State of the Arts
California Artists Talk About Their Work
Published on 21. April 2005
Book
Paperback/Softback
382 pages
978-1-56663-631-5 (ISBN)
Description
If California is a state of mind, Barbara Isenberg's interviews with more than fifty of California's prominent painters, writers, composers, architects, directors, and performers help explain why. They include Dave Brubeck, Joan Didion, Clint Eastwood, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Frank Gehry, David Hockney, Randy Newman, Maxine Hong Kingston, Luis Valdez, Larry Gelbart, Matt Groening, Robert Graham, Carol Burnett, Michael Tilson Thomas, and many others. Some were born in California; others came from afar for its light, space, natural beauty, and opportunity. In these conversations, they talk about how they became artists and how living in California influences their work. They offer a kaleidoscopic view of the many ways that environment affects and nurtures the creative process.
Reviews / Votes
Reading these interviews is like eavesdropping on the artists' ruminations. * The New York Times * The book is the single best example of how creativity inspires creativity in the hothouse environment of California. * Los Angeles Times * Probing interviews...plumbs the qualities of the Golden State that inspire those who were born or moved there. * Time * Even as a non-Californian, I find great delight in reading this book, and in the richness and contributions its heroes have made in life. -- Studs Terkel Her book is filled with wonderful insights and anecdotes-funny, moving, and fascinating. -- Milton Esterow * Artnews * Interesting and eclectic...this is an illuminating book. * Library Journal * A vivid sampler of perspectives on California's unique and inspiring ambience and its significant contribution to world culture. * Booklist * Isenberg's approach, to simply transcribe and edit her interviews, results in frank, deeply personal narratives, each in its distinctive voice. -- Erin Lindholm * Performances * These diverse firsthand stories...make great reading. -- Patricia M. Hancock * Naea News *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Chicago
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
619 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-56663-631-5 (9781566636315)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Barbara Isenberg has been writing about the arts for the Los Angeles Times since 1976 and is a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal. Author of the critically acclaimed Making It Big: The Diary of a Broadway Musical, she has received a Distinguished Artists Award from the Los Angeles Music Center and has been a Getty Visiting Scholar. She lives in Los Angeles where she is associate director of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities at the University of Southern Califorina.