Rhode Island has about seventy public libraries and branches. The catalogs of these libraries are connected by Ocean State Libraries (OSL), a nonprofit organization located in Warwick, RI. The OSL Catalog can be searched and with a library card you can request that materials be sent to your local library for you to borrow. The North Kingstown Arts Council has found the materials in the OSL Catalog cited below to be beneficial to people pursuing greater appreciation and capability in the arts.
VISUAL ARTS
Architecture
Agricultural; commercial and industrial; domestic/residential; educational and public welfare; governmental; military; recreational; religious and commemorative; urban design.
Rybcyzynski, Witold. How architecture works: A humanist toolkit. NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013.
Decorative Arts and Crafts
Basketry; ceramics; enamelwork; floral decoration; furniture and accessories; glass design; interior design; jewelry; laquerwork; metalwork; mosaic; pottery; rugs, carpets and tapestry; stained glass.
Craft in America Collection. Seasons one to three. Los Angeles: KCET/PBS, 2011. Seven hours on three videodiscs. Three or four artists featured per one hour program.
Craft in America. Season four. Los Angeles: KCET/PBS, 2012. One hour.
Drawing
Animation; caricature, cartoon, comic strip; cartography and mapping; drafting; figures and still-life, landscape; nonrepresentational; portrait.
Hart, Christopher. Basic drawing: Made amazingly easy. NY: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2012.
Pomfret, Richard. The wrinklies’ guide to drawing: New pursuits for old hands. London, Prion, 2012.
Functional Design
Body decoration; clothing design; coin and currency design; household object design; industrial design; jewelry; mechanical and electrical object design; museum and gallery display; plaything display.
Koplos, Janet. Makers: A history of American studio craft. Chapel Hill, NC: 2010.
Garden and Landscape Design
Private and residential; public.
Mola, Francesz Zamora, editor. 1000 details in landscape architecture: A selection of the world’s most interesting elements. Richmond Hill, Ontario: Firefly Books, 2012.
Graphic Arts
Advertising art and design; calligraphy; printing arts: bookbinding, book cover design, typography and layout; sign and symbol design.
Keys, Wendy. To inform and delight: The work of Milton Glaser. NY: Arthouse Films / New Video, 2008.
Mixed Media
Assemblage; collage; decoupage; found objects; frottage.
Kahn, Sherrill. Mixed-Media master class with Sherrill Kahn: 50+ surface-design techniques for fabric and paper. Lafayette, CA: C&T Publishing, 2013.
Painting
Abstract; cave; historical; landscape; miniature; mural; portrait, screen; still-life.
Callaghan, Timothy. One painting a day: A six week course in observational painting. Beverly, MA: Quarry Books, 2013.
Tate, Elizabeth. American artist guide to painting techniques. Loveland, CO: Interweave Press, 2011.
Photography
Aerial; astronomical; digital; holography; landscape; photojournalism; portrait; radiography, still.
Kelby, Scott. The digital photography book: Part 1. San Francisco: Peachpit Press, 2013.
Kelby, Scott. The digital photography book, Part 2: The step by step secrets for hot to make your photos look like the pros. San Francisco: Peachpit Press, 2013.
Printmaking
Engraving; etching; intaglio; lithography; relief; serigraphy; woodblock; woodcut.
Pogue, Dwight W. Printmaking revolution: New adventures in technology, safety and sustainability. NY: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2012.
Sculpture
Decorative; nonrepresentational; representational.
Manca, Joseph, Patrick Bade and Sarah Costello. 30 millennia of sculpture. NY: Parkstone Press, 2011
Schwake, Susan. 3-D art lab for kids: 32 hands-on adventures in sculpture and mixed media. Beverly, MA: Quarry Books, 2013
PERFORMING ARTS
Dance
Ballet; modern, social.
Anderson, Janet, editor. Modern dance. NY: Chelsea House, 2010.
Vaughan, Carolyn. Invitation to ballet: A celebration of dance and Degas. NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art / Abrams, 2012.
Wright, Judy Patterson. Social dance: Steps to success. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2013.
Music
Folk; instrumental; choral; theater; jazz; popular; world; instruments.
Blankinsop, Ian and fourteen others. [DK Smithsonian] Music: The definitive visual history. NY: DK, 2013.
Burkholder, J. Peter, Donald Jay Grout and Claude V. Palisca. A history of western music, 7th edition. NY: Norton, 2006.
Motion Pictures
Comedy; documentary; drama; musical.
Osbourne, Robert. 85 years of the Oscar: The official history of the Academy Awards. NY: Abbeville Press, 2013.
Opera
Rose, Michael. The birth of an opera: Fifteen masterpieces from Poppea to Wozzeck. NY: Norton, 2013.
Popular Entertainment
Thompson, Ethan and Jason Mittell, editors. How to watch television. NY: New York University, 2013.
Theater
Comedy; drama; musical.
Henderson, Amy and Dwight Blocker Bowers. Red, hot and blue: A Smithsonian salute to the American musical. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996.
Kantor, Michael and Laurence Masion. Broadway: The American musical. NY: Bulfinch Press (Time Warner), 2004. Six part documentary and companion book both highly recommended for excellent overview of the history of Broadway. Segments introduced by Julie Andrews.
ART HISTORY, THEORY AND MORE . . .
History
Dickerson, Madelynn. The handy art history answer book. Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press, 2013. This new art history book in question and answer format addresses world art, not just western art.
Hughes, Robert. American visions: The epic history of art in America. NY: Knopf, 1997.
Art Theory and Criticism
Barnet, Sylvan. A short guide to writing about art, 9th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2008.
Barrett, Terry. Why is that art? Aesthetics and criticism of contemporary art. NY: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Freeland, Cynthia. But is it art? An introduction to art theory. NY: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Gayford, Martin and Karen Wright, Editors. The Grove book of art writing: Brilliant writing on art from Pliny the Elder to Damien Hirst. NY: Grove Press, 2000.
Literature
Barnet, Sylvan and William Cain. A short guide to writing about literature, 10th edition. NY: Pearson/Longman, 2006
MacGregor, Neil. Shakespeare’s restless world: A portrait of an era in twenty objects. NY: Viking Press, 2013.
Periodicals
At the North Kingstown Free Library: American Craft; Antiques; Architectural Digest; Art in America; Art New England; Artist’s Magazine; Guitar Player; Knitters; Paper Crafts; Poetry; Poets & Writers; Popular Photography; Quilters Newsletter; Sheet Music; This Old House; The Writer. Also, the New York Times, The Nation and the New York Review of Books as well as similar magazines such as Harpers often have arts articles.
At the Jamestown Philomenian Library: Artnews
At the Providence Public Library: Artforum
Museums
Loebl, Suzanne. America’s art museums: A traveler’s guide to great collections large and small. NY: Norton, 2002.
Art on the Web
College Art Association of America. The principal professional association in the United States for practitioners and scholars of art, art history, and art criticism.
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Excellent detailed coverage of world art.
Smarthistory by the Khan Academy. View artworks and hear art historians discuss the artworks.
Films about Art
Amadeus. 1984. Best picture Oscar winner depicting the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The Girl with a Pearl Earring. 2003. Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer is portrayed by Colin Firth and the girl with a pearl earring is portrayed by Scarlet Johansson. Based on a novel by Tracy Chevalier.
Klimt. 2006. Biopic about Austrian painter Gustav Klimt using flashbacks as he lies in bed in a Viennese hospital dying of pneumonia. John Malkovich portrays Klimt.
The North Kingstown Arts Council Library Resources Page is curated by NKAC member Guy Lefebvre