Considered to be one of Scotland’s leading figurative painters, Moyna Flannigan is known for her wry and penetrating observations on society. Her portrait miniatures reflect the styles, manners and culture of contemporary life. In this book Keith Hartley examines Flannigan’s paintings and discusses the artistic and social influences on her work. The illustrations are accompanied by poetic prose by award-winning Scottish writer Dilys Rose, which sets up an imaginative dialogue with the miniatures. ‘Dilys Rose is one of the most versatile writers in Scotland, as well as one of the best‘ – Douglas Dunn
This is the exceptionally rich story of Rembrandt’s fame and influence in Britain. No other nation has witnessed such a passionate – and sometimes eccentric – enthusiasm for Rembrandt’s works. His imagery has become ubiquitous, making him one of the most recognised artists in history. In this book, some of the world’s leading experts reveal how the taste for Rembrandt’s paintings, drawings and prints evolved, growing into a mania that gripped collectors and art lovers across the country. This reached a fever pitch in the late 1700s, before the dawn of a new century ushered in a re-evaluation of Rembrandt’s reputation and opportunities for the wider public to see his masterpieces for themselves.
The story of Rembrandt’s profound and inspirational impact on the British imagination is illustrated by over 130 sumptuous works by the master himself, as well as by some of Britain’s best-loved artists, including William Hogarth, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Eduardo Paolozzi and John Bellany.
Foreword; Introduction; 1 Rembrandt’s Fame in Britain, 1630 1900: An Overview- Christian Tico Seifert; 2 Rembrandt and Britain: The Modern Era – Patrick Elliott; 3 ‘The Finest Possible State’: Cataloguing and Collecting Rembrandt’s Prints, c.1700 1840 – Stephanie S. Dickey; 4 From Studio to Academy: Copying Rembrandt in Eighteenth-century Britain – Jonathan Yarker; 5 Regarding Rembrandt: Reynolds and Rembrandt – Donato Esposito; 6 Rembrandt: Paragon of the Etching Revival – Peter Black; 7 Rembrandt and Britain: A ‘Picture Flight’ in Three Stages, 1850 1930 – M.J. Ripps; Catalogue; Bibliography.
“‘The marvellous is always beautiful,’ reads a sign on the wall of the Scottish National Museum of Modern Art. This stirring slogan, by Andre Breton, from his Manifesto of Surrealism, sets the tone for this fascinating, mind expanding exhibition.” – BBC Arts “Outstanding… The finest spread of surrealist art – paintings and objects – to be seen in Britain since the momentous Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design show at the V&A in 2007.” – Sunday Times
This book brings together over 160 of the finest surrealist artworks by legendary artists including Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, René Magritte, Joan Miró and Man Ray. The works hail from the four renowned and extraordinary private collections of Edward James, Roland Penrose, Gabrielle Keiller and Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch, and together offer a superb overview of surrealist art. Ten essays explore the different origins, historical contexts and creative urges behind these collections. Artworks, perhaps more than anything else that one can acquire, are objects of desire and surrealist artworks even more so. The sheer quality of the works acquired (and, in the case of the Pietzsches, still being acquired) is astonishing and, while passionate about their private visions, all the collectors have been mindful of contributing something to the public good. The collections complement each other to an extraordinary degree and allow us to follow some of the artists’ careers from beginning to end. By uniting them, exciting new juxtapositions emerge along with a fuller and richer picture of the surrealist movement as a whole.
“The richness of the illustrations in this larger format enables us to better appreciate the intricacy of her illuminated manuscripts, the tonal subtleties of Traquair’s tooled leather book bindings and the processional scale of her muraled interiors.” — Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History
A fully updated and expanded edition of the definitive study of Phoebe Anna Traquair.
This is a compelling account of the life and career of Phoebe Anna Traquair, a leading figure in Britain’s Arts and Crafts movement. The new edition features new research about her artistic practice, materials and technique as well as her intellectual life, including her correspondence with John Ruskin. Her total commitment to the place of art in her daily life is revealed alongside new details on her family and social life.
Traquair was remarkable for her openness to all types of art, and worked in a range of media including embroidery, enamels, illuminated manuscripts and murals. This new edition features 120 illustrations including new discoveries, as well as some of her most famous and best-loved works.
Beautifully illustrated and featuring the artist’s own words, this book is at once a fascinating biography and an artistic study of one of Scotland’s first professional women artists.
