Artobiography [Perfect Paperback]

Don Seiden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2007

Don Seiden's Artobiography, an unorthodox graphic novel, illustrates his life's journey with art, covering a span of years from 1927 to 2006, the year that Seiden's 100-year-old mother died.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Don Seiden's Artobiography is a delightful visual and narrative romp through the landscape of one man's memories. . . . Seiden offers his candid, flawed, oh-so-human self so that as readers we can locate ourselves. . . . This is a book about love, life, and relationships, and about how art can serve as the binding force to hold it all together. --Catherine Hyland Moon, author of Studio Art Therapy

In Artobiography, renowned artist and educator Don Seiden relates his life story through beautifully detailed pen-and-ink drawings and hand-written captions. Using the conventions of the graphic novel, Seiden takes the reader on a decades-spanning rollercoaster ride. Exploring issues of identity, family, career, sex, alcohol, and the search for meaning all fueled by the artistic impulse Artobiography is a fascinating no-holds-barred account of an eclectic artist who embodies the bohemian ideal. --Josh Neufeld, author of A Few Perfect Hours

About the Author

Don Seiden is an artist, art educator and pioneer of art therapy in the Midwest. His artwork has appeared in over thirty-five solo and group shows as well as in private collections, and his work and home have been featured in numerous local and national publications. In addition to founding the art therapy department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he has also served as a former chair for the sculpture, art education and art therapy departments at SAIC. Seiden is co-author of Direct Metal Sculpture and author of Mind Over Matter and the forthcoming Art Works. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Jackie.

Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 95 pages
• Publisher: Fisheye Graphic Services, Inc (June 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1424306248
• ISBN-13: 978-1424306244
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.7 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,540,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A life well-lived..., May 27, 2011

By 

Heidi Wodrich (Lake Villa, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Artobiography (Perfect Paperback)

We all have photographic clips and memories of our lives; this book is a brave, raw exposition of one man's life in pictures. Don, besides the fact that he is my father, is a man who understands the ever-changing landscape of life, accepts the challenges and molds the opportunities he is given into gifts for others. I am grateful for the chance to see through his eyes exactly what life has meant to him, and continues to mean. Being drawn by him was an honor... and I recommend the book to anyone who has had the courage to express their inner self through art, or has had Don's caring, encouraging influence in their lives.

5.0 out of 5 stars An extraordinary life story, highly recommended., October 6, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Artobiography (Perfect Paperback)

Artists, art educator, and art therapy trailblazer Don Seiden presents his own biography in a most unusual format in Artobiography. Artobiography is neither a typical written book nor a typical graphic novel; each page is divided into three or four sections, and each section features a black-and-white sketch of a scene from Seiden's life, with a brief yet appropriate caption written in cursive longhand. "Rush Hospital had a reputation as an elitist institution surrounded by a poor black community. The Department of Psychiatry asked me to design an art program for disadvantaged children using our facilities. I worked with 'Hats' Adams, a gang worker and we opened an exciting new program called 'Mile Square' art experience." An extraordinary life story, highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars A review of Artobiography, August 6, 2007

By 

Lani Gerity Glanville "Puppetmaker" (Prospect, Nova Scotia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Artobiography (Perfect Paperback)

Have you read many graphic novels? Here's one that reawakened a very long dormant interest in the whole serial image, comic, storyboard genre. Artobiography, by Don Seiden.

Seiden described the process of writing this book as first drawing the cartoon-like pictures, the memory images of his life, in these little boxes. Once he had his life illustrated graphically, he went back and added the text, looking at each image carefully and creating a condensed text block to go under the image box. For Seiden, the value of the book was in the way it documents his pursuit of meaning through art making. He described art as a constantly available friend to "talk to" about his experiences, a kind of vehicle for containing and understanding feelings and thoughts, and a way to recognize and resolve problems. It seemed that creating art, maybe even creating this book, helped Seiden appreciate and even love his life, the people in it, and himself a little more clearly, deeply, and intensely.

As I read Seiden's book, thought about what was included, and imagined what was excluded, I began to wonder about this format, how well it might work in the art room as an organizing and grounding tool. I wondered about the idea of gentle interventions, how easily a narrative might be expanded on, altered, or have parts emphasized or de-emphasized when told with storyboards or little cartoon boxes.

The only limitation of this book relates to its format, in that the images are black and white, hand drawn, and small. With the artwork Seiden describes, the reader will likely want to see more, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Fortunately Seiden's website has excellent photographs of his art work.