Schools and Instruction Books

The school of Pennsylvania Impressionists' inventive approach to painting, in my opinion, gave way to an innovative American art movement. Their powerfully loose, fluid brush strokes and eye-catching palettes fashioned a refreshing artistic outlook that has spanned many generations. Thus proving "less is more".
This hardcover book captures each artist (including such noteworthy names as Garber, Redfield and Spencer to name a few) and outlines his history of work. The Pennsylvania Impressionists contains a wealth of art knowledge. From newcomers to P.I. enthusiasts, all will enjoy this immensely. An enjoyable read with attractive imagery. The author should be commended on writing such a thorough piece.

I had high hopes for this book in that it would offer full-color plates of some of the most beautiful American art, that of Pennsylvania impressionists. I was sorely disappointed and returned the book immediately. Why would anyone who appreciates such fine art want such a reference book that is mostly black and white plates that do not do the artwork justice?

Thomas Folk's book is possibly the only one of its kind. Well-researched, well-organized, well done! Of this subject, Folk must be the most knowledgable person today. If you want to share his knowledge on one of the most "American" art movements ever, read this book!

This a beautifully illustrated book that can introduce you to the major Russian painters. And--if you're like me--all of them before the early 20th century will be unknown to you. I've read a fair amount of the text. I've found it good background for someone who just wants to know a little about Russian art before visiting Moscow and St Petersburg. There are good plates of the most important paintings. It's easy to go online to find more biographical background and even more plates if you find artists that intrigue you. I wish the index were better. The book is organized by genres--portraits, historical paintings, landscapes, etc. If you're trying to find all the paintings--or commentary--on a single painter, it's a struggle. But that's a quibble. I'm very pleased with the book. It's useful as I'm doing background research for my trip. I'll love having it as a reference once I return.

the only reason to have this book is the images - huge and very high res, and the array itself is quite fascinating. however, if you read the text, your impression may be spoiled. I don't know if Mr. Leek has a PhD in Art History and whether he ever researched Russian art and history before; right there in the introduction the author (Mr.Leek) states that in 1913 the Romanov's celebrated the MILLENNIUM of their rule! Once I encounter nonsense of such sort, I will never treat the text under review as a trustworthy source and its author an expert. However, for such a low price I would buy this book just for the pics!

This book is certainly worth having in any collection of students of Russian art. While it is not terribly useful for any particular period and is a bit short on detailed information, it does accomplish the main purpose of having an overview of the various types and historical periods of Russian art. It has an excellent collection of color plates which speak for themselves and exhibit the various traditions. It has a very short section on post revolutionary Russian Impressionism and I found that useful, but for others who want an indepth look at any particular period or genre, it is pretty basic. Worth having for historical and tradition context, but for serious focus on a particular tradition, other books are more detailed. I'm happy I have it.

Patricia's approach with children is sensitive and perceptive. I found this book personally helpful with children in my studio. Ms. Campbell's approach encouraged me to ask my students questions and I was pleasantly surprised by their honest and passionate ideas about music. I changed my program in response to their ideas. I appreciated that Patricia interviewed students of different abilities not just elite performers. The main idea is that they all had a meaningful connection to their music-making activities.

I read this book for a music education class. The book is divided into three sections. The first section describes scenes the author witnessed in various schools; the second section describes one-on-one interviews with children about music; the third section makes recommendations for music teachers based on her ethnographic observations of children. The third section has some compelling ideas in it, and the first two sections support her ideas there. However, if I hadn't been required to read it, I wouldn't have gotten through the first two sections in order to benefit from the third.

I agree with an earlier review - check it out from library rather than investing in the book yourself.

I enjoyed this discussion of children's natural bent for improvisation. However, this isn't the kind of book you refer back to a lot later on. I would suggest getting it through your local University library.

By the way, if you are a University librarian and your school has a music education department, you should definitely get this book!

Take almost 2 months to receive the product but it is a good item with excellent condition

Even though I don't practice the Suzuki method, I still use the music, and I have found this a good way to learn the pieces. After several months of listening to this, my cello skills have improved, and I have discovered that listening to the tracks makes playing them easier.

