The Imperative of Beauty Pre-Sale

Visit www.TheImperativeOfBeauty.com to preorder your copy of Barbara Rogers: The Imperative of Beauty.

For a limited time only, we are offering The Imperative of Beauty at a preorder discount of only $50.  This is your opportunity to own the first comprehensive book covering over fifty years of Barbara's life and career as an artist and educator.  

The Imperative of Beauty traces Barbara's earliest influences and education, the shift in her practice following Hurricane Iwa, and her work since that time, which has grown increasingly complex and ambitious.  Three essays examine the evolution of her work.  Art historian Paul Eli Ivey explores the work up until 1985; New York writer and critic Carter Ratcliff sees her work moving from turmoil to serenity; and museum director and curator Marilyn A. Zeitlin considers her approaches to beauty and the tradition of ornament.  Interviews in the artist's own voice reveal the relationship between Barbara's life experience and her art.  

The book not only documents the progress of an individual artist but also reflects the trajectory of women working in the arts in the latter part of the twentieth and early part of the twenty-first centuries, and the challenge facing an artist working in the American West outside the world's major art centers.

While you're at TheImperativeOfBeauty.com, please take a look at our brand new limited-edition 5x7-inch notecards (available soon) and high quality offset-prints produced by the New York Graphic Society.  Both are available exclusively at www.TheImperativeOfBeauty.com.   

We'll have new announcements soon about upcoming events surrounding the release of the book and Barbara's major retrospective at the Tucson Museum of Art, which opens in October 2012.

Tis the Season

We are nearing the end of the fundraising campaign for my first book, Barbara Rogers: The Imperative of Beauty.  We only need to raise an additional $15,000 and with your support I know we can make this dream a reality. We hope you will take this opportunity to join the list of donors who have already contributed to the book.  This is your opportunity to become a patron of the arts and to show your support for me as a woman in the art world.

For a donation of only $250, you will receive a signed copy of the book, as well as recognition on the wall of the Tucson Museum of Art during my upcoming 50-year retrospective in October 2012.

As an added incentive, all donations to the book fund are tax-deductible thanks to our partnership with the Ted Decker Catalyst Fund. 

Please take a moment and consider giving to this project. Any amount you can give will ensure we reach our goal.  This is the last chance you will have to be listed in this once in a lifetime publication.

You can now use the links on this page (and on my website at www.barbararogersart.com) to donate directly to the Barbara Rogers Book Fund via PayPal.  

Thank you again for your support and have a Happy Holiday!

We've Updated our Kickstarter Rewards!

Visit my Kickstarter Campaign to see the updated rewards!

Kickstarter - Spread the word and find out how you can help!

Please take a moment and visit my Kickstarter Campaign to find out how you can help!

Work and Play in Seattle

I have just returned from a week in Seattle, WA working with the amazing team at Marquand Books and trying to enjoy the city at the same time.

The Work Part 

Working with all the various experts involved in creating Barbara Rogers: The Imperative of Beauty has been just one opportunity after another to learn something new and amazing every day of this journey.

Barbara and Leah Finger

I visited the offices of Marquand Books, the designer of my first monographic book, to complete the first stages of color proofing.  Our goal was to proof all of the 150 color images that will be reproduced in the book.   Leah Finger, the production manager, and the members of the staff at Marquand were in charge of my time and efforts at their wonderful space on Second and Union.   

Dave Novacek and Barbara

Dave Novacek of IO Color is an expert at translating everything he is handed into accurate reproductions using the CMYK color model.  Images on a computer monitor are visible in RGB (red, green, and blue) an additive color model, but printing is done in CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and key or black) a subtractive model.  

Adrian Lucia, Barbara, and Zach Hooker

In addition to dealing with all of the images and their difficulties, it also takes patience, years of experience, and a sense of humor to work with an artist who is alive and standing there directly behind you.  I realized that I see color in a different way then a printer.  We had to find words to describe color issues that we could both understand.  I see in paint colors and he sees in CMYK!  We adopted each others language where needed and found relational references from the real world, like the color of a Granny Smith apple.

Proofing booth

I have never done color proofing on this scale before.  Proofing the 150 color plates in my book was not easy.  The biggest help to this entire process was when a painting had been photographed digitally and a proof and print were made that accurately matched the actual colors of the piece.  As much as I can, my new work is photographed by Steve Stayton at Light Mechanics and proofed by Judy Miller.  The technology is fairly new, so many of the 4x5 inch transparencies and slides are not as accurate as one thinks they will be.   My advice to my artist friends is get your early work re-photographed digitally if at all possible.  Also, get your slides and transparencies digitally scanned as soon as possible.  You never know when you will need a good image of a work made earlier in your career.

