Books that have influenced my art

I read. Much too much, I struggle with the gap between reading the book about a topic, and actually doing the thing the book is about. Left to my own dark-side inclinations, I'd almost always rather "know about (which comes by reading)" than "know (which can only come from doing)." It is good for my dancing that there are (not yet) any books about hooping.

I am fascinated by the difference in shelf-feet devoted to books about painting, and those about sculpting. It could easily be 20 or 30:1 (and that's generous, because I can't ever recall seeing a whole shelf-foot of books about creating sculpture). (Not talking coffee-table picture books here, but rather the how-tos, or step-by-steps, as we call them in the chainsaw world.) One sculptor suggests that because we are so 3D oriented, we don't think in the 2D linear world that books and writing demand. It could also be that in America, at least, our 3D arts (many crafts, wood-working, jewelry, etc.) are shelved in separate sections of the bookstore and if you are a "pure" sculptor, you've found your own way.

Also interesting was the dearth of picture books about crafts I found on the shelves in three different bookstores in Moscow. Lark Books could have a field day, except that some publisher will probably steal the content and publish it under a different name, as happened to Aiden Meehan's work about Celtic arts. I suspect I saw several other flagrant copyright violations, but only knew Aiden's for sure because I own his books in English. "Aidan Meehan" does not translate to "I. M. Ivanovna" when you go to the Cyrillic alphabet. (Native Russian craft books are very long on text, and short on glossy pictures, compared to the craft books in any American bookstore.)

I should confess: I wrote most of this list for Carve Smart; copied it into this page when I built the new website.

Wood Sculpture

Driftwood Sculpture: From Finding to Fine Finishing. Patricia M. Bartlett. Waterfront Publications, Port Angeles, WA. 1999. A lot more writing than pictures, but still a how-to rather than a coffee-table book. Lots of support for approaching a piece of driftwood and letting it do the talking.
Fine Woodworking on Carving: 40 articles selected by the editors of Fine Woodworking magazine. Taunton Press, 1986. Mostly chisel carving and background and technical information rather than step-by-step. One article on chainsaw carving. Massively inspirational.
The Art of Stylized Wood Carving, featuring insights from 14 top artists and five step-by-step projects. Charles Solomon and David Hamilton. Fox Chapel, 2003. Look, Ma! No bears! But what a gallery of inspiration that can stretch your idea of what to carve. This book is about “stylized” as opposed to “life-sized decorative decoy” realism; its idea of “stylized” might be pretty close to your idea of full realism. The step-by-steps can be enlarged to chainsaw size.
Elements of Woodcarving. Chris Pye. Guild of Master Craftsman Publications, 2000. Learning through a series of chisel-carved projects that are not immediately transferable to chainsaw scale. Good information about holding chisel-scale pieces. Inspiring to observe a master carver’s thinking process.
Carving the Human Figure: studies in wood and stone. Dick Onians. Guild of Master Craftsman Publications, 2001. Anatomy, the head, torso, knees, feet, hand and arm, whole figure, drapery, stylized figures, relief figures. Chisel carving; invaluable in terms of reference and approach to thinking through a carving.
Wood Carving Magazine on The Carvers. Guild of Master Craftsman Publications, 1997. Articles about 32 carvers. This is a “seed” book that will put ideas into your head with every turn of the page, rather than a technical manual or step-by-step.
Chainsaw Sculptor: the art of J. Chester “Skip” Armstrong. Sharon R. Sherman. University Press of Mississippi, 1995. A picture book—marvel at Skip’s work—chainsaw plus, mostly in walnut. top

Furniture

Rustic Style. Ralph Kylloe. Harry N. Abrams, NY, 1998. I found Ralph Kylloe in Moscow, where one of his picture books about rustic furniture, marked at $60 US, was selling for 5000R (about $178 at that time). I love abe.com. This is a coffee-table book with a lot of background information about past and current makers of rustic furniture and interiors. Making Rustic Furniture. Daniel Mack. Sterling / Lark Books, NY, 1992. Picture book with history and project guidance.
Rustic Furniture Workshop. Daniel Mack. Lark Books, NY, 2000. Some gallery pictures; much more specific guidance for the artist than Making Rustic Furniture.
Fine Woodworking on Chairs and Beds. Taunton, CT, 1986. Perhaps good that I didn't know this information before I built Curved Carved Chair, but now that it's out in the world, it won't hurt to be more educated about how wood works. Carving demands respect for grain, but not the way furniture construction does. top

