Artists Studios Resources : E-Books

Bestselling author, artist, and illustrator Lisa Congdon brings her expertise to the table in this guide to the process of artistic self-discovery. Featuring advice from Congdon herself and interviews with a roster of established artists, illustrators, and creatives, this book will teach readers to identify and nurture their own visual identities, navigate the influence of artists they admire, push through fear and insecurity, and appreciate the value of their unique personal journeys.

When Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique in 1963, the book exploded into women's consciousness. Fifty years on, in the age of #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, this publication is ready to inspire a new generation of feminists. Activists and writers Alix Kates Shulman and Honor Moore offer an unprecedented collection of works, many long out-of-print and hard to find, including excerpts from Judy Chicago's text "Through the Flower: My Struggle as a Woman Artist," that catalyzed and propelled the women's liberation movement.

Across the globe, women are embracing the entrepreneurial spirit and starting creative businesses. In the Company of Women profiles over 100 of these influential and creative women from all ages, races, backgrounds, and industries

The vividly told, gloriously illustrated memoir of an artist born with disabilities who searches for freedom and connection in a society afraid of strange bodies.

In the modern world, influence is everything and personal branding equals influence. Platform is the why-to, how-to handbook for everyone who wants to develop and manage a personal brand.

A Year in the Art World relates the exploits of a curious insider, who ventures deep into the workings of the art industry to ask: what is it that people in the art world actually do? What drives an interest in working with art? How do artworks acquire value? And how has technology transformed the art world of today?

No other writer enhances the reader's experience of art in precise, jargon-free prose as Peter Schjeldahl does. His reviews are more essay than criticism, and he offers engaging and informative accounts of artists and their work. For more than three decades, he has written about art with Emersonian openness and clarity. A fresh perspective, an unexpected connection, a lucid gloss on a big idea awaits the reader on every page of this big, absorbing, buzzing book.

From the late editor, writer, and critic, one of the influential chroniclers of the art, fashion, and celebrity scenes: an expansive collection of thirty-five essays that offer an intimate look into the worlds of some of the most important and well-known artists, designers, and actors of our time.

Jed Perl embraces the work of creative spirits as varied as Mozart, Michelangelo, Jane Austen, Henry James, Picasso, and Aretha Franklin. He contends that the essence of the arts is their ability to free us from fixed definitions and categories. Whether we are experiencing a poem, a painting, or an opera, it's the interplay between authority and freedom--what Perl calls "the lifeblood of the arts"--that fuels the imaginative experience.

Curator Sarah Urist Green left her office in the basement of an art museum to travel and visit a diverse range of artists, asking them to share prompts that relate to their own ways of working. This book brings together more than 50 assignments gathered from some of the most innovative creators working today, including Sonya Clark, Michelle Grabner, The Guerrilla Girls, Fritz Haeg, Pablo Helguera, Alec Soth, Gillian Wearing, and many others.

Set in New York's Lower East Side of the 1980s and mid-1990s, Peter McGough’s memoir of his life with artist David McDermott is a devastatingly candid look at the extreme naiveté and dysfunction that would destroy their lives. Escaping the trauma of growing up gay in Syracuse, McGough attended art school in New York, dropped out, and took out jobs in clubs, where he met McDermott. Dazzled by McDermott, McGough agreed to collaborate with him. By the mid-1980s, McDermott & McGough were hugely successful. This is a compelling memoir for our time, told with humor and compassion.

Art critic Sebastian Smee tells the fascinating story of four pairs of artists--Manet and Degas, Picasso and Matisse, Pollock and de Kooning, Freud and Bacon--whose fraught, competitive friendships spurred them to new creative heights. Writing with the same exuberant wit and psychological insight that earned him a Pulitzer Prize for art criticism, Sebastian Smee explores here the way that coming into one's own as an artist--finding one's voice--almost always involves willfully breaking away from some intimate's expectations of who you are or ought to be.

The Artist as Culture Producer illustrates how today's contemporary artists add to creative economies through out-of-the-box thinking while also generously contributing to the well-being of others. By turns humorous, heartbreaking, and instructive, the testimonies of the forty diverse working artists will inspire and encourage every reader.

