Magical Secrets About Thinking Creatively: The Art of Etching and the Truth of Life Hardcover – April 1, 2006

The "Magical Secrets" trilogy is a must have for printmakers. The series includes thinking creatively, etching & engraving and aquatint. When I showed these books to my printmaking instructor and fellow students, they went positively "ape". The janitor asked us if we were trying to revive a dead art. "No", I replied, "Kathan Brown's Crown Point Press has already done this." Included are wonderful reproductions of contemporary printmaker's works which illustrate the technical possibilities of the medium. These three books are the best current sources on the market.

I really enjoyed this book-it doesn't have a lot of overly excited motivational talk like some other books about creativity. Kathan Brown simply lists the "magical secrets" of the title, ones that she learned by observing artists doing work at Crown Point Press, her printmaking studio. She illustrates the "secrets" through describing how different artists express them in their working habits.I learned more about printmaking, about how artists approach working in a new medium, (many had not done printmaking before coming to Crown Point Press), and most of all, I came away stimulated to try new things in my own work. A lovely book--highly recommended.

Get it and get inspired to print! Beautifully written with lots of ideas. I cannot recommend this book enough to everyone!

It may not be fair to critique a book that is not what I expected to be. Perhaps the better course may be to critique the presentation. The attempt is both narrow and superficial. The topics of creativity are just that, topics, without delving into what they mean and the explanations about the art of etching are also superficial. If one read the glossary in the back of the book you would pick up what information was available in the body of the book. I would not take the time to read this book if your are looking for etching information or exploring the topic of creativity.

Nice book, but DVD was missing

Brilliant Book

Good info, but not much use for professional printmaker.

"As John Cage said,'Our lives are changing to the point where people may have their own lives rather than lives that society has given them second-hand.' Art is in the forefront of changes in society, and artists are the best people we can ask about ways to take hold of our own lives by thinking creatively."-Kathan BrownKathan Brown, the founder of San Francisco's Crown Point Press, has an important book out - "Magical Secrets about Thinking Creatively: The Art of Etching and the Truth of Life". The book is put together as a series of thirteen creative secrets gathered from working with contemporary artists as they created etchings at Crown Point.Wayne Thiebaud's corresponding creative secret is to cultivate sensuality. Richard Diebenkorn's is getting into the flow. Shazia Sikander's is to use every tool. Robert Bechtle's key is to know what you don't want. And provocatively, John Cage's work hinges on letting chance take a role in the process by not knowing what you want.Kathan writes clearly about the process of creation, the decisions involved, and the benefits of collaboration. The mix of artistic styles among the artists discussed is refreshing and inspiring. A colleague of Dorothy Napangardi, an Aboriginal artist from Australia, provides a comment on art that resonates deeply:"I am not painting just for my pleasure. There is meaning, knowledge and power."A website - "Magical Secrets" - has been developed to go along with the book: http://www.magical-secrets.com

Absolutely brilliant book just wished that it had the original dvd in it.