Archive for the 'Book' Category

At Large: Reviewing the Arts in South Africa

Published on January 24, 2012 in Book, Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

At Large: Reviewing the Arts in South Africa by Christopher Thurman is now available as part of  The Arts in Society series.

As a ‘critic at large’, Chris Thurman has engaged with the work of theatre practitioners, musicians, dancers, visual artists and writers from across the South African arts spectrum. In this collection of journalistic essays, reviews and interviews produced over the course of five years, he not only explores the role of the arts – and the challenges facing artists – in a country still completing its transition to democracy, but also asks provocative questions about a range of social and political issues. Informed by an awareness of South Africa’s complex cultural history/histories, At Large offers a snapshot (or, rather, a series of snapshots) of the arts in the country during the early years of the twenty-first century, providing insight into the production and reception of both ‘local’ and ‘global’ artistic phenomena.

Chris Thurman teaches at the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg) and contributes to various publications as arts critic, political commentator and travel writer. His other books are Sport versus Art: A South African Contest, Guy Butler: Reassessing a South African Literary Life and Text Bites: South African Poems, Plays, Stories and Non-fiction.

Creating a Better Place to Live: The Argument for Craft Education

Published on January 16, 2012 in Book and Newsletter. 0 Comments

Creating a Better Place to Live: The Argument for Craft Education by Howard Cannatella is now available as part of  The Arts in Society series.

Where would we be without the movements that corroborate our feelings and desires and make a practical difference in our lives? In a timely fashion, this book challenges our understanding of craft activity. Creating a Better Place to Live: The Argument for Craft Education reads as a social critique that champions the culture and relevance of this practice in a refreshing way. A redefined account of craft activity is given, while different positions are postulated as to its role. This book asserts that the teaching, professional practice, and policy making of craft activity needs to change in order to benefit society in a more constructive manner. Far from being just an adjunct to production requirements and a slave to economic conceptions of life, the theory, history, and contemporary practice of craft activity can be utilized considerately to create a better environment for us all. The delights, hard hitting conceptions, foibles, and intelligence of craft work are debated. This discourse argues that craft activity is vital for living well and is a voice of freedom, common observation, collective effort, and reason that can affect our social cohesion, sympathetic unity, independence, and passions in life.

Dr Howard Cannatella is a teacher and philosopher in art education and a practising artist and designer. He lives in British Columbia, Canada with his wife Kirsten and their three children

Creating a Better Place to Live: The Argument for Craft Education

Published on December 16, 2011 in Book, Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

 

Creating a Better Place to Live: The Argument for Craft Education by Howard Cannatella is now available as part of  The Arts in Society series.

Where would we be without the movements that corroborate our feelings and desires and make a practical difference in our lives? In a timely fashion, this book challenges our understanding of craft activity. Creating a Better Place to Live: The Argument for Craft Education reads as a social critique that champions the culture and relevance of this practice in a refreshing way. A redefined account of craft activity is given, while different positions are postulated as to its role. This book asserts that the teaching, professional practice, and policy making of craft activity needs to change in order to benefit society in a more constructive manner. Far from being just an adjunct to production requirements and a slave to economic conceptions of life, the theory, history, and contemporary practice of craft activity can be utilized considerately to create a better environment for us all. The delights, hard hitting conceptions, foibles, and intelligence of craft work are debated. This discourse argues that craft activity is vital for living well and is a voice of freedom, common observation, collective effort, and reason that can affect our social cohesion, sympathetic unity, independence, and passions in life.

Dr Howard Cannatella is a teacher and philosopher in art education and a practising artist and designer. He lives in British Columbia, Canada with his wife Kirsten and their three children

Leading the Creative Mind

Published on November 24, 2011 in Book and Newsletter. 0 Comments

Leading the Creative Mind by Anthony Lake is now available as part of The Organization series.

Bringing together creative people to develop fresh, new, innovative ideas and to propel a business forward is challenging work. It isn’t enough to simply follow policy and procedure, or to gently nudge creative people toward success. It takes strength, courage, and insight into how creative people work, live, and respond.

Creative Leadership expert Anthony Lake unravels the mystery of the creative employee by using simple yet elegant cases in business and the arts to frame this practical guide for Leading the Creative Mind. Born from his executive work with arts organizations, his consulting, and his leadership research, Lake creates a series of exercises designed to strengthen skills for leading creative individuals. The focus is on four key pillars for success:

  1. Reflecting and Engaging Sensitively with Creative People
  2. Designing Effective Creativity Teams
  3. Developing and Addressing Real Challenges
  4. Fixing Ailing Work Groups

This is a guide for keeping inspired, balancing innovation with effective communication, and collaborating from a position of leadership.

Anthony Lake has over two decades of leadership experience in the nonprofit sector, focused specifically on the arts, including as Executive Director of a Tony Award© nominated theater. As a scholar, his recent research on the leadership of creative people and how to teach it has been published in numerous international journals.

Call for Book Reviewers

Published on October 28, 2011 in Book and Newsletter. 0 Comments Tags: .

Common Ground Publishing is seeking distinguished peer reviewers to evaluate book manuscripts submitted to The Arts in Society Book Series.

As part of our commitment to intellectual excellence and a rigorous review process, Common Ground sends book manuscripts that have received initial editorial approval to peer reviewers to further evaluate and provide constructive feedback. The comments and guidance that these reviewers supply is invaluable to our authors and an essential part of the publication process.

Common Ground recognizes the important role of referees by acknowledging book reviewers as members of  The Arts in Society Book Series Editorial Review Board for a period of at least one year. The list of members of the Editorial Review Board will be posted on our website. In addition, Common Ground also offers a US$200 voucher for each completed review which meets the standards set out by the Commissioning Editor at the commencement of assignment. Vouchers may be used in the Common Ground Bookstore or for registration at one of our international conferences.