William Deresiewicz, the contemporary culture critic, argues that we are in the midst of an epochal transformation within art. Whereas the 19th century considered artists to be craftsmen and the 20th century treated them as professionals, artists today are uniquely dependent upon themselves. The internet, decreases in art funding and the growing prevalence of gig economies, has forced artists to become responsible for every aspect of their work, from conception to promotion, from sales to legacy.

Daily rituals of novelists, poets, playwrights, painters, philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians, who describe how they subtly maneuver the many (self-inflicted) obstacles and (self-imposed) daily rituals to get done the work they love to do.

This is a comprehensive guide to the complex world of public art. Learn how to find, apply for, compete for, and win a public art commission. First-hand interviews with experienced public artists and arts administrators provide in-the-trenches advice and insight. Packed with details on working with contracts, conflict, controversy, communities, committees, and more, The Artist's Guide to Public Art, 2nd Edition, shows artists how to cut through the red tape and win commissions that are rewarding both financially and artistically.

A fascinating tour of the last five decades of contemporary art in New York City, showing how artists are catalysts of gentrification and how neighborhoods in turn shape their art. This book takes the reader on a journey through the neighborhoods that shape, and are shaped by New York's ever-evolving art world. Based on interviews with over 150 gallery directors, and the artists themselves, art historian and cultural commentator Ann Fensterstock explores the genesis, expansion, maturation and ultimate restless migration of the New York art world from one initially undiscovered neighborhood to the next.

A bristling and brilliant memoir of the mid-twentieth-century New York School of painters and their times by the artist and critic Edith Schloss, who, from the early years, was a member of the group that shifted the center of the art world from Paris to New York. In The Loft Generation, Schloss creates a rare and irreplaceable up-close record of an era of artistic innovation and the colorful characters who made it happen.

One of the powers of art is its ability to convey the human aspects of political events, ranging from war to revolution to sexual liberation. Art can also transform society, a theme that pervades this survey on art, artists, and anarchism since the nineteenth century.

The author shows how a clear understanding of class makes sense of what is at stake in a broad number of contemporary art's most persistent debates, from definitions of political art to the troubled status of "outsider" and street art to the question of how we maintain faith in art itself.

In this inspiring collection of essays, writer and critic Olivia Laing makes a brilliant case for why art matters, especially in the turbulent political weather of the twenty-first century. With characteristic originality and compassion, She celebrates art as a force of resistance and repair, an antidote to a frightening political time. Laing argues that art changes how we see the world, and it offers fertile new ways of living.

Art & Fear explores the way art gets made, the reasons it often doesn't get made, and the nature of the difficulties that cause so many artists to give up along the way. The co-authors, Bayles and Orland, are working artists, grappling daily with the problems of making art in the real world. Their insights and observations, drawn from personal experience, provide an incisive view into the world of art as it is experienced by art makers themselves. This is not your typical self-help book. This is a book written by artists, for artists.

In May 2012, bestselling author Neil Gaiman delivered the commencement address at Philadelphia's University of the Arts, in which he shared his thoughts about creativity, bravery, and strength. He encouraged the fledgling painters, musicians, writers, and dreamers to break rules and think outside the box. The book Make Good Art, designed by renowned graphic artist Chip Kidd, contains the full text of Gaiman's inspiring speech.

From the first sparks of inspiration, and how to pursue them without giving in to self-doubt, art critic Jerry Saltz offers insight into what really matters to emerging artists: originality, persistence, a balance between knowledge and intuition, and that most precious of qualities, self-belief. Brimming with rules, prompts, and practical tips, How to Be an Artist gives artists ways to break through creative blocks, get the most from materials, navigate career challenges, and above all find joy in the work.

“Every work of art is the child of its age and, in many cases, the mother of our emotions. It follows that each period of culture produces an art of its own which can never be repeated.” --Wassily Kandinsky

In this practical guide, professional artist Lisa Congdon reveals the many ways you can earn a living by making art through illustration, licensing, fine art sales, print sales, teaching, and beyond. Including industry advice from successful art world pros this book will equip you with the tools and the confidence, to turn your passion into a profitable business.

