her own clay, developing glazes and building high-fire kilns. Her murals depict herds of horses, antelope, buffalo, white deer and migratory wild birds. Her work is a passionate expression of all she loves. Her new passion is writing and she loves gardening and cooking.

What I mostly remember about New Mexico is how warm the earth felt on my feet and then there are those hail storms! It seemed very much like Africa to me. There are people who love the scent of the earth where they live and I recognize this love of the earth in Prinscilla. I was amused at how she mixed dirt from her driveway with commercially prepared clay and then started to use native clays.

This is truly a fascinating book with creative writing and pictures of the artist's life and loves. There are pictures of her home in Galisteo and she takes the reader on a small tour of the Galisteo basin. If you love pottery, the creative story of the kiln will fascinate you and you might be amused by Prinscilla's humor.

The cover is quite beautiful with a burnt orange background of clay and horses dancing playfully on a mural.

~The Rebecca Review

A story for old and young alike. Equally good as a story read to youngsters as well as a story for an early reader.

My son loves this book. It is full of winsome illustrations has a simple but poignant plot centered around love and friendship. If you haven't read a Bear story, this comes highly recommended.

I am highly impressed with this book. The format of the book is easy to read. I'd imagine even a beginner would be able to work through it and create a sculpture as well. The photos are very high quality and detailed.

She supplies tips and suggestions for each project as well as patterns on completing each one in the book.

It's great for those anthro styled animals from fairy tales and cartoons.

The characters are cute and interesting... the Dalmation in turnouts is adorable. The instructions appear to be easy to follow, and the projects are within anyone's reach, even beginners. Original style on new and old themes.

Having been in management for more than 10 years, I found this book highly informative and wise in its counsel. Each of the seventeen chapters focuses on one area of troubleshooting. Within each troubleshooting area, there are up to nine scenarios in which one may choose which best fits one's problem situation. And, then, after each scenario, possible causes and cures along with "something to think about" are provided. In addition to all of this information -- and this is a real plus -- each scenario is labled a "shark" or an "elephant" or a "wolf"! This enables you, the manager, to prioritize your problems and when to troubleshoot them. For example, if a problem is labled a "shark," it requires your total attention right now (p. viii)! As evidenced by my comments, I strongly recommend this book for every manager's reference shelf

This handbook was my best friend during some very difficult management years. I would often refer to it when dealing with some sticky problem, and I was always impressed with the "common sense" approach. The brief scenarios and the page or two devoted to the problem was all I ever had time for. I give it to all of my colleagues who are becoming managers for the first time.

I was not only able to get this book for cheaper, but it got delivered really quickly. Everything ran smoothly. This is the first time I bought anything from amazon, but I am so happy that I will definetly buy again.

The product was exactly as described. No markings in the book or any torn pages. Would purchase a similar product again.

English shooting instructor and three time former World FITASC Champion, John Bidwell, has developed his own method of shooting which he calls Move, Mount, Shoot. It is a new form of maintained lead method (i.e., a technique where the shotgun's barrels stay ahead of the target throughout the shooting process). The appealing quality of Mr. Bidwell's method -- nicely explained and illustrated in his book -- is that it is very simple and straightforward. I will not try to explain all the facets of Move, Mount, Shoot in this review but I do like the technique and I think it deserves more attention -- especially in the United States.

In the U.S., Jon Kruger is probably the best known proponent of Move, Mount, Shoot. Currently, a sponsored target shooter by way of Krieghoff, Jon is in his early 40s I believe. However, when he was in his 30s, Jon Kruger was with little doubt one of the most successful sporting clays shooters in the U.S. -- he was unbeaten in over 40 consecutive tournaments in a 12 month period (an American record that should stand for some time). I cannot think of a better endorsement of the Move, Mount, Shoot technique than this.