If you would like to referee book manuscripts submitted to The Arts in Society please email:

  1. a brief description of your professional credentials
  2. a list of your areas of interest and expertise
  3. a copy of your CV with current contact details

If we feel you are qualified and we require refereeing for manuscripts within your purview, we will contact you.

A Comparative Analysis of French Postmodern Art Theorists

Published on August 13, 2011 in Book and Newsletter. 0 Comments

The End of Art: A Comparative Analysis of French Postmodern Art Theorists by Marie-Thérèse Killiam is now available as part of  The Arts in Society series.

The book studies the demystification of art in the 20th century by a variety of contemporary French authors, from sociologists to philosophers, who commented on the meaning and function of art. Most of these writers who are famous in their own disciplines for their innovative ideas, share an interest in art criticism, which channels their particular philosophies and esthetic interests. Postmodern theorists like Duve and Bourdieu see art as social posturing and a manifestation of cultural fetishism in this age of the “n’importe quoi.” Mathematician philosopher Michel Serres and psychoanalyst semiotician Kristeva share an interest in similar Renaissance paintings. All postmodern writers who choose to comment on art turn to masters of past time, who illustrate best their personal esthetics. This choice also reveals their indifference, if not aversion, for contemporary art, in which most see and deplore the death of art, culture, and history today. Such reluctance at looking at the contemporary esthetic expressions of the human condition also explains their own similar stylistic expression, which is frequently morose in character, and often apocalyptic in tone and content.

The End of Art

Published on July 13, 2011 in Book, Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

The End of Art: A Comparative Analysis of French Postmodern Art Theorists by Marie-Thérèse Killiam is now available as part of  The Arts in Society series.

The book studies the demystification of art in the 20th century by a variety of contemporary French authors, from sociologists to philosophers, who commented on the meaning and function of art. Most of these writers who are famous in their own disciplines for their innovative ideas, share an interest in art criticism, which channels their particular philosophies and esthetic interests. Postmodern theorists like Duve and Bourdieu see art as social posturing and a manifestation of cultural fetishism in this age of the “n’importe quoi.” Mathematician philosopher Michel Serres and psychoanalyst semiotician Kristeva share an interest in similar Renaissance paintings. All postmodern writers who choose to comment on art turn to masters of past time, who illustrate best their personal esthetics. This choice also reveals their indifference, if not aversion, for contemporary art, in which most see and deplore the death of art, culture, and history today. Such reluctance at looking at the contemporary esthetic expressions of the human condition also explains their own similar stylistic expression, which is frequently morose in character, and often apocalyptic in tone and content.

Understanding Maria Irene Fornes’ Theatre

Published on December 8, 2010 in Book and Newsletter. 1 Comment

Understanding Maria Irene Fornes’ Theatre by Mala Renganathan is now available from The Arts in Society imprint.

Understanding Maria Irene Fornes’ Theatre is a full-length critical study of Maria Irene Fornes’ plays and her dramaturgy. Maria Irene Fornes, a well-known New York – based Cuban-American dramaturge, is a versatile artist blending in her productions her talent and experience as a playwright, director, drama teacher, painter and costume designer. Despite her colossal contribution to theatre – with nine Off Broadway awards given by the Village Voice, several other prestigious award, forty plays performed worldwide and also several directorial ventures – she occupies a marginalized place in American theatre.

This book on Fornes primarily aims to discuss several rarely researched aspects of Fornes’ theatre. While the book initially started as a research monograph, it has now grown into a book based on the author’s extensive research on Fornes’ theatre, gathering evidences from video-recorded plays, viewed performances, and interviews with her theatre group.

Series: The Arts in Society

Published on August 31, 2010 in Book and Newsletter. 0 Comments Tags: .

We are accepting book proposals for the imprint The Arts in Society.

Common Ground is setting new standards of rigorous academic knowledge creation and scholarly publication.

Unlike other publishers, we’re not interested in the size of potential markets or competition from other books. We’re only interested in the intellectual quality of the work.

If your book is a brilliant contribution to a specialist area of knowledge that only serves a small intellectual community, we still want to publish it. If it is expansive and has a broad appeal, we want to publish it too, but only if it is of the highest intellectual quality.

Between Grace and Fear: The Role of the Arts in a Time of Change

Published on August 23, 2010 in Book and Newsletter. 0 Comments

grace-and-fear-v4Between Grace and Fear: The Role of the Arts in a Time of Change by William Cleveland and Patricia Shifferd is now available from The Arts in Society imprint.

This book is a series of interviews with social theorists and scholars, philanthropists, scientists, theologians, artists, community development and community arts activists. Several recent books, including The Great Turning by David Korten, and A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink, have made the argument that a new way of organizing our relationships to each other and to nature will be necessary in the coming years. The subjects, some 30 in all, were all asked to comment on this eventuality and to provide their perceptions of what role that artists and arts organizations should play in contributing to a more just and sustainable society.

William Cleveland is a pioneer in the community arts movement and one of its most poetic documenters. His books Art In Other Places, Making Exact Change and Art and Upheaval: Artists on the World’s Frontlines are considered seminal works in the field of arts-based community development. An activist, teacher, lecturer and musician, he also directs the Center for the Study of Art and Community, located on Bainbridge Island, in Washington state in the U.S.

Patricia A. Shifferd is an independent consultant in research and evaluation to arts groups and communities. Formerly the Vice President for community and education programs at American Composers Forum, she directed the community-based music commissioning project, Continental Harmony, a model of arts-based community development. Trained in Sociology and Anthropology, she received her Ph.D. degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison; her research and teaching interests have centered on community development, the role of the arts in society, sense of place, and the social aspects of environmental affairs.