A full-size facsimile of John Ruskin’s as yet unpublished book of pressed plants with notes, collected and compiled by Ruskin during 1844 from the mountains and forests around Chamonix, France. This rare example of a herbier to be reproduced and published is accompanied with a second volume of notes and commentary. Here, Ruskin’s full, scientific explanations are fully commented on in the light of modern botanical knowledge.
Professors David Ingram and Stephen Wildman provide an introduction, illuminating essays and detailed notes and commentary on Ruskin’s herbier.
Gertrude Vernon, or Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, was an English woman who married a Scot. The American artist John Singer Sargent excelled as a painter in Europe. His portrait of Lady Agnew was painted in London but has found its definitive home in Edinburgh. All these contexts converge in a supremely beautiful painting which is one the icons of the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland.
Created in the 1890s, it proved to be a seminal work in the lives of the artist and his subject and has enjoyed a rich afterlife, inspiring artistic and written responses. This book offers a fascinating biography of this most accomplished, evocative and admired of portraits, placing it in the context of Sargent’s career and how he worked, discussing the life of the sitter and unveiling the picture’s rich critical history.
Leaving behind a comprehensive archive, Alfred Buckham wrote in detail about his exploits, including his nine crashes and how, to get the best images, he would stand up while flying in an open biplane, tying his right leg to the seat with a scarf, in order to loop the loop in ‘perfect safety’.
But dive a little deeper and there is an even more interesting story – how he created these unbelievable photographs. Using a combination of different negatives, Buckham used his skills in the darkroom to craft stunning images that capture the experience of flight but with a little extra drama.
Published to accompany the first major exhibition of Alfred Buckham’s work, this book draws on the photographer’s archive, held by his grandsons, and exciting new acquisitions made by the National Galleries of Scotland including the camera he took to the skies and a selection of the negatives used to craft his most celebrated images.
Los Angeles has so much to offer, and this guide helps you to choose where to start when discovering this beautiful city. Where are the best farmers’ markets? Which street foods are not to be missed? What are the liveliest places to go dancing? What are some unlikely places to spot celebrities? Which art galleries are worth a visit? In The 500 Hidden Secrets of Los Angeles, Andrea Richards shares 500 must-know addresses in one of the coolest cities in the United States. It is an affectionate guide to the City of Angels that avoids the touristy places and points out the urban details you are likely to miss. From the best outdoor concert venues to the most beautiful country escapes, this guide is the perfect companion visitors who want to make the most of their stay and residents who want to get to know their city even better.
Also available: The 500 Hidden Secrets of Miami, The 500 Hidden Secrets of New York, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Toronto, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Vancouver and many more. Discover the series: the500hiddensecrets.com
“The 230 beautifully rendered black & white images in the book provide a compelling tour of America’s wild places and national parks, from Yosemite and Yellowstone to Death Valley and Utah’s Canyonlands to the Hudson Valley in New York and beyond.” — Black & White Photography
“From towering redwoods in California to the remote canyons of Utah, his work shows us not just what these places look like, but what they feel like to those who dare to go.” — About Photography
“Ortner’s use of black-and-white film and large-format cameras for Visions of Paradise unveils the true essence of the natural world. By peeling away color, he forces us to immerse ourselves more deeply and see anew America’s breathtaking sites through the purified language of light and shadow, form and texture, shape and pattern…” — VIE Magazine
“… a photographic masterpiece celebrating the extraordinary majesty and rich legacy of America’s wild places, as seen through the eyes of one of the country’s foremost wilderness photographers, Jon Ortner, and conveyed through the transcendent medium of black-and-white film.” — Dodho Magazine
Visions of Paradise: American Wilderness is a singular, timeless publication—a photographic tour de force celebrating the extraordinary majesty and rich legacy of America’s wild places, as seen through the eyes of one of the country’s foremost wilderness photographers, Jon Ortner, and conveyed through the transcendent medium of black-and-white film. Ortner has always been fascinated with the natural world, particularly as an avid hiker in the American wilderness. This luxurious book collects in a large format his inspiring landscape images, forming a passionate tribute to the American wilderness. In this sensational portfolio of 200 black-and-white images, Ortner has rediscovered and reinterpreted the compelling beauty of many of his most cherished wilderness locations with remarkable portrayals of their sublime, dramatic, tranquil, and transcendent aspects. Join Ortner as he guides us through his visions of paradise.