Textiles

Module Magic: Creative projects to knit one block at a time. Ginger Luters. XRX Books, NY, 2004. I wasn't sure that I could hold the ideas of module knitting in my head after looking at all the books on the subject in the yarn store. Secondly, I wasn't sure I wanted to--lots of stopping and starting and I like to knit long rows and be done with it. I bought this book because it appeared to offer the most ideas instead of project step-by-steps, and was proved right on both counts. I don't like modular knitting, and I couldn't remember the ideas. All of Kaffe Fassett's knitting books.
Handpaint Country: A Knitter's Journey. Cheryl Potter and Alexis Xenakis. XRX Books, NY, 2002. This book was published while I was away from knitting. It's about hand-painted and dyed yarns; a few patterns but I bought it for the colored pictures and the writing about being in the textile business.
Knitting in America: Patterns, Profiles, and Stories of America's Leading Artisans. Melanie D. Falick and Chris Hartlove. Artisan, NY, 1996. Unexpectedly, this book was a key element in my leaving knitting for several years, during which time I turned to sculpture. Knitting had been my primary artistic outlet for years; the profiles convinced me that knitting would never support me in the business model I had in mind. (Still don't know if sculpting, painting and jewelry will, but that's another exercise.) top
Designing Tessellations: The Secrets of Interlocking Patterns. Jinny Beyer. Contemporary Books, Chicago, 1999. All three of her books are useful; I didn't need to buy Patchwork Patterns or Color Confidence for Quilters but it didn't take but a quick review after an interlibrary loan to send me for my own copy of Tessellations. How to build patterns and then shift them to make infinitely variable designs using reasonably simple starting units. I have a whole series of rugs designed on a single square, and it would take a while for the casual observer to realize they are all knit to the same pattern.
Bogolanfini Mud Cloth, Sam Hilu and Irwin Hershey. Shiffer, PA, 2005. I first saw this book in the gift shop at the National Textile Museum in Washington, DC, but didn't have enough time to look closely enough to know if I had to own it. Another interlibrary loan allowed me to harvest the designs I can knit; they'll keep me going for a few dozen more rugs. A tiny bit of text and the rest of the book is pictures, leaving you to your own iterpretation. A wonderful way to print a book about textiles.

Learning to be an Artist

Mastery: interviews with 30 remarkable people. Joan Evelyn Ames. Rudra Press, 1997. What makes them different from us, and what practices and habits can you instill in yourself to improve your art?
Mastery: The keys to success and long-term fulfillment. George Leonard. Plume Books, NY, 1991. About the "mysterious process during which what is at first difficult becomes progressively easier and more pleasurable through practice."
A Creative Companion: How to free your creative spirit. SARK. Celestial Arts, 1991. 30 minutes with this book will get me out of the worst slump.
Art and Fear: observations on the perils (and rewards) of artmaking. David Bayles and Ted Orland. Capra Press, 1993. I try to read this book every time I’m on a plane and always come away with a better understanding of what it takes to make more and better art.
Gardens of Revelation: environments by visionary artists. John Beardsley. Abbeville Press, 2003. A good book to find in the library. If these people can make art in their circumstances, what’s stopping you? Thought-provoking discussion of artwork longevity.
Painting from the Source: awakening the artist’s soul in everyone. Aviva Gold. Harper Perennial, 1998. Fun for a day when you can’t get outside to carve. Open your mind to your own creativity through painting, even if you’re not a painter.
The Artist’s Way: a spiritual path to higher creativity; a course in discovering and recovering your creative self. Julia Cameron. Jeremy P. Tarcher / Perigee, 1992. The textbook for Cameron’s course on creativity.

Other

Pronoia is the Antidote to Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You With Blessings. Rob Brezsny and the Beauty and Truth Laboratory. Frog, Ltd., Berkeley, CA, 2005. If you read Rob's astrology column, you have a clue, and if you don't, "Berkeley" says a lot. From the back cover: 888 tricks for becoming a wildly disciplined, fiercely tender, ironically sincere, scrupulously curious, aggressively sensitive, blasphemously reverent, lyrically logical, lustfully compassionate master of rowdy bliss.
Extraordinary Golf: the art of the possible. Fred Shoemaker, with Pete Shoemaker. Perigee, 1996. Ostensibly about golf, this book can also be applied to any pursuit in that it will help you to get clear about why your are doing whatever it is you are doing. Yoga: the spirit and practice of moving into stillness. Erich Schiffmann. Pocket Books, 1996. Whether you practice yoga for the flexibility benefits, or for its effects on your mind as well, it can show up in increased ability to carve, injury-free.
The Gift of Fear: survival signals that protect us from violence. Gavin de Becker. Little, Brown & Company, 1997. People who own more than three chainsaws are generally not the type to be easily threatened. Read this book anyway. I’ve used information in this book to help avoid sticky situations that can come up anywhere. An unexpected benefit is the more I trust my intuition about dangerous situations, the more I trust it about art and creativity, too. If you have children, please read his Protecting the Gift as well.
The Myth of Laziness. Mel Levine. Simon & Schuster, 2003. Dr. Levine studies the different functions of learning, and how any disruption in these functions will cause problems for students. His work helped me to understand how better to approach the topics I want to learn about today. I recommend this book to anyone who thinks their difficulties with school were the result of laziness or stupidity, or whose children are having trouble learning.

