Art Work: On the Creative Life

Sally Mann. Penguin Books, (288p) ISBN: 9780241774540. Memoir, read 10/05/25, eBook ★★★★☆

Art Work- On the Creative Life

Art Work- On the Creative Life

I’ve got to admit I have ‘Hold Still’ by Sally Mann on the shelf waiting to be read but this came up on Netgalley and I thought I may as well give this a go first.

Though this is a craft book the craft is explained through memoir and in the most loose of senses. It looks at different aspects of what it takes to be a photographer and then goes down a rabbit hole of experience to show this strength.

Each of the section was a rambling journey through her life that led her to the conclusions on her art that sometimes had very little to do with art itself but for me emphasised that art and life are not two separate spheres but are interlocked and refelct each other.

I was gobsmacked by the trailer incident…

If you are reading this for some technical help or real insight to practice this may not be for you but if you are willing to synthesise the lessons here with the overarching theme of the chapter you can at least get a look at how Sally Mann works.

She has an interesting writing style that does keep you hooked all the way through and the reflections are always edifying.

I really enjoyed the inserts and type-written extra to her friends and families, I also enjoyed how she held little reverence for her own work often penning off notes on the back of ‘failed’ prints.

Overall well worth a read, but more a memoir than a manual so know what you’re going to get.

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Prayers of Steel

Prayers of Steel

Prayers of Steel

Angel of the North (1998), Antony Gormley.

Built at Hartlepool Steel Fabrications Ltd, the use of steel reminds us of the North’s industrial heritage, especially now when steel work is disappearing from the area once more.

A distinctive and well-loved landmark, this is a collection of images (collected from social media) taken from vehicles as they pass the Angel.

These were then transformed into various objects to showcase the position that the statue has gained in the psychogeography of the North of England.

The images were produced as 6×4 photographs, the size used for ‘snapshots’ and on the back of the images were any comments the image maker made and their name.

This has already been show at Palace Arts Gallery in Redcar and Settle Down in Newcastle.

Britain by the Sea

Britain by the Sea

Britain by the Sea

According to the Ordnance Survey, Coton in the Elms is the place that is furthest from the sea in Britain. 70 miles from the nearest coast, 45 miles from the nearest tidal water.

Access to our coast has become limited to those with their own vehicles, the public transport system in Britain has so eroded that access to most of the coastline is now impossible for those without a car.

As with most people I meet I have a hunger for the sea, to be near it, to hear the crash of the waves on a stormy day, to hear the susurration of waves on a pebble beach, to watch the gulls dip and wheel.

Britain has seemed defined by its relationship with the sea. Popular culture has seen many a television programme featuring our coastline and the sea, from Whaling Afloat and Ashore (1908) to The Blue Planet II (2017). Our heroes are seafarers; Sir Francis Drake, the sailors at Dunkirk, Captain Cook, they are often the mainstay of tubthumping nationalism and memories of Empire, but they are still there, deep in the nations psyche.

It is this passion and history I want to celebrate in this project, showing the coastline as I see it in various media; photography, video, prose, poetry, and others as they develop.

Breaking Out

Breaking Out

Breaking Out

I went for a walk around Edinburgh Botanical Gardens a few winters back and was caught by how many plants were trying to press through the glass of the hothouses, I don’t think I’ve really noticed that before.

It was cold and wet out, yet these hothouse plants didn’t want to be confined and wanted to grow as they would even though if they got out they would die.

This is a working title while I explore further.

Edgelands

Edgelands

Edgelands

“First coined by Marion Shoard, the term edgelands refers to those in-between spaces created by urbanisation where space for nature still persists alongside cities, towns, shopping centres, motorways, canals, and so on. These zones sit between urban and rural areas, and they also sit uneasily between the two categories of urban and rural, often defying an easy definition.”

Working in my usual areas of liminal spaces at the edge of towns this seemed like a natural extension of other projects that I’m working on, I will be working on these images (and newer images) to choose which I want to use to represent this idea, book and exhibition.

Art Library

Photography - A Feminist History

Photography – A Feminist History

My personal collection of art books, sitting there on my shelves.

This used to be a little bigger but I decided a while back to concentrate more on later 19th century and onward works, particularly feminist art and photography.

