Heller’s Cave – a peek inside

The Cave from Ricky Shabazz on Vimeo.

If you are interested in design history, you would have a hard time not coming across a book or article by SVA’s Steven Heller. The man is a machine, pumping out an incredible flow of blog posts, articles and books exposing the rest of us to new and old graphic forms from around the world illuminated with insightful analysis in a conversational writing style. If you haven’t read him yet, do so. You can start with one of the 137 titles (!!!) in the library’s collection that he has written, edited, or otherwise contributed in making.
For those longstanding fans, did you ever wonder what kind of ephemera collections Steven Heller has? Now his son, Nathan Heller, aka Ricky Shabazz, has filmed an exploration of “The Cave“. Check it out.

A small taste in the stacks:

Scripts : elegant lettering from design’s golden age / Steven Heller and Louise Fili. – NK3620 .H45 2012

Writing and research for graphic designers : a designer’s manual to strategic communication and presentation / Steven Heller – NC1001 .H465 2012

I heart design : remarkable graphic design selected by designers, illustrators, and critics / [edited by] Steven Heller – NC703 .I2 2011

Pop : how graphic design shapes popular culture / by Steven Heller – N72.S6 H392 2010

Art/Design Career Options

Each spring art/design schools around the country eject a new crop of graduates out onto the job market. Some may have internships or even jobs lined up, but many will have to scramble to figure out how to pursue their passion and pay the bills at the same time. Here are a few recent guides that share the subject heading “Art — Vocational Guidance”.
Good luck to all present, future and past art school grads (particularly SVA alums)!
In the stacks:

The Successful artist’s career guide : finding your way in the business of art / Margaret Peot – N8350 .P46 2012

Starting your career as an artist : a guide for painters, sculptors, photographers, and other visual artists / Angie Wojak and Stacy Miller – N6505 .W644 2011

I’d rather be in the studio! : the artist’s no-excuse guide to self-promotion / Alyson B. Stanfield – N8600 .S73 2011x

Creative, inc. : the ultimate guide to running a successful freelance business / Meg Mateo Ilasco & Joy Deangdeelert Cho

Income strategies for artists a two hour presentation given at the New York Academy of the Arts on the strategies artists use to earn a living / presented by Brainard Carey – V-D C37 Inc DVD

Fairy Dark Tree Graphic Graffiti Sketching – new books

The fairy-tale princess : seven classic stories from the enchanted forest / Su Blackwell ; retellings by Wendy Jones – PZ8.J56 Fai 2012

Luc Tuymans, graphic works 1989-2012 / Manfred Sellink, Tommy Simoens – NE674.T89 A4 2012

The art of urban sketching : drawing on location around the world / Gabriel Campanario. – NC825.C57 C36 2012

Barry McGee / edited by Lawrence Rinder, with Dena Beard ; with texts by Alex Baker, Natasha Boas, Germano Celant, and Jeffrey Deitch.- N6537.M324 A4 2012

Tree houses : fairy-tale castles in the air / Philip Jodidio ; illustrations by Patrick Hruby -TH4885 .J63 2012

The dark / by Lemony Snicket ; illustrated by Jon Klassen. – PZ7.S6795 Dar 2013

Graffiti Asia / Ryo Sanada, Suridh Hassan – GT3913.69 .S26 2010

Saul Bass Gets the Doodle Treatment

Today’s Google doodle logo honors designer extraordinaire Saul Bass! Film titles, logos, storyboards for Hitchcock’s Psycho, Kubrick’s Spartacus, and so much more.
Books:

Saul Bass : a life in film & design / Jennifer Bass & Pat Kirkham – NC999.4.B377 A4 2011

Henri’s walk to Paris / illustrated by Saul Bass ; story by Leonore Klein / PZ7.K67834 He 2012

6 chapters in design : Saul Bass, Ivan Chermayeff, Milton Glaser, Paul Rand, Ikko Tanaka, Henryk Tomaszewski / foreword by Philip B. Meggs – NC998.4 .A125 1997

DVDs:
The searching eye / Saul Bass and Associates – V-F B377 Sea DVD
Bass on titles / V-F B377 Bas DVD

Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho – V-F H483 Psy DVD

Vertigo / V-F H483 VerU DVD

Ray Harryhausen – Stop Motion Force of Nature – RIP

Stop motion film fans have lost a major figure with the passing of Ray Harryhausen. Inspired by the original ‘King Kong’, Harryhausen devoted himself to making the incredible come to life, one frame at a time. The Visual Arts Library has an extensive collection of films featuring Harryhausen’s work, both for other directors and his solo pieces, as well as his memoirs and history of Stop Motion.