Periodicals

The Crafts Report: The resource for artists and retailers.www.craftsreport.com. Monthly glossy; articles aimed mostly at producers of crafts; audience includes craft retailers as well. Some classified show listings; plenty of display ads for high-end show submissions.
Wood Carving: Guidance and Inspiration for Ambitious Carvers. www.gmcpubs.com This is the British carving magazine and, like all Guild of Master Craftsmen publications, is high-end and well done. Mostly chisel carving with occasional coverage of chainsaw events.
ArtCalendar: The Business Magazine for Visual Artists. www.ArtCalendar.com Half of the magazine is articles about the business of being an artist; the other half is listings of shows, competitions, grants, etc. Flat-art focus but a reasonable amount of information for 3D artists. Very little display advertising.
Chip Chats: the journal of the National Wood Carvers’ Association. Packed with carving competitionresults and articles about carvers. Joe Kingis a regular columnist; the magazine often features chainsaw carvers. www.chipchats.org

Chainsaw Carving

Chainsaw Carving: the art and craft. Hal MacIntosh. Fox Chapel Publishing, 2001. The one book to buy if you’re only buying one. Everyone starts with Hal MacIntosh. Inspiration, technical information, and step-by-steps will get you well on the way to successful carving.
Chainsaw Carving Arts and Crafts: making and marketing. Hal MacIntosh. Timbercrafts. Classic bear and eagle step-by-steps; lots of other ideas for crafts from a chainsaw. Suggestions for thinking about your chainsaw carving business.
Chainsaw Carving a Bear: a complete step-by-step guide. Jamie Doeren. Fox Chapel Publishing, 2003. Three great step-by-step bears: Cub in a Stump, Welcome Bear, and Grizzly. Chainsaw Carving an Eagle. Jamie Doeren and Dennis Roghair. Fox Chapel Publishing, 2005. Similar to his bear book, and just as good. Eagle head, eagle and fish, eagle bench. Classic chainsaw carving.
Art of Chainsaw Carving: An Insider's Look at 18 Artists Working Against the Grain. Jessie Groeschen. Fox Chapel, 2005. Interviews with and photographs of the work of many of the most prominent and/or influential carvers from the beginning of the art form to the present day. Inspirational and eye-opening with regard to the numerous ways of making art with a chainsaw.
How to Chain Saw Carve a Bear. Peter Wiant, starring Steve Backus. 50 min.
How to Chainsaw Carve: have fun and work safe. Jerry Faber. Jerry discusses how to carve and demonstrates carving an owl.
Barnacle Parp's Chain Saw Guide: Buying, Using, and Maintaining Gas and Electric Chain Saws. Walter Hall. Rodale Press, 1977. Old, out of print, a bit out of date, and still a great overview of chainsaws, how to use them for everything but carving, and how to maintain them. Parp also talks about sharpening chains for special uses and medical conditions common to chainsaw carvers.

About Wood

Fine Woodworking on Wood and How to Dry It: 41 articles selected by the editors of Fine Woodworking magazine. Taunton Press, 1986. The bottom line: logs will crack.
Understanding Wood: A Craftsman’s Guide to Wood Technology. R. Bruce Hoadley. The Taunton Press, 1980. Why does wood do what it does? This book has the answers.

Drawing

Drawing on the Artist Within. Betty Edwards. Jeremy P. Tarcher / Perigee, 1989. Please stop saying, “I can’t draw” until you have worked the exercises in this book. The more you draw, the better your carvings will be. This book is the classic introduction to drawing skills for people who think they can’t draw.
Anyone Can Draw! A practical course in art instruction for the beginner. Arthur Zaidenberg. Garden City Books, 1939. Like Hamm, Zaidenberg helps you to learn how to look at the real world so you can consciously chose how to translate it into your art.
Drawing the Head and Figure. Jack Hamm. Perigee, 1963. You can’t help but see a face or body differently once you’ve started to study this book. If you can’t figure out why your carvings of people don’t quite look right, start here.
Drawing the Human Head: proportions, head types, structure, anatomy, aging, facial features, movement. Burne Hogarth. Watson-Guptill Publications, 2002. More eye training that can be transferred to better carvings.
Drawing Scenery: Landscapes and Seascapes. Jack Hamm. Perigee, 1972. Less directly useful unless you are carving landscape reliefs, this Hamm book is nevertheless invaluable in training your eye to translate reality into art.
How to Draw Animals. Jack Hamm. Perigee, 1969. From the cover: simple, clear instructions for drawing animals with more than a thousand step-by-step illustrations. Basic fundamentals for the beginner, new principals and techniques for the professional.
The Artist’s Complete Guide to Facial Expression. Gary Faigan. Watson-Guptill, 1990. VERY detailed anatomical information about how the facial muscles work to create expressions.