Where’s the best place to go out on a Saturday night in Barcelona? What off-beat museums can be discovered after Sunday brunch (and where to have it)? Which locations offer the best viewpoints of the Catalan capital? What Gaudí buildings are essential? Where does Barcelona’s modernism reach its zenith? Where to take the children? What’s the best place to buy wine? And where do the locals hang out? The 500 Hidden Secrets of Barcelona reveals hundreds of good-to-know addresses, avoiding the touristy places and pointing out the urban details you are likely to miss. Mark Cloostermans, a Belgian journalist living in Barcelona, unlocks the various districts, pointing out historical details in the streets of the old town, taking you from green Montjuïc hill to the beach and back. The best places to eat halal, the must-visits for Barça fans and the various festivals you can plan your visit around: The 500 Hidden Secrets of Barcelona reveals it all.
Alfredo Häberli, who was born in Buenos Aires in 1964 and has been working from Zurich since the 1980s, is one of the world’s most widely acclaimed product designers. Major international brands such as BMW, Camper, Georg Jensen, Iittala, Luceplan, Moroso, Schiffini, or Vitra are among his clients, for whom he has designed furniture, lamps, objects, tableware, or even entire interiors. Häberli’s work has been shown in numerous exhibitions throughout Europe and has earned him many awards over the years.
In the first of this book’s two volumes, Häberli looks back at the people, places, and objects that have influenced him and shaped his ideas and creative process. He tells of his visits with the great Italian designers, the British and American role models influencing him, and about inspiring exchanges with colleagues such as Konstantin Grcic, Jasper Morrison, or Patricia Urquiola. Moreover, his encounters with visionary entrepreneurs, and the places, locations, and objects that forged his understanding of design come into focus through text and images.
For the second volume, Häberli invited 30 personalities from his circle to ask him one question each, which he answers frankly and in good humour. These personalities include fellow designers, architects, critics, journalists, and creative directors such as Stephen Bayley, Tyler Brûlé, Francesca Molteni, and Alice Rawsthorn.
“If you really want to get under the skin of a city, the 500 Hidden Secrets series, which covers a number of cities from Havana to Ghent, all written by people who know the cities inside out, is ideal. It’s an innovative and refreshing take on the traditional travel guide.”– The Independent
Discover the city’s best-kept secrets, with this practical guide to Antwerp’s most beautiful, interesting and often unknown places. This book takes you off the beaten track to discover the city’s hidden gardens, small museums and intimate coffee bars. On its pages you will find the 5 best places to eat frites, the 5 most secret courtyards and the 5 best independent record shops in town. It also guides you to some of the more unusual experiences that you can track down in Antwerp. So you can find out where to eat the best dim sum in Chinatown, sample a chocolate flavoured with fried bacon, or dance the night away. The aim of this book is not to cover the city from A to Z, but to inspire; it is a guide to the places the author would recommend to a friend who wants to discover the real Antwerp.
The 500 Hidden Secrets of Antwerp offers a practical way to explore Antwerp’s finest places, and Derek Blyth covers all bases to ensure no visitor to the city is ever anything short of captivated. Packed with accessible, easy-to-read information summarised in handy lists, maps, itineraries, sections on food & drink, accommodation, green spaces, museums, galleries and shops; this guide is an essential resource for the inquisitive traveller.
Architecture, as a discipline and a profession, is facing several crises, which, as yet, it has by no means successfully overcome. The basic hypothesis of the Cosmowomen project is that fully incorporating women into the professional and academic field of architecture would generate new places for thought and attention on the part of professionals or consolidate and expand those that exist, while also intensifying the relationships between those ‘places of thought’, producing a kind of constellation.
The exhibition incorporates the work of 65 women architects who have taken the master’s degree programme at the Bartlett School of Architecture in the past ten years, showing a total of 71 projects and including 283 images. The architects are of more than 20 different nationalities and have been tutored by 22 tutors, 50% of them women, who also come from a wide variety of backgrounds in cultural terms and professional experience.
The exhibition catalogue includes texts by 20 women architects or professionals in related fields, all with outstanding academic records.
