I have just received my pre-publication copy of 500 Art Quilts, by Lark Publications. It's a fascinating book, which is too small in format and has too little information about the quilters who made the 500 quilts. Lark publishes lots of craft books and does a lovely job of reproduction and sometimes a barely adequate editorial job. The latter is the case with this book [but for $16.95 from Amazon, I'm very happy to have these quilts to look at, if not study in detail because many are reproduced too small]. Yes, I"m quibbling and bitching.
The art quilts are extremely various and I'm happy about that. I've only got a short way into the book and already have put post-it type indicator notes on a few that I want to consider for inspiration on "some day" projects. Photos are never adequate for telling me what a quilt is really like. Nothing but the real thing, where I can look at the texture, the stitching, the surface, the true colors, in short seeing the actual quilt, is adequate. Given that fact, I can't see all these quilts but I can get some idea. The great diversity of quilt artists is always exciting and inspiring.
By the way: Lark has a series of craft books, the "500" series, although some are 400, some range up to 1000 [rings, for example] They're not perfect but it is a great service to those of us who love crafts of many types.
