Art

Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman

REALISTIC FICTION. FIC BOW

Kiko Himura has always had a hard time saying exactly what she’s thinking. With a mother who makes her feel unremarkable and a half-Japanese heritage she doesn’t quite understand, Kiko prefers to keep her head down, certain that once she makes it into her dream art school, Prism, her real life will begin.

But then Kiko doesn’t get into Prism, at the same time her abusive uncle moves back in with her family. So when she receives an invitation from her childhood friend to leave her small town and tour art schools on the west coast, Kiko jumps at the opportunity in spite of the anxieties and fears that attempt to hold her back. And now that she is finally free to be her own person outside the constricting walls of her home life, Kiko learns life-changing truths about herself, her past, and how to be brave.

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You're Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner

REALISTIC FICTION. FIC GAR

When Julia finds a slur about her best friend scrawled across the back of the Kingston School for the Deaf, she covers it up with a beautiful (albeit illegal) graffiti mural.

Her supposed best friend snitches, the principal expels her, and her two mothers set Julia up with a one-way ticket to a “mainstream” school in the suburbs, where she’s treated like an outcast as the only deaf student. The last thing she has left is her art, and not even Banksy himself could convince her to give that up.

Out in the ’burbs, Julia paints anywhere she can, eager to claim some turf of her own. But Julia soon learns that she might not be the only vandal in town. Someone is adding to her tags, making them better, showing off—and showing Julia up in the process. She expected her art might get painted over by cops. But she never imagined getting dragged into a full-blown graffiti war.

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The Story of Art by Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich

NONFICTION. 709 GOM

This text is the 16th revised and updated edition of this introduction to art, from the earliest cave paintings to experimental art. Eight new artists from the modern period have been introduced. They are: Corot, Kollwitz, Nolde, de Chirico, Brancussi, Magritte, Nicolson and Morandi. A sequence of new endings have been added, and the captions are now fuller, including the medium and dimension of the works illustrated. Six fold-outs present selected large-scale works. They are: Van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece, Leonardo's Last Supper, Botticelli's Birth of Venus, Jackson Pollock's One (Number 31, 1950), Van der Weyden's Descent from the Cross and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling.

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Alien Art: Extraterrestrial Expressions on Earth by Sarah V. Moran

NONFICTION. 001.9 MOR

Pyramids, stone circles, land carvings, rock temples: Alien Art is a fascinating tour of the world's most enigmatic artistic and architectural mysteries. The book questions our accepted view of their primitive creators and suggests it is more likely that 'ancient astronauts' visited our planet and either left these artististic impressions behind them or helped the people of ancient cultures to create them. Stunning photographs reveal the mysteries of such alien artforms and celebrate these monuments from our unknown past.

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The Art of Cardboard by Lori Zimmer

NONFICTION . 745.54 ZIM

Breathe new life into that old cardboard box! Though paper and cardboard seem common and humble materials, discover the totally unexpected, beautiful and intricate art that can be created using the repurposed and up cycled resource.

The Art of Cardboard showcases the grand and imaginative scale of cardboard art and design. Inside, you'll find jaw-dropping cardboard creations from around the world! You'll discover the process of each art form, as well as tricks of the trade, from small clever projects to huge art installations.

Much more than a book about "neat" cardboard designs, Lori Zimmer guides you through amazing large-scale art production, immersive environments, working from intuition, collaboration, the artist's role in society, alternative creative economies, contemporary mythology, storytelling and more.

With such a readily available material, what will you create?

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