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New Releases: Fall 2023

Books about your brain on art, artist and designer Rogan Gregory, and British studio pottery

By Jon Spayde
September 13, 2023

Fall 2023

Books

Free To Read

STUDIO CERAMICS: BRITISH STUDIO POTTERY 1900 TO NOW
By Alun Graves, foreword by Tanya Harrod
Thames & Hudson, 2023
$85

This book (pictured above), by a Victoria and Albert Museum curator, is both a history and a definitive reference work on how British ceramics made their radical contribution to modern art. Text that sums up the movement succinctly is followed by excellent color photos of major works, 1909–2019, in chronological order. The second half of this 400-page tome presents accounts of major makers alphabetically, from Jerome Abbo to A. and J. Young.

YOUR BRAIN ON ART
By Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
Random House, 2023
$30

This book’s bold assertion is that, beyond inspiring thought, enhancing sensibilities, and building community, the arts “can . . . fundamentally change your day-to-day life. They can help address serious physical and mental health issues, with remarkable results. And they can both help you learn and flourish.” The art-brain nexus that does these things is termed neuroaesthetics, and Magsamen and Ross introduce the reader to it with loads of scientific evidence.

ROGAN GREGORY: EVENT HORIZON
By Rogan Gregory
Monacelli, 2023
$60

The curvy, blobby, bio- and geomorphic forms of design-consultant-turned-artist Gregory reflect his passion for geology, ecological systems, and evolutionary biology. His furniture and sculptural works, executed in materials ranging from wood, stone, and bronze to innovative aggregates, receive deluxe treatment here: page after lush page of images are interrupted only occasionally by short essays by experts, including his father, social historian Stanford W. Gregory, and his sister, biologist Tremaine Gregory.

Learn more about Rogan Gregory in our interview with him, and in our feature article The Illuminators.

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