Architects: Ana Alonso, Anna Andronova, Christia Angelidou, Felicity Barbur, Justine Bell, Paddi Alice Benson, Christine Bjerke, Romina Canna, Emma Louise Carter, Nicola Chan, Doville Ciapaite, Freya Cobbin, Charlotte Cole, Emma Colthurst, Malina Dabrowska, Naomi De Barr, Emily Doll, Sarah Earney, Sara Firth, Karen A. Frank, Maria Auxiliadora Galvez, Masha Gerzon, Naomi Gibson, Cristina Goberna Pesudo, Faye Greenwood, Lola Haines, Penelope Haralambidou, Bijou Harding, Alice Hardy, Janis Ho, Helena Howard, Sarah Izod, Niki-Marie Jansson, Johanna Just, Gintare Kapociute, Minghui Ke, Fanny Kostorou, Le (Lulu) Li, Ifigeneia Liangi, Ting Jui (Brook) Lin, Marjut Lisco, Shi Yin Ling, Emily Martin, Sara Martinez Zamora, Lauren McNicoll, Heba Mohsen, Alex Mok, Ness Lafoy, Hoy Lei (Kerri) Ngan, Charlotte Page, Jiao Peng, Barbara Penner, Sylwia Poltorak, Sophia Psarra, Katherine Ramchand, Ellie Sampson, Julia Schuetz, Katt Scoot, Maïté Seimetz, Tania Sengupta, Rose Shaw, Faustyna Smolilo, Elin Soderberg, Catrina Stewart, Paula Strunden, Yan Ting (Lorraine), Stefania Tsigkouni, Yinghao Wang, Angeline Wee, Izabela Wieckzorek, Kate Woodcock Fowles, Feng Yang, Siyuan (Amy) Yao, Venessa Yau, See (Phyllis) Yu, Mika Zacarias.
Text in English and Italian.
An Architect’s Address Book is memoir in 18 chapters of the places Robert Lemon has lived, studied, and worked over the past six decades. Some are of places that he has visited many times and are important to his career.
Studying architecture and conservation, Lemon has lived in Ottawa, Paris, London, Rome, and York. His work has involved projects in Vancouver, Los Angeles, Dorset, the High Arctic, and Xi’an. Other stories are about visiting the buildings of Andrea Palladio and Carlo Scarpa in the Veneto, Arne Jacobsen and Kay Fisker in Denmark, and five iconic 20th-century houses in France, in company of colleagues.
Most of the chapters focus on someone influential to Lemon’s career; and his vast interest in food is a thread through most stories.
“I have been photographing the world’s sacred places since 1979. My lifelong theme in the photography is “beauty of impermanence”. I find a beauty in flower, as its life is only several days and can see the change every day. Even the stone monuments of sacred places, after a few thousand years, it starts to turn into sands just by natural elements, sun, wind and rain. I find it beautiful. People’s life is somewhat short, and knowing there is a limit of life, I see people shine within the time. As if the time polish a stone into a jewel. I see the same with people. My photographs in this show and a book, is a homage to a beautiful life“. – Kenro Izu
Kenro Izu (Osaka, 1949) is a Japanese-born photographer based in the United States. Since 1979 began his serious professional commitment to his fine art photography, travelling the world to capture the sacred ancient stone monuments in their natural settings. He travelled and documented Egypt, Syria, Jordan, England, Scotland, Mexico, France and Easter Island (Chile). He has also focused on Buddhism and Hindu monuments in South East Asia: Cambodia, Burma, Indonesia, Vietnam and India.
Sites featured include the Pyramids of Giza, Egypt; Stonehenge, UK; Petra, Jordan; Pyramid of Niches, Mexico; Easter Island, Chile; Angkor, Cambodia; Hampi, India; Machu Pichu, Peru; Mount Kailash, Tibet; and Tamshing, Bhutan.
Text in English and Italian.
Whisky is a story. Whisky is many stories. This book brings together the most surprising anecdotes from the world of whisky and is therefore the perfect addition to other books on distilling, tasting and travelling. Enjoy heart-warming tales about secret recipes, haunted castles, hidden distilleries, generous drunks and the first whisky tourist, and discover aspects about whisky that you’ll never find in any other book. For almost 40 years, whisky enthusiast Fernand Dacquin has been travelling through this wonderful world of whisky, in search of the most striking stories and images. Now he turns those experiences into 111 stories, in his own tongue-in-cheek style. The result is a wonderfully unusual book, published in a practical format that leaves one hand free for a good glass of whisky.