Running an Art Business

Artists’ Taxes: the hands-on guide; an alternative to “hobby” taxes. Jo Hanson. Vortex Press, 1987. (LoC 87-050392; ISBN 0-942213-00-9). Artists’ Taxes is the saga of the author’s defense of her professional status as an artist, despite losing money over a long time period. It is probably out-of-print but worth tracking down if you need support against the IRS.
Carving as a Part Time Business (or Career) for carvers on all levels (even novice). Elaine Foster. Self-published, 2003. 35 pages of solid information about selling chisel carvings, determining what can be carved profitably, finding customers, and solving problems with slow sales. Order directly from the author; $10 + $2 S&H US; Elaine Foster, P. O. Box 1794, Canon City, CO 81215.
Photographing your Craftwork: a hands-on guide for craftspeople. Steve Meltzer. Madrona Publishers, 1986. Mostly, this is about studio photography for portable crafts, rather than on-site photography of massive sculpture. Good photographic information, nevertheless.
The Magic of Selling Art, The Mystery of Making It, The Mastery of Self Promotion. Jack White. Self-published, undated, 2001, 2002 respectively. In the author’s words: Absolutely the best book on selling art! It unveils the magic in a step-by-step guide for you to succeed every time. Revealing the secrets of marketing art: how artist Senkarik (the author’s wife) went from the first sale in 1990 to passing the two million dollar retail mark before 2002. A powerful book on self promotion tells artists how to be successful promoting themselves and their art. Order directly from the author, $48 US each, free shipping. Jack White Artist, 301 E. 5th Ave., Corsicana, TX, 75110, or www.jackwhiteartist.com. Jack paints oil portraits that sell for $60,000 and his wife, Mikki Senkarik, paints and sells 200+ oil landscapes a year in the $8,000-$12,000 range. Although the books’ stories focus on 2D artists, the principles can be applied to marketing chainsaw carvings just as well.
Why We Buy: the science of shopping. Paco Underhill. Simon & Schuster, 2000. It’s difficult to apply this information directly to the type of retail establishment operated by most carvers, but this is the book to read if you want to understand how retail design influences customers.

Jewelry

United in Beauty: The Jewelry and Collectors of Linda MacNeil. Schiffer Publishing, Atglen PA. 2000. I found this book when I visited the Jon Kuhn show at the Mint Museum of Craft + Design in Charlotte. I missed Linda's show, unfortunately. The jewelry fascinated me and it's quite possible that this book was the seed for starting to think of the jewelry I have made for myself as one more art form.
400 Polymer Clay Designs. Irene Semanchuk Dean and the editors of Lark Books. Sterling Books, New York, 2004. This is one of the Lark series with nothing but pictures of the art work. Massively inspiring. Makes me keep the clay out on the table even though I rarely get a chance to play.
Polymer Clay: Techniques and Projects Inspired by the Fine and Decorative Arts. Judy Belcher; photography by Steve Payne. Watson-Guptill, New York, 2006. Not for beginners. Fabulous--inspiring and educational. Judy doesn't show every step in excrutiating detail; she gives just enough to head the reader familiar with the materials in the right direction to create fine art with polymer clay.
PolymerCafe: Exploring the Art and Craft of Polymer Clay. A quarterly magazine full of step-by-step how-tos for the world of polymer clay. www.polymercafe.com to subscribe.

Source Material

The Language of the Goddess. Marija Gimbutas. Harper & Row, 1989. I recognized an unusual power in Sipentsi, which I carved from a drawing in one of Meehan's books. That drawing referenced a culture much older than the Celts, and when I reviewed his references, I found Gimbutas. The book is a trove of ideas for carvings and paintings, drawing on very ancient symbols that lie at the core of our spiritual consciousness.
Knotwork: The Secret Method of the Scribes. Aidan Meehan. Thames and Hudson, 1991. (And all of his other books.) Aidan has studied the original documents (his father is curator of the Book of Kells) and shares the history and construction methods used by the scribes who calligraphed the original Celtic scriptures.
Celtic Art: The Methods of Construction. George Bain. Dover, 1973 edition. The first of the books that show how the knotwork was originally constructed. Meehan has developed, extended, and corrected Bain's work. Bain remains a superb and affordable overview of the field.
Other works: There are numerous books about Celtic art on the market. If you are looking for source material, be sure to review the copyright statements. Some are written so tightly there is little room allowed for inspiration.