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Ai Weiwei by Susan Delson KEYNOTE: From its fascinating historical origins to its contemporary symbolic significance, every aspect of Ai Weiwei's beautiful and monumental work of art is explored in this illustrated volume that also guides readers through the highlights of the artist's career. From its fascinating historical origins to its contemporary symbolic significance, every aspect of Ai Weiwei's beautiful and monumental work of art is explored in this illustrated volume that also guides readers through the highlights of the artist's career. Ai Weiwei's Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads features twelve large-scale bronze animal heads, each depicting a segment of the ancient Chinese zodiac. As a major work of public art, it is an extraordinary accomplishment in its own right. But as this book explains, the origins and motivation behind the piece are as compelling as the work itself. Ai Weiwei based the sculpture on a complex zodiac fountain that was built for an imperial retreat in eighteenth-century China. When the retreat was looted by European soldiers, the fountain's bronze animal heads were stolen--only seven of the twelve are known to survive. By reimagining the work Ai Weiwei confronts uncomfortable truths within Chinese and Western history. This book compares Ai Weiwei's work to the original zodiac heads; features interviews with Ai Weiwei conducted at various periods during the sculpture's development; offers a historical overview of the events surrounding the mountain's looting; and follows the trail of the original heads as they are sold and resold amidst political furor. The book tells the riveting story behind a highly acclaimed piece of modern art, while providing an introduction to one of our generation's most important artists. AUTHOR: Susan Delson is a writer, editor and educator. Paola Dematte is associate professor of Chinese art and archaeology at the Rhode Island School of Design. Colin Jones is a doctoral candidate in the department of history at Columbia University. Kristina Kleutghen is a specialist in the history of Chinese art and visual culture. ILLUSTRATIONS: 118 colour

Alberto Giacometti--Beyond Bronze by Kunsthaus Kunsthaus Zürich (Editor) Although he is best known for his signature bronze sculptures, Alberto Giacometti (1901-66) worked in a variety of other media such as marble, plaster, and wood. Plaster was of particularly great importance to Giacometti's work. It offered many advantages as a medium, the foremost being that it allowed the artist to rework or repaint his sculptures in a variety of ways. More than an intermediate stage between clay model and bronze cast, plaster was therefore often regarded by Giacometti as a primary medium, and many of his works exist only in plaster.             Alberto Giacometti--Beyond Bronze is based on a gift by Bruno Giacometti of seventy-five plaster sculptures to Kunsthaus Zürich, which have been extensively restored and researched. With more than two hundred illustrations, including many in large format and full color, the book features masterpieces from every stage of Giacometti's career. Apart from the book's main focus--the place of plaster in the artist's oeuvre--it also includes sculptures in marble, bronze, and wood. Together, the sculptures show how Giacometti approached the material properties of these different media and offer insight into the creative process of one of the twentieth century's greatest artists.             Published to accompany a major exhibition at Kunsthaus Zürich, Alberto Giacometti--Beyond Bronze celebrates a lesser-known yet fundamentally important aspect of the artist's work.  

Cast by Jen Townsend; Renée Zettle-Sterling Featuring exquisite photos of more than 800 contemporary and historic works, this first-of-its-kind book reveals how the process of casting--pouring material into a mold--has transformed our world through its history and omnipresence. In these image-rich pages, craft, fine art, design, and everyday objects offer us perspectives on casting's unique possibilities, its place in history, and its role in contemporary object creation. Comprehensive and insightful, the book includes writings on casting as it relates to Art History (by Suzanne Ramljak), Large-Scale Metal (by Joseph Becherer), Ceramics (by Ezra Shales), Glass (by Susie J. Silbert), Jewelry (by Jen Townsend), and Alternative Materials (by Elaine A. King). A multi-disciplinary approach--including everything from traditional lost wax casting in non-ferrous metals to casting rubber, glass, porcelain, plaster, and some very unexpected materials--makes this an essential resource for artists, craftspeople, historians, designers, and everyone interested in the objects that populate our world.

Cast for Eternity by Yang Liu; Ya Zhou (Contribution by); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Staff (Contribution by) Showcasing more than thirty ancient bronzes from the exceptional holdings of the Shanghai Museum, this generously illustrated book offers a compelling overview of the beauty of Chinese bronzes and the fascinating traditions surrounding them. These important objects, many of which have never before appeared in an English-language publication, date from the 18th to the 1st century BC and span numerous dynasties. Highlights of the exhibition include an early thin-wall cast three-legged food vessel (ding) from the Erlitou period, a set of nine bells (bianzhong) from the early Spring and Autumn period, and a beast-shaped wine vessel ( he ) from the early Warring States period. An accessible essay serves as an introduction to these masterpieces, and sumptuous, newly commissioned photography makes this publication a standout addition to the literature on Asian bronze sculpture.