In the library:

Ray Harryhausen : an animated life / Ray Harryhausen & Tony Dalton / NC1766.U52 H374 2004

A century of stop motion animation : from Méliès to Aardman / Ray Harryhausen and Tony Dalton – TR897.5 .H37 2008

Sinbad and the eye of the tiger / special visual effects, Ray Harryhausen – V-F W363 Sin DVD
The 7th voyage of Sinbad / special visual effects created by Ray Harryhausen – V-F J87 Sev DVD

Clash of the Titans / produced by Charles H. Schneer and Ray Harryhausen – V-F D398 Cla DVD

Mysterious island / visual effects created by Ray Harryhausen – V-F H3765 Mys DVD

It came from beneath the sea / technical effects by Ray Harryhausen – V-F G736 It DVD

Ray Harryhausen. The early years collection / V-AN H367 Ray DVD

One million years B.C. – V-F C423 One DVD
Jason and the Argonauts – V-F C423 Jas DVD
The thief of Bagdad an Arabian fantasy – V-F K673 Thi DVD

Holy Video Elites of Life and Why – new books!

Twilight of the elites : America after meritocracy / Christopher Hayes – HN90.E4 H39 2012

How to read superhero comics and why / Geoff Klock – PN6710 .K59 2002

What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy / James Paul Gee – GV1469.3 .G44 2007

A Chinese life / Philippe Ôtié and Li Kunwu – PN6727.K822 C55 2012

The idea of the holy : an inquiry into the non-rational factor in the idea of the divine and its relation to the rational / by Rudolf Otto – BL48 .O82 1958

Dana’s Friend Beard Research- new books!

Writing and research for graphic designers : a designer’s manual to strategic communication and presentation / Steven Heller – NC1001 .H465 2012

Dana Schutz / edited by Gabriella Belli – ND237.S43468 A4 2010a

Michaël Borremans : eating the beard / with essays by Hans D. Christ, Hans Rudolf Reust – N6973.B538 A4 2011

My friend Dahmer : a graphic novel / written & illustrated by Derf Backderf – PN6727.D47 M9 2012

The Evolution of Spendid Outsider Gumballs for Graphic Non-believers

Religion for atheists : a non-believer’s guide to the uses of religion / Alain de Botton – BL2776 .D4 2012

Evolution : the story of life on Earth / written by Jay Hosler ; art by Kevin Cannon and Zander Cannon – QH367 .H675 2011

Graphic Women: life narrative and contemporary comics / Hillary L. Chute -PN6714 .C49 2010

Anna & Froga : want a gumball? / Anouk Ricard – PZ7.R38 An 2012

Gutai : splendid playground / Ming Tiampo ; Alexandra Munroe – N7355.5.G87 T53 2013

Great and mighty things : outsider art from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz collection / edited by Ann Percy with Cara Zimmerman – N6512.5.O87 G74 2013

Roger Ebert: “I’ll see you at the movies.”

Film critic and thumb-wielding cultural icon Roger Ebert has passed away after a long bout with cancer. Ebert had already won a Pulitzer Prize in 1975, the first film critic to do so, before vaulting to national prominence with his home town film critic rival, Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune, on their popular film review show, “At the Movies”.
A clear and insightful writer, Ebert managed to balance the high and low well, with historical essays on important and obscure films as well as reviews of more mainstream Hollywood fare. In the online era, Ebert’s archive of film reviews is a treasure trove for film buffs. Take a look at the his Great Movies list – hours of reading, with even more hours of watching to follow.

“I learned to be a movie critic by reading Mad magazine,” wrote Ebert. “Mad’s parodies made me aware of the machine inside the skin—of the way a movie might look original on the outside, while inside it was just recycling the same old dumb formulas.”

To explore further:

Roger Ebert’s book of film / edited by Roger Ebert – PN1994.R5625 1997

Scorsese by Ebert / Roger Ebert ; foreword by Martin Scorsese – PN1998.3.S39 E33 2008

Beyond the valley of the dolls / screenplay by Roger Ebert ; produced and directed by Russ Meyer – V-F M4947 Bey DVD

Life Itself: A Memoir / Roger Ebert – PN1998.3 .E327 A3 2011 [in process]

Happy 366th Birthday, Maria Sibylla Merian!

Today’s Google doodle caught my eye for its understated whimsy and it turned out to mark the birthday of a pioneering scientific illustrator, Maria Sibylla Merian. Her carefully observed work drew on the extensive collections of the Dutch East Indies Company, and eventually to a years long sojourn with her two daughters, also illustrators, to the tropical Dutch colony of Suriname. There she was first European to capture the life cycle of the Surinam Toad, whose mothers carry their tadpoles on their backs, under their skin, from whence the baby toads burst out.

“In my youth, I spent my time investigating insects,” the naturalist wrote in the foreword to her book “Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium (Metamorphosis of the Insects of Surinam).” “At the beginning, I started with silk worms in my home town of Frankfurt. I realised that other caterpillars produced beautiful butterflies or moths, and that silk worms did the same. This led me to collect all the caterpillars I could find in order to see how they changed.” WaPo

In the stacks:

Maria Sibylla Merian & daughters : women of art and science / Ella Reitsma – ND588.M527 R4513 2008

Amazing rare things : the art of natural history in the age of discovery / David Attenborough, Susan Owens, Martin Clayton and Rea Alexandratos -QH46.5 .A88 2007

Insects and Flowers The Art of Maria Sibylla Merian / David Brafman [in process]

A new flowering : 1000 years of botanical art / Shirley Sherwood – QK98.3 .N42 2005

Cosmic imagery : key images in the history of science / John D. Barrow – QB981 .B2798 2008