Last updated: 5th January 2025

  • 100 Artists’ Manifestos – Alex Danchev
  • 100 Ideas That Changed Photography – Mary Warner Marian
  • 140 Artists’ Ideas for Planet Earth – Hans Ulrich Obrist, Kostas Stasinopoulos
  • 1001 Photographs You Must See Before You Die – Paul Lowe
  • About Looking – John Berger
  • Abstract Art – Anna Moszynska
  • Aesthetics and its Discontents – Jacques Ranciere
  • Aesthetics and the Sociology of Art – Janet Wolff
  • After Photography – Fred Ritchin
  • American Geography – Matt Black
  • The Americans – Robert Frank
  • Another Country: British Documentary Photography since 1945 – Gerry Badger
  • Art of the Extreme: 1905—1914 – Philip Hook
  • The Art of Feminism – Lucinda Gosling et al
  • Art History: A Critical Introduction to its Methods – Michael Hatt, Charlotte Klonk
  • Art History and its Methods: A Critical Anthology – Eric Fernie
  • Art & Illusion – E.H. Gombrich
  • Art and Its Histories: A Reader – Steve Edwards
  • Art in History – Martin Kemp
  • Art and Photography – David Campany
  • Art in Renaissance Italy – Evelyn Welch
  • Art in Theory: 1648—1815 – Charles Harrison, Paul Wood, Jason Gaiger
  • Art in Theory: 1815—1900 – Charles Harrison, Paul Wood, Jason Geiger
  • Art in Theory: 1900—2000 – Charles Harrison, Paul Wood
  • Art Theory: An Historical Introduction – Robert Williams
  • Art in Theory: The West in the World – Paul Wood, Leon Wainwright, Charles Harrison
  • Art of the Avant-Gardes – Steve Edwards, Paul Wood
  • Art of the Twentieth Century: A Reader – Jason Gaiger, Paul Wood
  • Art Worlds – Howard S. Becker
  • The Artist’s Way – Julia Cameron
  • Bachelors – Rosalind Krauss
  • Basics Creative Photography 02: Context and Narrative – Maria Short
  • Basic Critical Theory for Photographers – Ashley la Grange
  • Beg, Steal & Borrow: Artists Against Originality – Robert Shore
  • Bert Hardy – Tom Hopkinson
  • Body: The Photobook – Nathalie Herschdorfer
  • The Book of Symbols – Ami Ronnberg
  • Bookcraft – Heather Weston
  • A Brief History of Curating New Media Art – Sarah Cook et al
  • A Brief History of Protest Art – Aindrea Emelife
  • British Photographers – Cecil Beaton
  • British Surrealism & Other Realities: The Sherwin Collection – mima
  • Calligraphy for the Beginner – Tom Gourdie
  • The Calligraphy Ideas Book – Lyndsey Gribble
  • Camera Lucida – Roland Barthes
  • Celtic Art & Design – Iain Zaczek
  • Central Saint Martins Foundation – Lucy Alexander, Timothy Meara
  • The Challenge of the Avant-Garde – Paul Wood
  • Civilizing Rituals: Inside Public Art Museums – Carol Duncan
  • Collins Complete Artist’s Manual – Collins*
  • Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory – Patrick Williams, Laura Chrisman
  • The Complete Book of Drawing – Barrington Barber
  • The Complete Engravings, Etchings & Drypoints of Albrecht Durer – Walter L. Strauss
  • Complete Guide to Black and White Photography – John Hedgecoe
  • The Complete Guide to Calligraphy – Professor Ralph Cleminson
  • Complete Guide to Watercolour Painting – David Bellamy
  • Concepts of Modern Art: From Fauvism to Postmodernism – Nikos Stangos
  • Conceptual Art – Tony Godfrey
  • A Concise History of Modern Painting – Herbert Read
  • Confabulations – John Berger
  • Constructing Wooden Images – Carl Van de Velde et al
  • Contemporary Cultures of Display – Emma Barker
  • The Courage to Create – Rollo May
  • Creation: Art Since the Beginning – John-Paul Stonard
  • Creative Acts for Curious People – Sarah Stein Greenberg
  • The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life – Twyla Tharp
  • Creative Handmade Paper – David Watson