I ordered this expecting what I consider a cd-rom, perhaps pictures of the sheet music, explanations/instructions for the student, something other than just music; however, this is not the case. This is just simply a music CD. In that respect, it is a fine CD, as it allows our daughter to hear how the Suzuki songs should sound on the cello, but be warned, it is not interactive.

Now in a newly expanded and updated second edition, "Windows On Learning: Documenting Young Children's Work" is the collaborative work of educational consultant Judy Harris Helm, educational resource specialist Sallee Beneke, and classroom teacher Kathy Steinheimer (Valseka Hinton Early Childhood Education Center). "Windows On Learning" provides teachers with a proven method for collecting, analyzing and displaying children's work at school. Instructions are provided that will easily enable principles, curriculum coordinators, and Head Start personnel how to develop children's portfolios to share with parents or for assessing children's academic performance. Replete with examples, illustrations, and basic information on incorporating standards into documentation, "Windows On Learning" also discusses how to analyze and talk about documentation in professional learning communities and teams. There is even cogent information on preparing teacher portfolios. Of special note is the "Movie Theater Project, a literacy-rich project from an inner-city pre-kindergarten classroom. "Windows On Learning" is strongly recommended as a resource for any educator involved with documenting the academic and classroom performance of children preschool through second grade.

This book is a very useful tool for learning different types of documenting techniques. There are pictures, graphs and examples of documenting a child's work. It's worth buying if you are going to be working in a classroom!

Not a very good tool unless you have other supporting data to aid with this book. Nothing new. Not worth it.

Bert Geer Phillips and the Taos Art Colony provides a comprehensive examination of the life and work of Taos art colony founder Bert Phillips within the larger context of late 19th and early 20th century American art. The book is comprised of a series of thematic essays by two preeminent Southwest art historians, Julie Schimmel and Robert R. White. The book is richly illustrated and meticulously documented, and includes valuable apendices including Phillips' exhibition records, a complete catalogue of known works, letters and essays by Phillips. An indispensible book for any student of the Taos Society of Artists and the history of the Taos art colony.

Bert Geer Phillips is my great grandfather. I anticipated and waited for this book to be published for a very long time. I know that Phillips estranged son and his wife financed this particular piece of work. My only memory of Ralph in Taos was at my Grandmothers funeral when he came to inventory the paintings that were being left to my father. This book is a very limited and rather clinical look at an extraordinary artist. The book reads more as a tribute to Bert Phillips son Ralph. Ralph was not an artist nor did he spend any of his adult years in Taos. When Mr. Phillips visited San Diego (his sons home) he stayed in a hotel near Balboa Park. His paintings hang in Anthonys Seafood Restaurant a favorite of Mr. Phillips. This book contains very little personal insight nor in depth historical facts of Phillips life. Often is reads more like a technical locator for the existing Phillips works. Mention of Phillips daughter Margo and her Son are nowhere to be found. These were the individuals who truly knew Bert Geer Phillips. Better books are available. None of the other books pertaining to Phillips were comissioned by members of his family.

While the book only has 25 breeds, it has many differnet shapes and sizes. The sketching pattern displayed is a wonderful tool for begginer artists. My daughter sat down with the book and had a well done skectch of our family dog in under an hour, with shading, and colors.

While the book does show how to draw a few dog breeds, not enough are included. Also, the instructions are specific to certain poses, rather than including some dog anatomy lessons. Once the few how-tos are done there really isn't a need to refer to this book. There are other better and more inclusive how to draw dogs books available.

If you are a die-hard fan of Coupland, this is a must have. The narrative in the book is very, very short, reminiscent of a warm-up for Hey, Nostradamus! or Girlfriend in a Coma. Yet somehow it is very coherent and affecting by the end. The faux-yearbook entry text dispersed throughout is sometimes comedy gold and sometimes very sad and affecting. The overall "theme" of the book is the inconsequentiality, yet monumental drama that is high school life and it is handled very well. The montage of yearbook shots, and their juxtaposition with the text works very well. Also, note that the copy I ordered was the original non-trade paperback edition with the slipcover that is shown on Coupland's site (www.coupland.com). I believe there is a newer, trade edition and this may be the one you get if you order from Amazon UK, although I am not sure. In any case, this is undoubtedly an "art" book and may not be worth the price for someone looking for something more substantial from a literary perspective. However, if you love Coupland's style and want a unique item to add to your collection, this is an excellent little piece.

