Customer Reviews

The Mayan Design Book (International Design Library)

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If you are even remotely interested in the fascinating culture of the Maya than this book will more than peak your interest. It is not a significant historical document, but rather features some of the most intriguing drawings from the mysterious culture. The drawings themselves are masterful black and white details of Maya life. The drawings are a young educators dream, the pictures would make good reproductions for distribution for students to use. For students, the possibilities are endless, but one thing that can be done is use them for a mural or enlarged drawings. While teaching, I used these drawings for that purpose and students created giant posters that they worked on in groups in their FREE time during lunch and later were displayed for festive occasions celebrating cultural heritage. Anyway, the drawings are really nice and bold and full of ideal designs for graphic artists, craftspeople or any type of visual artist to translate into a new work of art. The exotic pictures are not without some written word as the author gives a brief overview of the culture. The book begins with an excerpt from the Mayan book "The Popul-Vuh. " Each page is numbered in English and Mayan for an addional bonus for students. An explanation is given regarding the number system and the complex calendar as well as the omens associated with each day. Many of the drawings come from details in the huge stellae, thoses monuments to a forgotten time found in the remote jungles of places like Tikal and throughout the Yucatan and Honduras. The drawing are rich in detail and some require extensive looking at to "find" all the elements of exotic intrigue. Bits and pieces can be used to create your own design or for an inspiration for something new. A truly fascinating small book with unlimited possibilities for the creative person to unleash their skills.

I haven't gotten to this as a project yet but the illustrations are very clear, and I look forward to working with the patterns for a mural project this winter.