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| Masters: Art Quilts: Major Works by Leading Artists (The Masters) | 
 enlarge | Author: Martha Sielman
Publisher: Lark Books
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $16.17
You Save: $8.78 (35%)
New (25) Used (9) from $15.42
Avg. Customer Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 8087
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.8
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 8 x 0.9
ISBN: 1600591078
Dewey Decimal Number: 746.460973
EAN: 9781600591075
ASIN: 1600591078
Publication Date: May 6, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: SHIPS from 5 locations based on your Zip Code and availability! (PA TN IN OR SC) *-* Gift Quality *-* Orders Processed Immediately! - We get your book to you Very Quickly! -L2355.12321
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| Customer Reviews:
Inspiration! April 30, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Lark Books has produced another beautiful collection of work to inspire and delight. Full color pages, including details and artist comments portray some of the most well known names in the art quilt community. Although some of my favorite artists are surprisingly not included, this book is a must for anyone who finds pleasure and inspiration in studying the broad range of art quilts.
Wow - Just WOW! May 16, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is one gorgeous book! The photographs and paper they are reproduced on are of first rate quality - you can almost feel the texture of each of the many many works included.
From forerunners in the art quilt world like Michael James to some of the newest innovators in the genre like Pamela Allen, this book's author has judiciously chosen from a wide array of artists the ones that reflect the diversity of this medium.
This book has become my favorite book on the art quilt shelf!
A Scrumptious New Art Quilt Book May 16, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I have so many art quilt books and doubted that I needed another until I caught a glimpse of someone else's copy of Martha Seilman's Masters: Art Quilts: Major Works by Leading Artists. I knew that this was one more book that I had to own. When it arrived I first gave it a swift perusal and then went back to enjoy each artist in delectable leisure. She gives an in-depth treatment of each artist with several pages of pictures and commentary, some by the artist, some by Martha. Lots and lots of glorious colored photos!
The quality of the paper and photography add to the overall appeal of the book. Would I recommend this book? Most definitely!
Masters: Art Quilts May 17, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
"Masters" is an overview of quilted art and represents 40 of the most highly respected figures in quilted art today. The inclusion of 12 pieces by each artist, along with the quotes and introduction of the artists, gives the book an unexpected range and depth. Many of the works shown have been widely exhibited and published, but when put together with lesser known works by the same artist, a new breadth of understanding of the art and the work can be obtained.
Quilted art, generally wall hung, is a specific form of art, with its own attributes and boundaries. It is a highly stylized form, which surprisingly seems to have more in common with Jeff Koons than with Van Gogh.
The tradition of layers, embedded in traditional quiltmaking, becomes a perfect place for the quilt artist to use the traditions to form untraditional imagery in collage manner. John Lefelhocz says that the physical layers "push me to think in narrative and metaphoric layers." Even the artists who paint their work, like Nancy Erickson, who says she does "layered, stitched paintings" rely heavily on line and layering. Most of the quilts are designed using layered and pieced fabrics. In this sense they are clearly a part of the older tradition of bed quilts.
My one criticism of the book is that the quilting stitches are not evident in the photos of many of the pieces. This is due to the large size of the works, of course, but as the quilted line is part of the graphic design of quilted art, it would have been useful to include it more forcefully. Next time, maybe.
"Masters" is one of those books that will act as a resource for many years to come. It's a compendium of what quilt artists have been able to achieve and, as such, will form the basis for studies of the form.
An Education and A Delight for Artists and Collectors July 23, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Masters: Art Quilts is part of a series published by Lark Books under the premise of featuring major works by forty leading artists in a specific medium. To date, the series includes, in addition to this volume, Beadweaving, Gemstones, Glass Beads and Porcelain.
Having started this way to indicate that the emphasis is perhaps greater on craft than art in their selection of media, I must continue by saying this gorgeous, gorgeous book needs (yes, needs) to grace your desk, coffee table or bedside reading pile.
I guess that pretty much gives away the general tenor of this review, but, more specifically, this is a much-needed volume if you are an artist who tires of explaining the ART in art quilt or who enjoys reading about the why, rather than the how, of artists.
If you are a collector of art quilts or a general art aficionada, Masters: Art Quilts will help you understand this medium (why fabric???) and provide hours of delighted perusal.
The emphasis on only forty artists, dictated by the constraints of the series, was undoubtedly a cruel hardship to the editor and curator, Martha Sielman. Sielman is the Executive Director of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), an organization dedicated to the promotion of art quilts and their makers.
Each of the forty artists receives a small essay by Sielman, space for personal comments about their artwork, and, of course, several (up to ten or twelve, including details) photos of their artwork over eight pages.
The small essays by Sielman are sparkling. Nothing is harder than to study the work of a diverse cross-section of artists and render their work sensible and in a perceptive light in a very short essay.
Editor essays are usually the least valuable part of a survey, but Sielman has added to the considerable worth of this volume by sharing what is important about each artist, what themes the artist has explored and placing their work in the context of the art quilt movement.
The comments by the artists are necessarily short and, I assume, selected and edited by Sielman. Again, the comments are seldom gratuitous and often a revelation. I completely reassessed my viewpoint of the work of Jane Sassaman after reading this: Plants are my metaphor. A plant travels the same cycle as a human: fertility, birth, maturity, death and rebirth.
The format of the book is one of its strong points. There are 414 pages in a 9 x 8 inch format. Despite it's bulk, this book is user friendly - - easy to hold and it fits nicely in a tote bag. The photos are large, of excellent quality and unbelievable in number. If you have shopped for magazines lately at a newsstand, you will agree that it is somewhat mind-boggling that this huge book retails for $24.95.
I found it best to flip through the book until I saw a work that caught my eye and then to read the whole "chapter" about the artist and study the photos before moving on. Reading straight through is asking for sensory overload.
I have only two small quibbles about the book. The designation "Master" does imply those practitioners of an art that have labored long and hard in the field or have shown a mastery through an established style, regardless of their time in the field.
I personally could have seen a lot less of the art quilts which were the exciting New Thing of their time (some dating back to the 60's) and a lot more current work. Perhaps the focus on the series is to show the history as well as the current state of the medium, but it does beg the question if some of the artists chosen would be better identified as Master Emeritus or some other title that acknowledges the debt art quilters owe these pioneers in the field.
Also many of the chosen artists are very well-known in the art quilt exhibit circuit, but perhaps those artists who eschew that route for professional or personal reasons are less well-represented. However these are minor considerations when weighed against the greater service this book provides as a resource for artists and collectors.
Part of the joy of reading Art Quilts: Masters is having a fine argument with yourself about the inclusions and exclusions made necessary by the choice of forty artists and for the ranking of your own personal favorites among the artwork. I have found that argument to be an education in itself.
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