Monday, March 06, 2017

57 Wellesley Park

Four of my eight recent edits on This Old House that's been well preserved and needs an additional preservation project.

57 Wellesley Park 57 Wellesley Park

57 Wellesley Park 57 Wellesley Park




Thursday, March 17, 2016

Bartholomew Quill: Hanson / Arnim

Bartholomew Quill: A Crow's Quest to Know Who's Who —and to know what species he belongs to, too. Alternate subtitle reads, A Crow Learns to Tell Who's Who in the Animal World.

Rhyming poetry by Thor Hanson would enchant any reader of any age and be easy to memorize; hand-drawn illustrations from Dana Arnim capture a rather subdued, natural sensibility. In my lifetime I've had only two general biology classes: one in HS and one at university, so I don't know much, but I understand at least some critters have evolved an ability of species recognition that means they know one when of "their own kind" faces them. The first sentence sets the overall scene as it tells us:

"Bartholomew Quill was a crow long ago, when all of the world was new,"

so possibly this book about Bartholomew Quill the Crow tells us a little about the processes of both self-recognition and other-recognition? This could lead to rich discussions about physical traits and behavioral tendencies of household pets, birds on the feeder, critters at the zoo, human classmates and assorted family members.

Cover of the bound book features the exact same artwork and text as the dust jacket, something that's not always the case. I love that both front and back endpapers feature small sketches of all the critters in the book.

"Get More Out Of This Book" includes ideas for Group Discussion, Group Activities, and Independent Activities. You also can get a Teacher's Guide.

my Amazon review: Bart Quill the Crow

Saturday, October 24, 2015

The New Shingled House

The New Shingled House: Ike Kligerman Barkley on Amazon

the new shingled house book coverArchitects John Ike, Thomas A. Kligerman, and Joel Barkley have been partners for twenty-five years.

I'm a graphic designer with an interest in houses, a theologian with a passion for their homemaking implications, so I ordered The New Shingled House―thanks, Amazon Vine! I've long majorly been about The City and Cities, too, and this book enhances my collection of quality printed urban books and city literature. However, the fourteen dwelling places in The New Shingled House are all around everywhere across the vast expanse of the continental USA, and not exclusively in cities. To cite the book description, "the shingled house can suggest the beach, the countryside, the mountains, and even the city."

The 10.3" x 12.3" format, (physically very) heavyweight book is packed full of full-color, mostly full page photographs of interiors and exteriors. It also provides descriptions, commentary, and floor plans. The grand scale of these places impresses me, but possibly part of that impression comes from the perspective of the photographer's camera? The often subtle, usually understated natural colors, materials and textures in every design and production detail of these houses is my idea of elegance! These are models I'd love to draw on and change around to the needs of my own environment.

From any viewpoint, what a wonderfully inspiring resource for designing your own rooms, offices, studios, or almost any work place or living space. Summing up this book and the houses in the book? Fabulous, simply fabulous!

my amazon review: stunning, opulent, brilliant