Dive into the world of fishing with the first coffee table book on the subject in the successful Ultimate Book series. This photo book not only presents the history and basic knowledge of fishing but also showcases the diverse equipment from rods to reels, hooks to baits. Learn about various techniques such as spin fishing, fly fishing, and float and bottom fishing, all illustrated with stunning photographs. Embark on a journey to the most popular target fish such as Atlantic Salmon, Brown Trout, Brook Trout, European Perch, Black Bass, Northern Pike, Musky, Carp (Mirror and Common), while being enchanted by dream destinations for anglers. Explore the pristine lakes and rivers that make every angler’s heart beat faster. Of course, the obligatory fisherman’s tales must not be missing, bringing to life stories of the biggest catches and unforgettable experiences by the water. Overall, this photo book is not just a book but a way of life that captures the passion and magic of fishing in every line. An absolute must-have and the ideal gift for all who are captivated by the fascinating world of fishing.
“David Mellor …was the outstanding British flatware designer of the last century and a remarkable man who … understood, and insisted upon, the essential relationship between making things and designing them” Stephen Bayley, The Guardian
“Britain’s most serious, modest and greatest post-war product designer” Sir Terence Conran David
Mellor: Design is an introduction to the designer, his works and his importance within the British design landscape, post 1950. The wider world knows him for his cutlery, which although exquisite and important, is the tip of the iceberg. To see Mellor as ‘just’ a cutlery designer is to miss his depth: his love of public projects, street furniture or Church commissions. But then to see Mellor as ‘just’ a designer is to miss his influence as a patron of architecture, or his passion for retailing and promoting British crafts. He may be the ‘King of cutlery’ but that is just the beginning.
David Mellor (1930-2009) began his career at the RCA, developing sophisticated yet simple aesthetics which he displayed through his silver smithing. His cutlery continued in the Sheffield tradition whilst using some technologically advanced manufacturing methods and radically modern designs. He also designed public street furniture in the 50s and 60s which pulled Britain’s streets into the modern era. During the late 1960s he opened a shop in Sloane Square, London. His work as a retailer helped introduce the highest professional design standards into our equipment for cooking with and eating with. It followed the trail led by Elizabeth David, introducing continental cuisine to the country, a development that today seems so natural. Beautifully and comprehensively illustrated, this book opens up the wonderful work of David Mellor to a wider audience.
The Design series is the winner of the Brand/Series Identity Category at the British Book Design and Production Awards 2009, judges said: “A series of books about design, they had to be good and these are. The branding is consistent, there is a good use of typography and the covers are superb.”
Also available: Claud Lovat Fraser ISBN: 9781851496631 GPO ISBN: 9781851495962 Peter Blake ISBN: 9781851496181 FHK Henrion ISBN: 9781851496327 David Gentleman ISBN: 9781851495955 E.McKnight Kauffer ISBN: 9781851495207 Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious ISBN: 9781851495009 El Lissitzky ISBN: 9781851496198 Festival of Britain 1951 ISBN: 9781851495337 Harold Curwen & Oliver Simon: Curwen Press ISBN: 9781851495719 Jan Le Witt and George Him ISBN: 9781851495665 Paul Nash and John Nash ISBN: 9781851495191 Rodchenko ISBN: 9781851495917 Abram Games ISBN: 9781851496778
“I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I cannot wait to visit Upton Grey to see the garden for myself.” Garden Design Journal
Gertrude Jekyll was perhaps the most important British garden designer of the 20th century. She famously argued that gardening ought to be considered a Fine Art, highlighting that it becomes a point of honour to be always striving for the best. This volume examines Jekyll’s work at Manor House, Upton Grey in Hampshire, offering an insight into her eclectic, imaginative, and inspiring art. Designed between 1908 and 1909, and once maintained by as many as nine gardeners, the garden fell into disrepair by the second half of the twentieth century, before a full and accurate restoration was carried out in the early 1980s.
Gertrude Jekyll: Her Art Restored at Upton Grey presents a visual record of the garden’s plants and layout, with original plans and photographs, as well as beautiful images of the garden taken since its restoration. There is also a fascinating chapter about Miss Jekyll’s discovery, admiration and use of Mediterranean plants. The book succeeds in illustrating exactly why Jekyll was so admired in her lifetime and why she continues to inspire and influence gardeners today.
