Born in 1942 & educated in the fine arts at the prestigious Art Students League in New York City, John Pitre evolved to become America's leading surrealist & social commentary painter, selling more prints world wide than any other artist. Pitre gained extraordinary popularity during the 60s & 70s painting daring themes, such as overpopulation, the threat of drugs, the potential of modern plagues & the ecological deterioration of our planet well before they became obvious problems of our times. His social commentary paintings are now considered twentieth century classics sought after by prominent collectors world wide. From his early days as an art student Pitre was fascinated with the most challenging & difficult of all the classical art forms to execute "Surrealism." With brush & oils as a vehicle he created powerful imagined worlds, evoking emotion & response in his viewers more so than any other medium. Utilizing this early foundation he also became a prolific inventor, holding patents in many fields. His thorough study of human anatomy in the arts gave him the insight to create some of the world's most advanced & respected exercise equipment. Other creations include devices for generating electricity from the movement of waves & currents of the sea, a more versatile paint for artists & an aircraft design that he has personally built & flown. To order: Pitre Fine Arts, Inc., 4224 Waialae Avenue, Suite 5-308, Honolulu, HI 96816-5307. 808-942-2290, FAX: 808-943-0769. E-mail: [email protected]; web site: http://onhawaii.com/pitre.

The need to personalize our surroundings is a defining human characteristic. For some this need becomes a compulsion to transform their personal surroundings into works of art. The John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, has undertaken the mission to preserve these environments, which are presented for the first time in Sublime Spaces and Visionary Worlds. This colorful and inspiring book features the work of twenty-two vernacular artists whose locales, personal histories, and reasons for art-making vary widely but who all share a powerful connection to the home as art. Featured projects range from art environments that remain intact, such as Simon Rodia's Watts Towers in California, tosites lost over the years such as Emery Blagdon's six hundred elaborate "Healing Machines," made of copper, aluminum, tinfoil, magnets, ribbons, farm-machinery parts, painted light bulbs, beads, coffee-can lids, and more. Sublime Spaces and Visionary Worlds is the first book to explore these spectacularly offbeat spaces in detail.From "Original Rhinestone Cowboy" Loy Bowlin's wall-to-wall glitter-and-foil living room to the concrete bestiary of "witch of Fox Point" Mary Nohl, each artist and project is described in detail through a wealth of visuals and text. Sublime Spaces and Visionary Worlds reminds us that our decorative choices tell the world not just what we like but who we are.

An exploration of the role that dreaming, psychedelic experiences, and mystical visions play in visionary art • Includes discussions with 18 well-known female artists, including Josephine Wall, Allyson Grey, Amanda Sage, Martina Hoffmann, Penny Slinger, and Carolyn Mary Kleefeld • Reveals how they have all been inspired by deep inner experiences and seek to express non-ordinary visions of reality, reminiscent of shamanic trance states, lucid dreams, and spiritually transcendent experiences • Shows how visionary art often contains an abundance of feminine energy, helping us to heal ourselves and see that we are all connected Since early humans first painted from their mystic eye onto cave walls, artists have sought to share their sacred visions with the world. Created in every medium, from oil painting and sculpture to contemporary digital modeling, these visionary works of art give those who experience them a chance to “see the unseen,” realize wider modes of perception, and discover spiritual and mystical realms. In this full-color illustrated book, David Jay Brown and Rebecca Ann Hill examine the work and inspirations of eighteen of today’s leading female visionary artists, including Josephine Wall, Allyson Grey, Amanda Sage, Martina Hoffmann, Penny Slinger, and Carolyn Mary Kleefeld. They explore the creative process and the role that dreaming, psychedelic experiences, sexuality, and divine guidance play in the work of these women, alongside full-color examples of their art. They discuss the future of visionary art and reveal how these artists have all been informed and inspired by deep inner experiences and seek to express non-ordinary visions of reality, often reminiscent of those encountered in shamanic trance, lucid dreams, psychedelic states, spiritually transcendent experiences, and other altered states. Showing how visionary art often contains an abundance of feminine energy, helping us to heal ourselves and see that we are all connected, the authors explore with each artist what it is about being a woman that has most influenced their artwork. They also examine the connection between visionary art and spirituality, the influence of Nature and sacred geometry, and how this creative form is simultaneously ancient, futuristic, and timeless, providing an accessible doorway into the visionary realm.

