Pamela Franks

Presenting the richness of Tibetan Buddhist imagery, this magnificent collection explores key concepts and figures in Tibetan Buddhist artwork For centuries, Tibetan Buddhists have engaged with artworks as objects of veneration, guides for meditation, and tools for teaching. The awakened mind of the Buddha is embodied in the forms of Tibetan Buddhist visual culture. Jack Shear is a photographer and president of the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation. He has bestowed more than 60 works of Tibetan art from his collection across three museums: the Tang Museum at Skidmore College, the Frances Lehman Loeb Center at Vassar College and the Williams College Museum of Art. These include traditional thangka, as well as other Buddhist devotional objects. The collection and the corresponding exhibitions thus draw a connection between past and present: between concepts of awakening within the body, the built environment and the landscape. With a rich green clothbound cover and stunning endpapers drawn from the artworks inside, Forms of Awakening is three books in one: a full catalog of the Jack Shear gift of Tibetan art; a scholarly volume of essays exploring the rich possibilities of engagement with Tibetan visual culture, both within and beyond the classroom; and documentation of the three exhibitions celebrating this exceptional gift. This book was published in conjunction with Tang Museum, Skidmore; The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar; Williams College Museum of Art

On the feminist sculpture and interventions of the Guerrilla Girls member and veteran of New York’s 1980s art scene Rising to prominence in the downtown New York art scene of the 1980s and 1990s, Mary Ann Unger (1945–98) was skilled in graphic composition, watercolor, large-scale conceptual sculpture and environmentally responsive, site-specific interventions. Unger was a member of the Guerrilla Girls and is acknowledged as a feminist pioneer of neo-expressionist sculptural form. This monograph brings together 50 images of the artist’s work, often monumental sculpture formed into organic shapes. Taking the reprinting of Roberta Smith's 1999 obituary for Unger as a starting point, the book’s essays provide the first full consideration of Unger, tracing her life, her studies and her network of artists and mentors. This catalog also includes an interview with Unger's daughter, the artist Eve Biddle.

American artist Joel Shapiro (b. 1941) is best known for his monumental wood and metal sculptures of abstracted human forms. Less familiar, however, is his work in a variety of other media—particularly plaster, which Shapiro has turned to repeatedly during his long career. In this fascinating book, Pamela Franks examines how the artist’s explorations in plaster echo throughout his frequently shifting art practice, inspiring works in wood, wire, paper, and other materials. The publication includes pieces ranging in scale from small to room-sized, as well as paper collages, which serve both as inspiration for his sculptural work and as works of art in their own right. Through a close look at all of these objects, the book studies how Shapiro blurs the line between figuration and geometric abstraction, and it documents variations on some of the artist’s most recognizable forms. Installation photographs situate Shapiro’s works in space and in curated groupings. This exciting publication offers readers a thought-provoking investigation of the possibilities to be found in the intersections between different media and between abstract and figurative art.