"it's a beautiful world; it deserves to be painted." ~ Gloria Plevin
Gloria Plevin: Art & Essays:
- 106 color reproductions of Plevin's portraits,landscapes, still lifes, and botanicals;
- 14 black & white reproductions;
- Short essays by the artist that provide insight into individual paintings, her artistic development, and her reflections on art, nature, city and country life.
- Essays by art historian William Busta and ARTneo curator Christopher Richards;
- Prose-poem by Cleveland poet Mimi Plevin-Foust
- A full chronology of Gloria’s career.
Selected Customer Reviews for Gloria Plevin: Art and Essays:
Browne Lewis
★★★★★ Come for the Art, Stay for the Stories Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2020
The pictures are so life-like they pop off the pages. The beautiful pictures are accompanied by inspiring essays that take you on a journey through the artist’s mind. This is more than a book about art. It is a book of family stories to which we can all relate. The book will inspire you to tap into your creative side and create your own masterpiece. It is a quick, fun read. I highly recommend it.
Carol
★★★★★ " A Sense of Wonder"
Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2020
"Gloria Plevin: Art and Essays" is page after page after page of stunning artwork. The range of the work included in this compilation is absolutely astonishing--there are luminous landscapes, insightful portraits, precise botanicals, the charm of domestic life with her husband, children, and pets and family, and all manner of media, as Plevin employs acrylics, pastels, prints, and watercolors, each to proper effect.
The essays, a chronology, and some few well-chosen photographs embellish and add context. The essays deserve attention, from the poetic one-sentence entry "About Painting Flowers" to stories of her family's life in 18 years spent in and around Chautauqua. The text also gives interesting insights into the artist's process, as, for instance, the way a portrait must be at once a "reasonable likeness" and also show that "life has happened to this person--joy, pain, sorrow, life passing" and left its mark.
In sum, "Gloria Plevin: Art and Essays" conveys, in her art and in her text, Gloria's "sense of wonder" at life, as well as her recognition of "life's fragility and life's persistence." Get the book as a gift to yourself. Then get another copy as a gift for a friend (thanks, Jules!)
H Wallach
★★★★★ Creativity that provides Joy and Hope
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2020
Gloria Plevin uses her power of observation and artistic skill to capture a moment in time and to celebrate life around us. She allows us to look at our surroundings in a new way, and then to reflect on what we are now encountering. Often the media that she uses for her work allow no room for error: her watercolor painting of a thistle has every part of the plant perfectly in place; intriguing shadows from porch slats are absolutely straight; watercolor vases and pitchers are perfectly symmetrical. Color, highlights, and shadows combine to create the appearance of silver metal that leaves one in awe of the sheer beauty of this object. Simple color and shape relationships evoke the weave of a basket that is transmitted by the
placement and variation of lights and darks. Gloria's conceptualizing, patience, and skill offer a testimony about the innumerable possibilities of creativity--which is such a source of Hope. She believes in living with joy. Her essays and art allow us to do the same.