Pairs visionary poetry by such writers as William Blake, Sappho, William Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, and Langston Hughes with works of art by such artists as Paul Klee, Henri Matisse, and Johannes Vermeer

Presenting the unique vision of an American original . . . Alexandre Hogue, a renowned artist whose career spanned from the 1920s to his death in 1994, inherited the view of an America that imagined itself as filled with limitless potential for improvement, that considered high art and great ideas accessible to ordinary working people, and that saw no reason for an intellectual chasm between a learned elite and the masses. He always viewed himself as a radical, yet his passion stemmed from a deeply conservative idea: that art, culture, and nature should form a central force in the life of every human being. His well-known Dust Bowl series labeled him as a regionalist painter, but Hogue never accepted that identity. His work reveals the spirit of Texas and the Southwest as he experienced it for nearly a century. In his later years Hogue worked in forms of crisply rendered nonobjective and calligraphic one-liner paintings. Bringing to light new information regarding the Erosion and Oil Industry series, this book gives special attention to lesser known, post-1945 works, in addition to the awe-inspiring Moon Shot and final Big Bend series. Each series—from the hauntingly beautiful Taos landscapes and prophetic canvases of a dust-covered Southwest to his depictions of the fierce geological phenomena of the Big Bend—serves as a paean to the awesomeness of nature. Houston-based curator and critic Susie Kalil grew close to Hogue from 1986 to 1994, a time during which she interviewed him, considered his oeuvre with him, and came to share his vision of the nature and purposes of art. In Alexandre Hogue she reveals Hogue as he presented himself and his work to her. Collections with Alexandre Hogue's paintings: Musee National D'Art Moderne, Pompidou, Paris DallasMuseum of Art Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The GilcreaseMuseum, Tulsa The Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa University of Tulsa Tulsa Performing ArtsCenter Smithsonian Institution (NationalMuseum of American Art), Washington, DC OklahomaMuseum of Art, Okla City The SheldonMuseum of Art, University of Nebraska, Lincoln PhoenixArt Museum University of Arizona, Tucson Art Museum of SouthTexas, Corpus Christi Panhandle Plains Historical Museum, Canyon, Tx. StarkMuseum, Orange, Tx Southern MethodistUniversity, Dallas SpringfieldArt Museum, Springfield, Missouri WeatherspoonArt Museum, University of North Carolina at Greensboro The Federal Reserve Bank, Dallas The Williams Companies, Tulsa

Fifty of the world’s most creative people share their stories and inspirations in this volume created by the Exploratorium science museum. What do music visionary Brian Eno, kinetic sculptor Theo Jansen, science writer Mary Roach, Mythbuster Adam Savage, and Pulitzer-winning journalist Thomas Friedman have in common? They are all game-changers: scientists, artists, entertainers, and activists who revolutionized their fields with bold new perspectives and approaches—and they all had transformative, course-setting experiences at the Exploratorium science museum, the San Francisco landmark visited by a million people a year in person and by millions more online. Join them and forty-five more brilliant thinkers and doers in a wonderfully playful, insightful, and sometimes incredibly moving journey to see how you, too, can harness your powers of observation, inquiry, and engagement to be the change you want to see in the world—regardless of who you are or what you do. Interviewees and subjects include: Oscar-Winning Sound Designer Walter Murch on observation Laurie Anderson on art as a way of knowing Memory Expert Elizabeth Loftus on how we learn Oliver Sacks on perception Mary Roach on how she learned to ask the right questions Adam Savage on the fun of finding things out Mickey Hart on the art of playing to learn, and learning to play California Governor Gavin Newsom on the importance of science Community activist Randy Carter on finding joy in the worst of places . . . and dozens more interviews, insights, and activities suggested by artists, scientists, poets, and politicians, in a book that can help you become more creative—and maybe just change the world.

Examines West's artistic achievement by featuring an essay on each of her Revelations paintings.

A well-illustrated collection of Gustav Klimt's work, including text on the artist's life.

A richly illustrated, comprehensive introduction to the visionary artist William Blake. William Blake (1757–1827) is a universal artist—an inspiration to musicians, poets, performers, and visual artists worldwide. By combining his poetry and images on the page through radical printing techniques, Blake created some of the most striking and enduring images in art. His personal struggles in a period of political terror and oppression; creativity, inventiveness, and technical innovation; and vision and political commitment keep his work relevant today. Featuring over 130 color images, this accessible yet comprehensive introduction to Blake’s achievements and ambition includes discussions of his legacy in America; relationship to the medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque artists who preceded him; visionary imagination; and unparalleled skill as a printmaker.

This compelling book chronicles 75 of the most influential artists from the dawn of the 20th century to the present, and from around the world. Each entry provides a fascinating insight into the artist and his or her vision of what they were trying to do, while also acknowledging the lasting effect or impression of their work. Arranged in a broadly chronological order, the book gives a sense of the impact each artist has had on the development of art practice over the last 100 years. Key dates in each artists career are clearly drawn out in the accompanying timeline. Through a combination of lively text and arresting visuals, this is an inspirational and wholly original guide to some of the artists whose vision has helped to shape the modern art world.