The Everyday Work of Art: Awakening the Extraordinary in Your Daily Life [Paperback]

Eric Booth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 9, 2001

A Book of the Month Club Selection, and winner of the Broadway Theatre Institute and Benjamin Franklin awards, The Everyday Work of Art has earned a wide, varied and passionate followingin the arts, education, business, and spiritual communities. Its wide appeal springs from its unique and powerful redefinition of art. This is more than the nouns of art that fill museums and concert halls. This is the art in which all people engage in bits and pieces throughout the daywhenever we use the same verbs of art that artists use. The Everyday Work of Art illuminates the artistry we all practice, and it enables us to reclaim the fun and satisfaction that is already happening unnoticed right under our noses. Discover why Yo-Yo Ma calls this book a joy to read and why critics, celebrities, artists, educators, philosophers, students and parents have become enthusiastic readers and practitioners of The Everyday Work of Art.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Much more than the usual feel-good book about yourself that nowadays passes for psychology, The Everyday Work of Art is full of wisdom and common good sense. You dont have to be an artist to want this book on your shelf--and on the shelves of all those whom you care about. Absorbing and uplifting...and highly recommended. --Art Times

The Everyday Work of Art is a pleasant surprise. The vast majority of books written about art examine what individuals, whether artist or audience, bring to art, and almost always from a specialized or professional point of view. It is refreshing to read a book about art that opens the field to generalists and examines what art brings to us. --Artspeak

Eric Booths The Everyday Work of Art shows us all in hundreds of ways that perhaps the greatest art is the art of living. This book provides an insightful look at the wonder with which we can approach our lives and reminds us of the importance of perceiving the extraordinary in the ordinary. It was a joy to read. --Yo-Yo Ma

This book will help all readers to see, appreciate, and understand our world, and, will give them skills needed to improve it. --Library Journal

Eric Booth understands what art is about and communicates that knowledge with great clarity and verve. The Everyday Work of Art is a ringing and liberating answer to the killer question, What good are the arts, really. --Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow

This book is important, taking us in a direction weve forgotten or ignored. I hope it will remind us of the necessity of the arts for the growth and health of the human spirit. Eric Booth has done a great service, and I thank him for it. --Madeline LEngle

Booth shares his rich experiences as an artist and an educator and his love for experiment and innovation in this creative approach to daily life. --NAPRA Review

What a thrilling book this is--passionate, provocative, and profoundly useful. One of the finest explorations of creativity ever written, it restores our sacred birthright as artists. Eric Booth shows us how creativity is as natural as breathing, how the things of ordinary life are there to be orchestrated by us into art and wonder. --Jean Houston, author of A Mystic Life and Passion for the Possible --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

A successful Broadway actor for a decade, Eric Booth launched a business that became the largest of its kind in the United States. He also began teaching, which led to programs he started at Juilliard, Lincoln Center Institute, The Kennedy Center, and Tanglewood. Described as a Renaissance man and a master teacher, he is a frequent keynote speaker and tireless advocate for the arts.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (August 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595193803
• ISBN-13: 978-0595193806
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #455,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational, April 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Everyday Work of Art: Awakening the Extraordinary in Your Daily Life (Paperback)

This book was an unexpected gem! From the opening words, through the very last chapter, I was caught up in how well the author was able to translate the sometimes esoteric world of creativity for the everyday person. His down-to-earth style helped the subject come alive and after reading the Everyday Work of Art, I feel I can start living more creatively. As a side note, the book's cover, with it's clever cut-outs, compliments the book very well. A supurb package and read!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There Aren't Enough Stars, July 21, 2007

By 

Edwin E. Jewett (Haverhill, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Everyday Work of Art: Awakening the Extraordinary in Your Daily Life (Paperback)

I logged on here to get a link and some other data in order to be able to tell others about this book. (I've been telling others about it for a long time now.) I discovered that there are only two reviews (!?) for this book here. Let me hasten, then, to add mine:

This ought to be required reading for every individual before they graduate from high school.

Of all the books that I recommend to others (of which there are many), this remains at the very top of the list...numero uno.

Of the over 200 books I have read on the use of one's mind, body and spirit to achieve and create excellence in one's pursuits of life, this provides the most complete survey of how to use one's sensory intake --how to pay attention -- than the rest.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read, October 2, 2001

By 

Anne Sheedy-Gardner (Lincoln, NE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Everyday Work of Art: Awakening the Extraordinary in Your Daily Life (Paperback)

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. In very
clear and insightful language, Booth reveals the wonder
of "experiencing" the art of living. Over and over
again, I experienced "Ah, Hah" moments while reading
this book. This book would make an ideal gift.