The Fun Part

I was prepared for walking between my hotel, the offices of Marquand, and all of the great sites in Pioneer Square in the rain, but I never needed an umbrella.  The weather was sunny and perfect for walking up and down hills while drinking hot latte Ventis.  

When I first arrived, walking up the hill by my hotel felt like hiking up Half Dome in Yosemite.  By the end of the week I was running up and down it effortlessly without loosing a step.  It’s amazing how you can stay in shape in a city rather than the suburbs. 

 It was also so nice to be in a new environment for a week.  When you live in the desert, the scream of a seagull is so exciting and exotic.  Being so close to the water in Pioneer Square, you just start to love the sound.  First it scares you, but then it’s accompanied by the smell of the sea and coffee and it becomes a comfort, like the sound of the trolleys in San Francisco.

If I have any advice for those looking to visit Seattle, visit during restaurant week.  All of the best restaurants have incredibly inexpensive tasting menus that are exceptional.  Of all the wonderful food, I feel I must recommend a few: Wild Ginger for fresh Pacific Rim cuisine, Cafe Paloma for all things Mediterranean and middle eastern, Etta’s for great seafood, and dim sum sold on the street in Pike Market. 

 

There was also fabulous art in the galleries in Pioneer Square and at the Seattle Art Museum.  The Waterfall Park in the heart of old Seattle was almost like stepping into an entirely different world.  

Overall it was a very rewarding and educational visit.  I am excited to share all the hard work that has gone into this book with all of you.  We are still on schedule for everything to be sent to the printers in late December and for the books to be finished in April.

The Imperative of Beauty - Donor Update

Book Fundraising Update

We are working hard raising funds for the upcoming publication of Barbara's first book, Barbara Rogers: Imperative of Beauty. This book will be the first comprehensive book on the life and work of this important Arizona and California painter and educator.

Lavishly illustrated, the book will present the full scope of Rogers' life and work with more than 150 color images, interviews with the artist and essays by Carter Ratcliff, Paul Ivey, and Marilyn Zeitlin.  The book is scheduled for publication in May 2012 by Marquand Books.

This project is moving forward successfully thanks to the generous support of:  

Marilyn Abel, Caralee Allsworth, Gloria & Joe Askin, Claudette & John Barry, Ciel Bergman, Elizabeth Bingham, My Boes, Tom Black, Joan Broan, Elizabeth Burden, James & Jackie Brightman, Craig & Dee Caldwell, Jean Cooper, Lucille Lang Day & Richard Levine, Larry Deutsch & Bill Parker, Carolyn DuPont, Anne Ferro, Kate Garner, Michael & Suze Gilbert, Dwaine & Beverly Greer, Eva Harris, Pamela & Charles Hoffmeister, Philip & Debra Jackson, Willie & Margarita Joffroy, Bob & Marilyn Joyce, Stephanie Juneau, Jill Kent, Sue Kornhaber, Sue E Lambert, Mary & Duwayne LeBlanc, Keith & Adrienne Lehrer, Dr Martin & Barbara Levy, Elaine Litvack, Janice MacKenzie, Janet & Gene Mar, Cambridge Financial Group, LLC, Bea Mason, Debbie Meyer, Steve Slayton & Judy Miller, Leslie Miller, Nancy Monsman, Cathy Morrison, Stan M. Osofsky & Sergio Quintor, Patricia Palmer, Ron & Cherie Petersen, Jeanne Porter, Joanne Pritzen, Karen & Don Randolph, Virginia Rezetko, S. Roberts, Vytas Sakalas, Sylvia B. Sass, Sheila & Bo Saxberg, Leslie Schellie, Carrie Seid, Dr Maurice Sevigny, Katherine Smith, MacKenzie Stillwater, Mary Ann Stubbs, Jay & Margaret Suchland, Al Tarlov & Janet Belkin, Deborah Tansey, Diane C Taylor, Dawn Teufel, Belle Tom, Marsha & Bill Wetmore, Paige Williamson, Richard & Susan Wilson, Scott Woods, Marilyn Zeitlin.

If you would like to support the publication of Barbara Rogers: Imperative of Beauty, please contact Barbara at barbararogers@comcast.net or Ted Decker of the Ted Decker Catalyst Fund at ted@tedgdecker.com to find out how you can make a tax deductible donation to help make this book a success.  

UPDATE: Visit www.barbararogersart.com to make an online donation (via PayPal) to the Barbara Rogers' Book Fund through the Ted Decker Catalyst Fund!