Veteran art career professionals Angie Wojak and Stacy Miller show aspiring artists how to evaluate their goals, create a plan of action, and use their talents to build a productive life in the art world. Chapters cover topics such as building community through networking, collaborating, and finding mentors; setting up a studio; health and safety for artists; artist's resumes; developing marketing plans; finding alternative exhibition venues; and refining career aspirations.

A comprehensive reference for all artists, and a follow up to the best-selling Universal Principles of Design.

Daily Rituals, explores the daily obstacles and rituals of creative women including artists, painters, sculptors, filmmakers, and performers. We see how these brilliant minds get to work, the choices they have to make: rebuffing convention, stealing time from the pull of husbands, wives, children, obligations, in order to create their work. The rituals (daily and otherwise) guide them to summon up willpower and self-discipline, keeping themselves afloat with optimism and fight, as they create.

Guerrilla Girls is the first book to catalog the entire career of the Guerrilla Girls from 1985 to present. They are a collective of political feminist artists who expose discrimination and corruption in art, film, politics, and pop culture worldwide. This book explores all their provocative street campaigns, unforgettable media appearances, and large-scale exhibitions. Each copy comes with a punch-out gorilla mask that invites readers to step up and join the movement themselves.

Women Artists brings together twenty-nine essential essays from throughout Linda Nochlin's career, making this the definitive anthology of her writing about women in art. Included are her major thematic texts "Women Artists After the French Revolution,” "Starting from Scratch: The Beginnings of Feminist Art History," and the landmark essay and its rejoinder "'Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?'

The fifth edition of this updated and expanded volume is an in-depth resource guide for art students, aspiring artists, and professional artists who want to learn all there is to know about successfully navigating the world of art. Veteran art writer Daniel Grant weaves the words and experiences of dozens of practicing artists throughout the book to describe their real-life challenges and the solutions they found to overcome them.

Grow your art business with contact information for more than 1,800 art market resources, including galleries, magazines, book publishers, greeting card companies, ad agencies, syndicates, art fairs, also grants, residencies, organizations, publications, and websites that offer support and direction for visual artists as well as social media marketing, monitoring your copyright, and more.

This volume claims to reveal the truths hiding between the lines of Instagram-friendly aphorisms and behind the words of the most inspirational TED talks, as it looks at the reality of creativity and the joy and difficulty of crafting good (and bad) art.

The essential handbook for curators and curatorial students, mapping every stage of the process of organizing and mounting an exhibition, from initial idea to final installation, including advice and tips from a cast of international museum directors and curators.

Hans Ulrich Obrist curated his first exhibit in his kitchen when he was twenty-three years old. Since then he has staged more than 250 shows internationally, many of them among the most influential exhibits of our age. Ways of Curating is a compendium of the insights Obrist has gained from his years of extraordinary work in the art world.

The author explores the rise of the modern idea of the artist in the nineteenth century, a period that also witnessed the emergence of the museum and the professional critic. Treating these developments as interrelated, Siegel analyzes visual material and literary texts to portray a culture in which art came to be thought of in powerful new ways. This book reproduces a cultural matrix that brings to life the artistic passions and anxieties of an entire era.

Artist David Salle explores how art works as it it moves, informs, and challenges us. This collection of essays illuminates the work of many of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. He writes with humor and verve, replacing the jargon of art theory with precise and evocative descriptions that help readers develop a personal and intuitive engagement with art.

A crowd-sourced library of over 30,000 sketchbooks (and counting) submitted by people of all ages and backgrounds worldwide, and organized continent by continent, featuring the best and brightest work from hundreds of artists from 135 different countries, This volume reveals a unique and intimate look into the inner-creative workings of everyday people around the globe.

This publication helps readers work out what kind of artist they are and what they can achieve, combining thought- provoking meditation on art practice with practical exercises and creative prompts that encourage creativity and self-expression.

