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Mixed Media Self-portraits: Inspiration and Techniques

Mixed Media Self-portraits: Inspiration and Techniques

by Cate Coulacos Prato (Author)

  • Used

    Paperback 2008

    $8.19
Synopsis

Get all the inspiration and techniques you need to partake in the hottest trend in mixed media and collage: creating artistic self-portraits. Self-portraits are not only a way for mixed media artists to learn about themselves and their art but also about each other.

Mixed Media Self-Portraits features a wide range of artists and contributors who explore creative self-portraits through exercises, essays, and gallery art, offering readers inspiration plus mixed-media, collage, and fiber-arts techniques. Essays throughout the book by a variety of mixed-media artists provide an artistic guide to personal self-discovery. Working in mixed media freed many of the artists featured to express themselves in unusual, un-representational ways, allowing these artists to reveal even more about themselves in the process. The book guides readers through different approaches to creating self-portraits, from jumpstarting the creative process to step-by-step techniques to get ideas flowing on paper and fabric in a variety of media and forms from art quilts to assemblage to paper collage, and more. Filled to the brim with a wealth of inspiration, creative prompts, techniques and compelling artwork, this book is an artistic guide to representing yourself creatively in mixed-media work.

$8.19

Save:$11.85 (59%)

Quantity

1 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
 Pages: 128
 Publisher: Interweave Press Inc
Published: 02 Oct 2008
ISBN 10: 1596680822
ISBN 13: 9781596680821

Media Reviews
A very practical book, looking at how the reader can examine this genre by self-exploration and translate their personality into self-portraits in all forms of art. The book is very well set out, with quotations from famous people about the self, blogging as a way of finding your artistic self, 'warm up' exercises to explore colour as expressions of emotions and a 'who lives here' quiz to help you pinpoint things about yourself you might not have thought about. It's all quite fun. There are moments of introspection, from some artists' work, but on the whole the work contributed shows a wide range of thoughts and feelings, artistic styles and approaches, and lots of exercises to get you thinking about what will challenge you. About half the book is taken up with warming you to the idea of embarking on something new, and then you are introduced to all the different ways of expressing these new-found thoughts about yourself - art dolls, an art journal documenting a year, masks, object collage and photographs. Instructions are given for these, and examples of other artists' work illustrates each technique. Very few of these examples of work are straightforward painted self-portraits - artists use aspects of their personality, old photographs, words and pictures in fabric, painting and 3D work. The 'Box of Inspiration' by Mary Beth Schwartzenberger was my favourite (fill it with slips of paper with inspirational phrases on - you get to choose your own). So my initial worry about what kind of a book this would be was unfounded - it's a perfect way to try a new technique and there's plenty packed in it to cajole you out of your comfort zone.-Workshop on the Web
Author Bio
Cate Prato is the features editor for Quilting Arts Magazine and Cloth Paper Scissors. It's no surprise her first book is about self-portraits: After being raised an only child, Cate doesn't consider self a four-letter word. Cate has pursued a career in writing, primarily features, since she was young. She lives in West Boylston, Massachusetts.