Very little text, mostly photos from a high school in the 70s,
with yearbook-syle quotes and classmate notes. Extremely short
narrative of a ghost of a student inhabiting schools interspersed.
If you're looking for substantial text from/about Coupland, pass.
If you want a short, nutty post-modern fiction thing, this is it.
Some of the photos are amusing, but most manage
to make the 70s unglamorous and depressing.

I was slightly disappointed when I received this book. There is only one drawing for each character along with a brief description of the character and five steps on how to draw them. The book starts off with an introduction from Cale Tucker (main character). I thought there would be more drawing tips for each character and that it would show how to draw the characters faces, etc., but there's only one pose for each character to draw. The characters featured are Cale, Akima, Korso, Preed, Gune, Cook, Stith, the Drej, and Chief Gaoul. Included also is a guide how to draw each of the spaceships. There's also some graph paper in the back to draw the characters on, which takes up half the book. I recommend this book to Titan A.E. fans, but it would have been nice to see some more poses and tips to draw from.

This is a good book if all you want is to draw each charecter in a single pose, but not anyhting more then that. It has onlt one picture of each charecter. The drawing method isn't even that great. It uses grids, and grids are useless if you want to truely learn how to DRAW the character from memory. When you use the traditional ball-and-line method (which real animators use), you learn how to "see" your drawing in verious dimentions which allows you to draw the charecter in different poses. It also makes for better remembering as to HOW to draw the character. With the grid-method the book uses, you only see the charecter in one pose, and one dimention. Totally useless if you want to draw from mind. Buy this book if you are simply out to collect merchandise from this great movie, or if you just want the nice pictures (as the pictures of the charecters are actually nice to look at).

It is amazing how different the colors are look and behave. Confused by the labeling PB42 or Hue or ASTM I? Why does the same labelings (i.e. PR108) appear on multiple colors? What do those weird names really represent? It makes for interesting reading - the history, the best, and the worst products. I always wondered why some of my watercolors looked grainy. Not all colors by the best manufacturer rate highly. This book looks like a lifelong effort that will save your experimenting forever to find a good Cadium Red color, a member of one of the 10 major color groupings covered.

Inaccurate information abounds. Tiresome reading. Little good information. Overly expensive...sorry I bought it.

a poor quality book, badly written and full of mistakes. wilcox is clearly a charlaton, he rants on about other paints being poor quality whilst trying to sell you his own.
I do not recomend this book to anyone.
buy it at your peril

If you spend hours or days painting a watercolor picture, you are going to want to use the best possible paints. You won't want to see your painting fade, become blotchy, or otherwise deteriorate due to inferior paint. To prevent just that sort of thing, this reference book attempts to educate you on the pigments used in watercolor paints--their lightfastness especially, but also other qualities. Which pigments will fade or become blotchy over time? Which will stay strong and true? This book does its best to exhaustively answer those questions.

This book has been updated several times. It is due for another update, but since there is no telling when or even if such an update will be produced, it is still so valuable that I highly recommend getting it now before you buy any (more) watercolor paints.

Although I am reading it all the way through (because that's the kind of person I am), this is not a book to be read, but rather referred to. Let's say, for example, that you want to replace a red you've been using. You would turn to the description of the red pigments, glance through to find the pigments that have been rated highly lightfast by the ASTM (American Society for Testing and Measurement) and that have the color quality you want, then you would turn to the paint reference section to see what brands offer a red using the chosen pigment(s). Even if you cannot find a brand that suits you (and you should be able to), armed with the information in this book, you can go shopping with confidence, checking the paint tubes to make sure they have the pigment you want and not some pigment that will fade and ruin your painting.

For that alone, this book is valuable.

Allow me to address some of the comments other reviewers have made. One reviewer commented that the Da Vinci paints are student grade. I disagree. I've tried a number of different brands, and Da Vinci's artist-grade paints are wonderful--buttery, smooth, and a pleasure to use. (I also like many of Windsor & Newton's paints.) Yes, Michael Wilcox contracted with Da Vinci to create his own custom line of paints, but, as he states in the latest edition of this book, he did that many years after the initial editions in which he had already praised and recommended many of Da Vincis's paints. And he doesn't hold back in criticizing many of the Da Vinci student-grade paints, nor does he hold back in praising or criticizing any brand of paint.

