Customer Reviews

Kaleidoscope: Ideas & Projects to Spark Your Creativity

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In true "Arts and Crafts" tradition, Kaleidoscope is another elegant AND useful volume for which you will want to find permanent space on your inspiration shelf. A fun 8x10 size and richly designed pages filled with information, observation and art are the first things to notice. Once again North Light has created a publication that rocks the possibility of an "art" book seeming sensuous!
Although the book is introduced and has random thoughts and several articles by Suz, editor and publisher of ARTitude, an enormously popular zine among mixed-media and collage artists, it's literally filled to bursting with "articles" by Sylvia Luna, Elsie Sampson (Chinese Sweatshop), Marney Makridakis (Artella) - nearly three dozen other equally clever and articulate artists and journalers. Additionally, a dozen more artists contributed images alone.
Indexed under Art Technique, Improvisation in Art and Art Psychology, its sections are as diverse as "Mark Making", "Sanctuary", and "Obstacles". Its articles include "Personal Symbols, Found and Made", "Purging for Peace", and "Reluctant Journaling". There are also several projects including an instructional for making a trés swell Packing Tape Purse. Kaleidoscope may not have it all, but it has a LOT.

when i ordered this book it was because suz simantis's name was on the cover. when i got the book yesterday, at first i was a little disappointed because i thought it was more of a "how-to" book of techniques and projects.

Boy was i wrong! i spent the entire night reading this terrific book! it was so much better than a tech book full of projects! it really spurred me on to think of the many excuses that i come up with why not to do art and really puts them into perspective. there are a few projects to do and they were fun, especially julianna coles postcards, but i really got a lot of inspiration reading this book and i picked up my journal for the first time in about 7 months!

this book is well worth the investment and will be on my bookshelf for many years!

I've been waiting for this book to come out, and POUNCED on it when I finally saw it, buying it sight-unseen.

And I'm not disappointed. It's like a full-book-length zine, with contributors who have literally STUFFED the pages with creative encouragement, inspiration, and motivation. All with a decidedly unique style that screams "MAKE STUFF! MAKE STUFF NOW!"

It's not a patternbook. As in, there aren't step-by-step instructions so that you, too, can make the exact same thing pictured, just like everyone else. Instead, it's about the Art of Life and a Life full of Art and better yet...a Life of CREATING. If you've been inspired by the pretty pictures in other books and then ran off and did your own thing with the techniques, you will *love* this book.

It's definitely on my studio table as inspiration fodder, and has been carried into my bedroom for some reading pleasure, as well. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Yes the book is very visual and nice to look at. That's why it gets two stars. Took me about 5 minutes to leaf through as I'm not interested in personal stories, just interesting techniques, which I didn't find. North Light books seems to produce a lot of these, as I "read" another one that was the same situation (5 minute flip-through).

If you want to read someone else's personal journal about their art, while they showcase their art and journaling, intermingled with maybe 10 pages of actual how-to, then this is your book. If you are serious about learning mixed-media collage, try The Crafter's Complete Guide to Collage by Amanda Pearce. I just finished that one and it's discusses everything from supports to materials in a well-presented manner.

This is a fantastic book which I read cover to cover. I have heard of the art zine culture, but never have seen much of it. This book showed me how my art is real and not fake and how I can show it to the world without having to jump through all the hoops that the publishing world gives to those of us who are terrified or believe we are 'fake' artists.

I recommend this book to anyone who does collage, mixed media, ATCs, shrines or even rubber stamp art. It gave me fresh, new ideas to use in my work and also places I would have never thought to work on them. Also, it gives you all the information on how to create your own art zine, be it a one volume zine or a zine that becomes so popular you have multiple issues.

I bought this book after reading all the comments and I must say that I totally align myself with them.
However one thing was not mentioned: the print is VERY small and at times in a "barely black" shade which rendered the reading difficult for this 64 years old woman, even with reading glasses! But wait, the print gets even tinier towards the middle...
That needed to be mentioned but otherwise a luscious book! ( I got my magnifying glass to the rescue)

I had preordered the book before it came out, but I had forgotten about it by the time it came. I dropped everything and spent the weekend reading, reflecting and, most of all, delighting my eyes. The book hit me at the right time, inspiring me both to widen and narrow my focus. I am trying new techniques and evaluating my actual interest in others. The one page on Purging for Peace shows potential for being transformational. The realization and admission that I am never going to actually sew any more, much less quilt, has already freed up a huge space in my home and reduced a burden of guilt. I love this book, but in places the type is hard to read against a decorative background. The book is more inspirational than instructive, but where there are instructions, I wish that they were expanded and more helpfully illustrated.

Creativity books that help spark a dry spell are good for all artists; however, this book just didn't do it for me. The small print and colored areas with print made it hard to read...and no, I don't need new glasses - just got mine last month. I attempted a few of the projects to help stimulate my creative streak that I lost last week and ugh, it just didn't happen. I went to my other books along this theme and felt my urge to create happen again. I guess one could say "different strokes for different folks" as so many others love this book. My advice to artists looking for books to help in this vein, is to get several for 1) some things work and others don't, and 2) using a combination of varying techniques gathered from several books is MUCH better than using one book to stop your stagnant creativity. I also believe that this will also eliminate copycat creative artwork in whatever media you work in. Maybe if this book's print size/type and page ornamentation were different, I might give it a higher rating, but at this time, I will go back to my other books for the help I need...when my dry spell hits again (hopefully not!).

After reading all the five-star reviews I see I am in the minority, since I didn't lovelovelove this book. I bought it without seeing it as I really admire some of the artists whose work is featured. Before I started to read, I flipped through to see the images (always do that) and was kind of surprised by how messy the layouts appeared; my eye couldn't find a place to land. I have been a professional designer for a long time, and I found the pages over-saturated with images, making it hard to focus, and the colors just kind of dissonant. Although I did like the photos of the stand-alone art as you could clearly see it and enjoy it. Although each page had artist credits for the work that introduced each chapter, you couldn't tell who did what as they were all layered together. I might not be a zine kind of gal, since almost everyone else seemed to love the exact things I don't seem to appreciate. I did buy the book to read about the individual artists creative ideas and about how they work, and I felt very satisfied about that part. But some of the projects looked, well, not that original. This might be because over the pasts few years I have bought several books of this nature, plus have been reading Cloth, Paper, Scissors (a MUST-read magazine with tons of inspiration and suggestions for artists)and there are just so many techniques that exist. I've seen some of these artist's work frequently reproduced elsewhere, and maybe that's my problem. I actually find it more helpful to look at art done in other mediums, like classic oil painting, when I need to get going on something. If you haven't read too many of these books, I would say this could be a great way to start, but you might find it "more of the same" if you know many techniques or these artists work. I find the websites of particular artists more inspiring, actually. Lynne Perrella, whose work I really admire and enjoy, has a fantastic site where you can read some of her thoughts and see journal pages, paintings, shadow boxes, etc. [...] And no, I don't know her!!! This isn't a plug. I would say that if you have a little extra dough, adding this to your arts bookshelf certainly couldn't hurt.

This is an exceptional book. It has some of the best stuff I've ever read (and I've read a lot) on the creative process. Highly recommend it to all artists.