The author investigates the drama of a Christie's auction, the workings in Takashi Murakami's studios, the elite at Basel Art Fair, the eccentricities of Artforum magazine, the competition behind an important art prize, life in a notorious art-school seminar, and the wonderland of Venice Biennale. She reveals the dynamics of creativity, taste, status, and the search for meaning in life.

An evocative chronicle of the power of solitude in the natural world I'm often asked, but have no idea why I chose Iceland, why I first started going, why I still go. In truth I believe Iceland chose me. —Roni Horn

A classic work for artists of all kinds, about reconciling the call of creative work with the demands of daily life, now with a new introduction by Audrey Niffenegger. Beautifully written and a rare window on the workings of a creative mind, Daybook showcases an extraordinary artist whose insights generously and succinctly illuminate the artistic process. Listen to the podcast of author Miguel de Baca discussing his book Memory Work: Anne Truitt and Sculpture with the artist’s daughter Alexandra Truitt, in the Interviews & Podcasts section.

The Art Prophets introduces us to influential late twentieth-century dealers and tastemakers in the art world. These risk takers opened doors for artists, identified new movements, and resurrected art forms that had fallen into obscurity. Richard Polsky offers an engaging dialog between artists and the visionaries who paved their way.

After 30 years as an artist and entrepreneur, Frances Palmer has learned how to cultivate a life that brings out her best. Those years were rewarding and challenging, fruitful and fraught, and through it all, she discovered the things that matter most: determination, routine, prioritization, perseverance, and perspective. Her debut book is a manual for current and aspiring creatives.

So, what exactly do these people do on the job, day in and day out? What kind of skills and educational background do you need to succeed in these fields? How much can you expect to make, and what are the pros and cons of these various fields? Is this even the right career path for you? How do you avoid burnout and deal with stress? This book also includes interviews with professionals in a field that has proven to be a stable, lucrative, and growing profession.

Some artists find themselves frustrated and unable to sell paintings hanging in galleries, bogged down by projects they can't finish or abandon, and using excuses to avoid working in the studio. Carol Marine suffered from painter's block until she discovered "daily painting." In her debut book she reveals the tips and tricks that helped her and other daily painters pick to start creating marketable work.

The author addresses the scope of Modern Art, from its founding days as Abstract Expressionism through its transformations to Pop, Op, Minimal, and Conceptual.

Set amid the most turbulent social and political period of modern times, Ninth Street Women is the impassioned, wild, sometimes tragic, exhilarating chronicle of five women who dared to enter the male-dominated world of twentieth-century abstract painting -- not as muses but as artists. From their cold-water lofts, where they worked, drank, fought, and loved, these pioneers burst open the door to the art world for themselves and countless others to come.

In this collection of twenty-four remarkable interviews, and exclusive visual documentation of their studios, the prominent artists were asked a wide range of questions about their day-to-day creative life, covering everything from how they organize their studios to what painting tools they prefer. They open up about how they set a creative mood, how they choose titles, and more.

Featuring conversations with Bertram D. Wolfe and art critic Raquel Tibol, this collection shows an artist undervalued, but also a woman in control of her image. From a timid artist after her first solo show to a woman who confidently states that she is her only influence, the many faces of Frida Kahlo presented in these pages make clear the foundations of the 'Fridamania' we know today.

In Bad Boy, American artist Eric Fischl has written a penetrating, exploration of his coming of age as an artist, and his search for a fresh narrative style in the highly charged and competitive New York art world in the 1970s and 1980s. Courageously revealing as his most provocative paintings, Bad Boy takes readers on a roller coaster ride through the passion and politics of the art world.

A new selection of Vincent Van Gough's letters, based on an entirely new translation, revealing his religious struggles, his fascination with the French Revolution, his search for love and his involvement in humanitarian causes.

A revealing memoir and family history from photographer Sally Mann, and a unique interplay of narrative and image, Mann's preoccupation with family, race, mortality, and the storied landscape of the American South are revealed as almost genetically predetermined, written into her DNA by the family history that precedes her.