Contents: Introduction Chapter 1: The Garden from 1902 to the Start of its Restoration in 1984 Chapter 2: The Rose Garden Chapter 3: The Dry-Stone Walls Chapter 4: The Main Herbaceous Borders Chapter 5: The Pergola, the Rose Arbour and Surrounding Garden Chapter 6: Miss Gertrude Jekyll’s Mediterranean travels and plant discoveries and their use at Upton Grey Chapter 7: The Wild Garden Chapter 8: The Art Completed Also available: The English Garden Through the Twentieth Century ISBN: 9781870673297
Julien Saudubray graduated in 2012 from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and since then has exhibited in Belgium, France, Italy and England.
This young artist excels in experimenting. After a few detours, a synthesis of his painting has now developed into a practice that he calls mechanistic. Between abstract and figurative, he continues to work on images, constantly adding layers and colours while at the same time also removing them, with the subjective being reduced to a minimum. As he says: ‘With each brushstroke I hesitate between excitement and boredom as I observe myself while painting as an absurd machine programmed according to the Beckettian formula “To miss more, to miss better”.’
Together with gallery Waldburger Wouters, Uitgeverij Snoeck found the time for a first overview of his work in a book with a challenging design. An artist’s book, but not only. With texts by Louma Salamé, director of the Fondation Boghossian and by Claire Leblanc, director of the Elsene Museum.
Text in English and French.
From his childhood in Melbourne, David Neilson (b. 1946) has been motivated by his twin loves of mountaineering and photography. He has made multiple expeditions to southwest Tasmania, Patagonia, and Antarctica, and published critically acclaimed photo books about each of these places; he has also carried his camera into the Karakoram, and the Alps of Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. In this oversize volume, Neilson recounts his lifelong quest to capture the mountain light and encourage the preservation of wild places. His most spectacular images of jagged peaks, massive glaciers, and hardy wildlife are reproduced as duotones of the highest quality. A number of vertical double-page images even invite readers to turn the book sideways to immerse themselves in the mountain heights. Chasing the Mountain Light will delight all lovers of the outdoors.
“A collection of glamorous lodgings offering what Scarabeo Camp in Morocco calls “dusty luxury.” — Remodelista
“Celebrates the solitude of the desert and extraordinary places to stay.” — Wallpaper
The desert offers the great benefits of silence, slowness and space. These startling landscapes and awe-inspiring vistas can only be found in a few places in the world. Accompanied by stunning photography, this book bundles together 40 dreamy locations in one volume and shows the most luxurious and special overnight stays the desert has to offer. Get insider tips on travel to the Sahara in Morocco, the salt flats (Salar de Uyuni) in Bolivia or the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, among others.
What are the best burger joints in San Francisco? Which local craft breweries are worth visiting? Where should you go to find the coolest surf gear? The 500 Hidden Secrets of San Francisco is the perfect guide for anyone who’s keen to explore the city’s best-kept secrets. It guides the reader to the places not typically included in tourist guides. Like a secret fairy door in Golden Gate Park or the truly steepest hills in the city. At the same time, it also lists fantastic places frequented by San Francisco residents, like where to shop for local goods and antiques, or where to go for a fabulous brunch and the best craft cocktails in the city. Packed with hundreds of places to go, things to do, and good-to-know facts about the city, The 500 Hidden Secrets of San Francisco will help you make the most of your visit to one of the United States’ coolest towns.
Discover the series at the500hiddensecrets.com
“Changing the Commons reveals fresh thinking and a strong philosophical grounding in what makes a successful place; it is destined to be a seminal work on the art of placemaking.” — Emily H. Axelrod, Former Director at Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence
“The design of the book and the inclusion of excellent photographs, maps, and landscape plans are all outstanding. It is a tribute to his work and a gift not only to his grandchildren, but to all of us who enjoy the ’Commons’.” — Joe McBride, Emeritus Professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at the University of California at Berkeley
The intense social and environmental fervour that arose in the 1960s and 1970s in response to assaults on the planet’s life support systems, degradation of communities, and socio-economic inequality unleashed revolutionary change at all levels of society. Out of the turmoil of that era, community-based ecological design emerged as a powerful creative force for reshaping the commons, bringing people together, and forming ecologically sustainable relationships with the environment. The stories in this book reveal how the revolution has played out in reconceiving public places in the landscape of every-day life in northern California. The text focuses on the broad human, social, environmental, and cultural aspects of place-making to create liveable, inclusive, sustainable, and treasured spaces. The aesthetic experience of each place is revealed through photos, diagrams, sketches, and plans. Success stories like these offer hope, so sorely needed, for dealing with the seemingly insurmountable current assaults on earth’s life support systems.