I believe that Mr. Wilcox has tried to be as objective as possible, and I also do *not* see any inappropriate pushing of his own line of paints. He has a single very low-key page--at the back of the book!--describing the Michael Wilcox School of Color, which lets you be the judge of whether you want to look into it more. I also haven't seen any advertisements of his line of paints in the book yet, and, as I said, I'm reading it cover to cover. (I'm in the reds at the moment, though, so I could be wrong, but if the remaining pages follow the pattern already established, I don't expect to see any such advertisement in the remaining pages.)

Another reviewer said that this book has out-of-date paints (it does) and *doesn't* reflect reformulations (but it does). Had they read the book (though perhaps they had an older edition), they would have found Mr. Wilcox's reasons for including discontinued paints. He states that some people may have those older paints still in their supplies, and so he wanted to present that information for those people. If you are a watercolor artist, you know how long paints last. I have tubes I purchased ten years ago. I know artists who have tubes they purchased even longer ago. How valuable it is to be able to read what is in those paints, and possibly avoid using something that will, in the end, disappoint!

He also provides information on old formulas, with an arrow pointing to a new entry on the reformulated paint. Again, including information on both the old and new formulations is valuable. If you are an artist with the old formulation in your supplies, you will want to know that (A) it is perhaps unsuitable and (B) there is a better replacement available for it. Yes, it is possible that there have been even further reformulations since the last edition, but each edition has been keeping up with the times, and I fully expect that, should Mr. Wilcox produce another edition, it will be as up-to-date as possible.

The one valid criticism of this book is that it could be better organized and better edited. DEFINITELY. There are missing words, grammatical errors, punctuation errors, dead-end sentences, orphan sentences, sentence fragments, and so on pretty much on every page. The organization of the material could also be better, and more information on both his testing methods and on the ASTM standards would be greatly appreciated. Mr. Wilcox should perhaps be told that there are copy editors he can hire on a contract basis to copy-edit his works and improve them vastly. Better yet, a developmental editor, who will be more expensive but also more valuable, could help with the organization and content as well.

An alphabetical index of at least all the colors would be great too. A professional indexer could create such.

These are the reasons I gave this book four stars instead of five are (A) the age of the book, (B) the errors, and (C) the need to better organize and expand the content, especially the information on testing standards and methods.

However, flaws aside, this is an enormous work, enormously valuable, with clearly hundreds if not thousands of hours of work put into it, and the information shows that effort.

It should also be mentioned that, before Michael Wilcox published the first edition of this book, whether you would get good paints from even some of the major manufacturers was a hit-or-miss proposition. Many non-lightfast pigments were used, and poor quality paints were created, even by the giants. When this book hit the scene, it had a great deal of positive influence on the watercolor manufacturers. Many of them dropped or reformulated their more questionable paints. That in itself tells you the value of the information in this book. Of course, the ASTM had a lot to do with it too, but without this book pointing out the lack of clothes on the emperor, I am not sure how much weight the ASTM standards alone would have had.

If you are a watercolor artist, do yourself the favor of adding this book to your reference library.

This exhaustive (not to be confused with exhausting) research-based volume should be mandatory reading for all those artists interested in giving their customers their utmost quality of paint on works of art sold. So many paints are not light-fast, or are 'fugitive' (absolutely unreliable), or are packaged by the manufacturer as 'new' colors when they are, in fact, only creative blends of basic colors that any artist can create with colors they likely already have. This book, covering many of the watercolor paint producers in the Western world, exposes these flawed paints, but also gives credit where due to the top-notch pigments and their manufacturers. Details of content, health ratings, color-fastness and quality of brush use are easily understood. Fantastic color swatches (before and after exposure to light) are beside each manufacturer's sample. My only complaint is that this is the only edition available (pub. 1991), as the author said it would be updated periodically, which does not yet appear to have happened. There were only a couple of Quinacridone colors 12 years ago at the time of publication, whereas there are many more now.