Catalogue Raisonne by Gerd Rothmann As an artist, Gerd Rothmann is concerned with the human body. He has been investigating it and

Creative Casting by Sharr Choate; Crown Covers the major methods of casting metals that are applicable to crafts including techniques for lost wax, replica, hollow core, sand, cuttlefish bone, and rubber-mold methods. Contents I: Casting -- Design -- Tools and materials -- Wax models -- Replicas -- Spruing -- Investing -- Burn-out -- Casting -- Hollow core casting -- Sand casting -- Cuttlefish bone casting -- Rubber molds -- Creations in jewelry, silverware, and sculpture -- II: Finishing -- Basic finishing -- Fine finishing -- Soldering -- Treatment and surface decoration -- Gemstone mountings and findings -- Electroplating -- Enameling.

Don't Shrink Me to the Size of a Bullet: the Works of Hiwa K by Heike Mertens (Foreword by) overing over decade of projects, "Don't Shrink Me to the Size of a Bullet: The Works of Hiwa K" provides the first comprehensive account of the artist's practice to date. A series of texts included have been prepared and revised by the artist, and he has also included a collection of anecdotes that recount gossip, stories, jokes, personal insights, conundrums, and aphorisms garnered from multiple sources. These have all been translated into Kurdish for the first time. The volume is fully illustrated contains extended notes on the works. In the spirit of the artist's work, this volume will introduce a new audience to his projects and offer additional insights for those who already know it.

In/Animate by Akiko Busch; Myra Mimlitsch-Gray; Sara J. Pasti "In/Animate surveys the past decade of work by Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, internationally renowned metalsmith and head of the Metal Program at SUNY New Paltz. Curated by author Akiko Busch, the exhibition explores a variety of artistic processes using iron, copper, brass, silver, and enameled steel. Mimlitsch-Gray's domestic artifacts suggest a coalescence of body and thing, conveying the mutability of the animate and inanimate and reflecting the intimacy between people and the objects they use. A spoon could be a lip, or a dangling twist of fabric, a vein. Over 40 meticulously crafted works contribute to the contemporary conversation about how household objects express ideas about presentation, utility, and class."--Samuel Dorsky Museum website.

Liz Glynn by Susan Cross; Jose Luis Blondet (Contribution by); Connie Bulter (Contribution by) From her first participatory performance building Rome in 24 hours--in cardboard--to Open House, her open-air Gilded Age ballroom--cast in concrete--in Central Park, Liz Glynn examines the past to shed light on present day social and economic conditions through a diverse array of sculptures, structures, and actions. This monograph, designed to emphasize Glynn's interest in process, temporality, labor, and shifting notions of value, features a series of essays on the artist's practice as a whole, texts on each of her discrete projects as well as images from the artist's studio, and documentation of her performances. Together they give readers a comprehensive overview of an artist whose career has garnered enormous attention from audiences and critics alike.

Lost and found : rings cast in the lost-wax technique, following an apprenticeship to the Asante king's goldsmith in Ghana by Johanna Dahm

On Body and Soul by Suzanne Ramljak "From the beginning of time, armor and amulets have been used for protection and are found in cultures across the globe, and those who crafted them have been esteemed as artists by their communities. The contemporary examples showcased here, in 200 eye-catching images, demonstrate the enduring artistry of the forms and the crucial role such objects can play in safeguarding body and soul, especially in our current Age of Terror. An exciting array of protective hardware (armor, barriers, wearable weaponry) and protective "software" (charms, amulets, talismans), reveal a broad range of strategies for human defense. Focusing on work from the twenty-first century, this captivating book features some of today's finest artists and metalsmiths and testifies to the continued relevance of this creative pursuit. An introductory essay charts the wider cultural terrain of protective ornament-touching on issues of history, anthropology, and psychology, while portfolio sections spotlight subsets of defensive and offensive wear. Among the works of art are helmets, elaborate knuckledusters, pendants, collars, rings, bracelets, metal jackets, and chain mail, all designed for safety."--Publisher's description.

Plaster Mold and Model Making by Charles Chaney; Stanley Skee

Practical Casting by Tim McCreight Modelmaking -- Sprue systems -- Investing -- Burnout and melting -- Throwing the casting -- Direct methods -- Sand casting -- Casting pewter -- Flexible molds -- Foundry casting -- Special cases -- glossary -- Reference.