  • Critical Terms for Art History – Robert S. Nelson, Richard Shiff
  • Cuba by Korda – Christopher Loviny
  • The Curator’s Handbook – Adrian George
  • Cyanotype: The Blueprint in Contemporary Practice – Christina Z. Anderson
  • Design and Crime (And Other Diatribes) – Hal Foster
  • Difference and Excess in Contemporary Art: The Visibility of Women’s Practice – Gill Perry
  • DO/DESIGN: Why Beauty is the Key to Everything – Alan Moore
  • Documents – Diane Arbus, Max Rosenberg
  • Don’t Get a Job… Make a Job – Gem Barton
  • Douthwaite: Paintings and Drawings 1951—1988 – Third Eye Centre
  • Draw Paint Print Like the Great Artists – Marion Denchars
  • Draw: Conversations Around the Legacy of Drawing – mima
  • The Drawing Ideas Book – Frances Stanfield
  • Drawing Projects: An Exploration of the Language of Drawing – Mick Maslen, Jack Southern
  • The Duchamp Dictionary – Thomas Girst
  • Duchamp Manray Picabia – Jennifer Mundy
  • The Dusseldorf School of Photography – Stefan Gronert
  • The Encyclopedia of Papermaking and Bookbinding – Heidi Reimer-Epp, Mary Reimer
  • English Medieval Tiles – Elizabeth Eames
  • English Stained Glass – Painton Cowen
  • Europeans: Henri Cartier-Bresson – Henri Cartier-Bresson, Jean Clair
  • Everything, All the Time, Everywhere – Stuart Jeffries
  • Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Curating – Hans Ulrich Obrist
  • The Family of Man – Edward Steichen
  • Fra Angelico to Leonardo: Italian Renaissance Drawings – Hugo Chapman, Marzia Faietti
  • Framing Feminism: Art and. the Women’s Movement 1970—1985 – Rozsika Parker, Griselda Pollock
  • The Fundamentals of Drawing: A Complete Professional Course for Artists – Barrington Barber
  • Gaudi: Complete Works – Isabel Artigas
  • Gender and Art – Gill Perry
  • The Genius of Photography: How Photography Has Changed Our Lives – Gerry Badger
  • Geometry of Design – Kimberly Elam
  • German Expressionist Woodcuts – Shane Weller
  • Giotto to Durer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery – Jill Dunkerton et al
  • The Global Art Compass: New Directions in 21st-Century Art – Alistair Hicks
  • Gorbals Children: Joseph McKenzie A Study In Photographs – Joseph MkKenzie
  • Great Women Artists – Phaidon
  • Green Waters – Alec Finlay
  • Handmade Prints – Anne Desmet, Jim Anderson
  • Hayao Miyazaki – Jessica Niebel
  • The History of British Art: 600—1600 – Tim Ayers
  • The History of British Art: 1600—1870 – David Bindman
  • The History of British Art: 1870—Now – Chris Stephens
  • A History of Photography: From 1839 to the present – The George Eastman House Collection
  • Homes Fit for Heroes – Bill Brandt
  • How to Make Books – Esther K. Smith
  • How to See the World – Nicholas Mirzoeff
  • How to Write Art History – Anne D’Alleva
  • Illuminations – Walter Benjamin
  • Image Music Text – Roland Barthes
  • In the Balkans – Nikos Economopoulos
  • In the Darkroom – Sarah Kennel
  • Indie Publishing: How to Design and Produce Your Own Book – Ellen Lupton
  • Ink on Paper: poetry and art – Colette Bryce
  • Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space – Brian O’Doherty
  • Just Draw It! – Sam Piyasena, Beverly Philp
  • Keeping an Eye Open – Julian Barnes
  • Larry Burrows: Compassionate Photographer – Time Life
  • Learn to Paint Watercolours – Alwyn Crawshaw
  • Learning Linocut – Susan Yeates
  • Light: Science & Magic – Fil Hunter
  • Light Matters – Vicki Goldberg
  • Linocut for Artists and Designers – Nick Morley
  • Linocut: Learn in a Weekend – Nick Morley
  • Magnum Magnum – Brigitte Lardinois
  • Make a Zine! – Joe Biel, Bill Brent