Besides John Bidwell's excellent book here, that I feel should be read by all serious shotgun shooters, there is also a companion video which gives an excellent visual representation of Move, Mount, Shoot along with Mr. Bidwell's personal explanatory comments and a chance to see John actually demonstrating his technique on a variety of sporting clay targets. I think Bidwell's DVD of the same title as his book makes a great duo.
(Jon Kruger also turned out a video/DVD using Move, Mount, Shoot entitled, "Jon Kruger's Secrets to Success in Sporting Clays" by Sunrise Productions in Orlando, FL.)

Although I have not read it, John Bidwell has written another book on his shotgun shooting technique called "Shotgun Magic". Readers who enjoyed Move, Mount, Shoot would probably be well served by looking at Bidwell's second book also.

Perhaps not for the absolute beginner, but required reading for anyone who wants to excel at the various shotgun games that are available to us, especially that of English and International Sporting Clays. Though heavily focused on the "Maintained Lead" method, very good detail on shooting techniques for some specific "trouble" shots that I've been struggling with.

More importantly, this book does provide a very good and strong basic understanding of how to actually use your shotgun. Bidwell takes into account specific fundamentals like gun fit, sight picture, point of aim and impact, shot-stringing, and pattern placement. Also, a fair amount of space is dedicated to probably the most important aspect of successful shotgunning, a correct and consistent mount.

why do i like it?

because the songs they have putten on Much Afraid go from the slow and beautiful title song- to the anthem single- Crazy Times. the lyrics are always straight and towards the point, while Dan Haseltine's beautiful voice and the rest of Jars' awesome back-up singing is about as good as it can get.

the electric guitar added to their mix of instruments does not detract but rather, adds to their style, enhancing it.

This is by far the greatest album by the greatest band ever. While it's music appeals to the secular listener as well as Christians, you can't help but hear the strong heartfelt lyrics. Such artistry is rare and not found anywhere else. No other group expresses the gospel in quite the same way as Jars of Clay, who try to hook people with their catchy melodies and at the same time lead them to the God. "And then I see you there with your arms open wide and you try to embrace me / These lonely tears I cry they keep me in chains and I wish they'd release me / Cold is the night but colder still is the heart made of stone turned from clay / And if you follow Me you'll see all the black, all the white fade to grey." - from "Fade to Grey"

I had the great privilege of attending a seminar by this author last weekend. Her work in clay and her words come from a profound connection with the earth and her heritage. She shares these messages openly. Mud Women talks about messages in a funny, heartwarming manner.

Nora Naranjo-Morse introduces her book "Mud Women" by telling us that, "In the Tewa language, there is no word for art. There is however, the concept for an artful life, filled with inspiration and fueled by labor and thoughtful approach." In this beautiful little book Nora Naranjo-Morse molds her poetry into clay and her clay into poetry. Blending the two creates a book that speaks to each of us as women. Her work ranges from reverently serious to delightfully humorous as she uses poetry and sculpture to masterfully connect the past with the present, family and community with the modern world.

Helped the first time I opened the cover. Gave me a check list of items to consider, cut my response time to write the report and made it fairly painless. I could have thought it all out on my own, but I would have taken much longer to get to the same place. It sits in my drawer like a personal mentor, gives me a little directional steering to cover all the issues.

Although the format is a little cheesy (with the lessons presented as dialog between managers), the content, structure and organization of the book is great for new managers. The examples are fairly realistic, and the breakdown of basic skills is appropriate for those new to supervising workers.

I am searching for a book as the above with the Most Common High-Frequency Words, in Spanish. I was told that this book mentioned above was also in spanish. However, due to the fact that the spanish language is different and I do not only want a translation of the english words. What information do you have for me? Thank you

The book AN OBSERVATION SURVEY is available in SPanish. It is called Instrumento De Obsedrvacion De Los Logros. It is by Marie Clay. It is not a literal translation of Clay's original book, but a conceptural recreation from English to Spanish based on extensive research in bilingual education. It may be available at Amazon. If not, try www.abcstuff.com Resources for Reading. Hope this helps.