SchoolArts - March 2009

Resource Center
Books, Software, and Websites

Children’s Book Briefs
Ken Marantz
Edward Hopper: Painter of Light and
Shadow. Susan Goldman Rubin.
New York: Abrams, 2007. Illus.,
hardcover, 48 pp., $18.95.

Susan Goldman Rubin integrates an appealing anecdotal text with many reproductions of artwork by Edward Hopper, as well as a few by artists who influenced his work. The story traces Hopper’s evolution as an artist and the development of his visual imagination. We see his growing interest in such architectural features as mansard roofs, his focus on solitary figures, and the dominance of light and shadows. We discover Hopper’s working methods and the long period of time devoted to single works in both watercolors and oils. Rubin provides useful contextual information, and the finely reproduced paintings offer incentive for us to seek out the original works. Several pages of reference information make this book valuable for middle school and older readers.

Wanda Gág: The Girl Who Lived to
Draw. Deborah Kogan Ray. New
York, NY: Penguin, 2008. Illus.,
hardcover, 40 pp., $16.99.

We know Wanda Gág primarily through Millions of Cats, a picture-book created in 1929 and a winner of that year’s Newbery Award. Now Deborah Kogan Ray offers us a chance to understand the motivations and

complexities of Gág’s life through an anecdotal and appealing text accompanied by full-page pastel drawings. The book peeks into Gág’s diary, which describes her need “to draw and paint forever.” This energy, despite family hardships, paid off gradually with such tasks as making greeting cards and newspaper illustrations. The book follows Gág through her art school education in New York City, which eventually earned her a solo exhibition and a contract for a book based on an old German fairy tale. Ray’s detailed pictures are naturalistic and carefully crafted to provide a feeling for turn-of-the-nineteenth-cen-tury-interiors and street scenes. This book is enough stimulus to get readers of all ages to the library to investigate and enjoy the inventiveness of Gág’s drawings.

—Ken Marantz is professor emeritus of art education at Ohio State University.

Bookmarks
Cindy Hasio
Color Is Everything. Dan Bartges.
Richmond, VA: The Oaklea Press,
2008. Illus., softcover, 96 pp., $14.99.

This colorful book uses various paintings and photographs to impart practical knowledge of color to the reader. Descriptions include how to manage color and how to observe color harmony in any oil, acrylic, or watercolor painting. Author-artist Dan Bartges uses examples of his own work to describe how he improved his paintings by changing the colors.

The book includes a list of materials, color basics, and color schemes.

The author then uses a question-and-answer format for examples of paintings and gives his insights and observations. Reading the answer pages will allow the reader to critique the work and observe color in detail. Bartges’s studio tips help readers learn how to study color, and he includes a glossary of color terms. Readers will enjoy being motivated to learn more about colors and how to apply them to art.

Research in Art & Design Education: Issues and Exemplars. Edited by Richard Hickman. Chicago, IL: Intellect Books, 2008. Hardcover, 206 pp., $50.00.

The chapters in this book discuss and describe a broad range of topics in art education that explore the pedagogical components and analysis of different approaches to research in art education. Each chapter critically examines how art and design is taught in schools. Chapters include ethnographic research, politics of art education reform, practice-based research, early development of artistic creativity, pluralistic approaches to art education, narratives, and cross-cultural studies. This book is helpful for teachers interested in improving and advocating art instruction, as it summarizes the role of creativity in enhancing learning processes. Any art student, teacher, or researcher can appreciate this book for its efforts to promote and facilitate critical thinking.