  • Making Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures & Forms – Alisa Golden
  • Making Mini Books: Big Ideas for 30+ Little Projects – Kathleen McCafferty
  • Martin Parr – Sandra S. Phillips
  • Masters of the Camera – Gene Thornton
  • Masterworks of Modern Photography 1900—1940 – Sarah Hermanson Meister
  • Medieval Art – Veronica Sekules
  • The Medium is the Massage – Marshall, McLuhan, Quentin Fiore
  • The Meaning of Art – Herbert Read
  • The Methodologies of Art: An Introduction – Laurie Schneider Adams
  • Methods & Theories of Art History – Anne D’Alleva
  • Modern Sculpture – Herbert Read
  • Modern World: The Art of Richard Hamilton – Michael Bracewell
  • Modernism – Richard Weston
  • A Moment in Time: Scottish Contributions to Photography 1840—1920 – John Hannavy
  • Museums After Modernism: Strategies of Engagement – Griselda Pollock, Joyce Zemans
  • Mythologies – Roland Barthes
  • The Nature of Photographs – Stephen Shore
  • The New Art History – A>L> Rees, F. Borzello
  • The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain – Betty Edwards
  • The New Museology – Peter Vergo
  • The New Philistines – Sohrab Ahmari
  • The New Photography – Catharine Reeve, Marilyn Sward
  • North Country Quilts – Dorothy Osler
  • The Northern Renaissance – Jeffrey Chipps Smith
  • Northern Renaissance Art – Susie Nash
  • The Object – Antony Hudek
  • Old Mistresses: Women, Art and Ideology – Rozsika Parker, Griselda Pollock
  • On Art and Life – John Ruskin
  • On Not Being Able to Paint – Joanna Field
  • One Thousand Years of Manga – Brigitte Koyama-Richard
  • The Ongoing Moment – Geoff Dyer
  • On Photography – Susan Sontag
  • Orientalism – Edward W. Said
  • The Origins of Postmodernity – Perry Anderson
  • Oscar Marzaroli: Photography 1959—1968 – Bourne 2010
  • Outsider Art: Spontaneous Alternatives – Colin Rhodes
  • Painters and Public Life in Eighteenth-Century Paris – Thomas E. Crow
  • The Papercraft Ideas Book – Jessica Baldry
  • Photo Art Processes – Nancy Howell-Koehler
  • Photo Idea Index – Jim Krause
  • The Photobook: A History volume I – Martin Parr, Gerry Badger
  • The Photobook: A History volume II – Martin Parr, Gerry Badger
  • Photobox: The Essential Collection 250 Images You Need to See – Roberto Koch
  • The Photograph – Graham Clarke
  • The Photograph as Contemporary Art – Charlotte Cotton
  • Photographers A—Z – Hans-Michael Koetzle
  • The Photographer’s Eye – Michael Freeman
  • The Photographer’s Eye – John Szarkowski
  • Photographers on Photography – Henry Carroll
  • The Photographer’s Playbook – Jason Fulford, Gregory Halpern
  • Photography: A Critical Introduction – Liz Wells
  • Photography: Essays & Images – Beaumont Newhall
  • Photography: A Feminist History – Emma Lewis
  • The Photography Book – Phaidon
  • The Photography Ideas Book – Lorna Yabsley
  • The Photography Reader – Liz Wells
  • Photography Rules – Paul Lowe
  • Photography Speaks: 150 Photographers On Their Art – Brooks Johnson
  • Photography: The Whole Story – Juliet Hacking
  • The Polaroid Book – Steve Crist
  • Portfolio #39
  • Portraits: John Berger on Artists – Tom Overton
  • Practical Course in Watercolour Painting: Composition and Interpretation – Jose M. Parramon
  • Practical Course in Watercolors: Techniques & Color – Jose M. Parramon
  • Principles of Art History – Heinrich Wolfflin
  • Print Workshop: Hand-Printing Techniques & Truly Original Projects – Christine Schmidt
  • Printmaking: A Complete Guide to Materials and Processes – Beth Grabowski, Bill Fick
  • The Printmaking Handbook – Louise Woods
  • The Printmaking Ideas Book – Frances Stanfield, Lucy McGeown
  • Printmaking: Traditional and Contemporary Techniques – Ann d’Arcy Hughes, Hebe Vernon-Morris
  • Propaganda – Mark Holborn
  • Pulled: A Catalog of Screen Printing – Mike Parry
  • Railway Mania – Bonnie Camplin
  • Read This If You Want to Be Great at Drawing – Selwyn Leamy
  • Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs – Henry Carroll
  • Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs of People – Henry Carroll
  • Realism in 20th Century Painting – Brendan Prendeville
  • Regarding the Pain of Others – Susan Sontag
  • Renaissance Art Reconsidered – Carol M. Richardson
  • Renaissance Women Patrons – Catherine E. King
  • Renew Marxist Art History – Warren Carter et al
  • The Return of the Real – Hal Foster
  • The Revolution of Everyday Life – Raoul Vaneigem
  • Revolution on Paper: Mexican Prints 1910—1960 – Dawn Ades, Alison McClean
  • The Rodchenko Family Workshop – Stepanova
  • Rose Frain Survey – Rose Frain
  • The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics – Berys Gaut, Dominic McIver Lopes
  • See Red Women’s Workshop: Feminist Posters 1974&mdash1990
  • The Seeing Eye: The Life and Work of George Oliver – Cordelia Oliver
  • Shades of Grey: Glasgow 1956—1987 – Oscar Marzaroli, William McIlvanney
  • Shades of Scotland 1956—1988 – Oscar Marzaroli, James Grassie
  • Shape of Light: 100 Years of Photography and Abstract Art – Simon Baker
  • Shaping the World – Antony Gormley, Martin Gayford
  • Signs & Symbols in Christian Art – George Ferguson
  • The Sketchbook Challenge – Sue Bleiweiss
  • Sketchbooks: The Hidden Art of Designers, Illustrators & Creatives – Richard Brereton
  • Society of the Spectacle – Guy Debord
  • Stained Glass Basics – Chris Rich
  • The Story of Art Without Men – Katy Hessel
  • Styles, Schools and Movements – Amy Dempsey
  • The Sublime – Simon Morley
  • Surreal Spaces: The Life and Art of Leonora Carrington – Joanna Moorhead
  • Symbols and Allegories in Art – Matilde Battistini
  • The Tarot of Leonora Carrington – Susan Aberth, Tere Arcq
  • Ten Thousand Years of Pottery – Emmanuel Cooper
  • Theory in Contemporary Art since 1985 – Zoya Kocur, Simon Leung
  • Think Like a Street Photographer – Matt Stuart
  • Thinking About Art – Penny Huntsman
  • Thinking About Exhibitions – Reesa Greenberg et al
  • This Means This This Means That – Sean Hall
  • This Pleasant Land – Rosalind Jana
  • Tools and Materials for Calligraphy – Patricia Lovett
  • Tove Jansson – Exhibition Catalogue
  • Trust the Process: An Artist’s Guide to Letting Go – Shaun McNiff
  • Turner: The Vaughan Bequest – Christopher Baker
  • Understanding a Photograph – John Berger
  • Unravelling Women’s Art – P.L. Henderson
  • A Victim of Anonymity – Neil Macgregor
  • Vision and Difference – Griselda Pollock
  • Walker Evans 55 – Luc Sante
  • Watercolour for the Absolute Beginner – Matthew Palmer
  • Watercolour Challenge: Practical Painting Course – Channel 4 Books
  • The Watercolour Ideas Book – Joanna Goss
  • Ways of Curating – Jans Ulrich Obrist
  • Ways of Seeing – John Berger
  • What is Black Art? – Alice Correia
  • What Is Contemporary Art? – e-flux journal
  • What They Didn’t Teach You in Photo School – Demetrius Fordham
  • Why Are We ‘Artists’? 100 World Art Manifestos – Jessica Lack
  • Why It Does Not Have to Be in Focus – Jackie Higgins
  • Why Photographers Prefer Cloudy Days – Haje Jan Kamps
  • Why Your Five Year Old Could Not Have Done That – Susie Hodge
  • Without Day – Alec Finlay
  • The Workshop of Thomas Bewick: A Pictorial Survey – Iain Bain
  • A World History of Photography – Naomi Rosenblum
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