Search results for ""TARA BOOKS""

Here are India's best-known beasts -- tiger, elephant, deer, snake... rendered by a variety of folk and tribal artists. Each of their artistic traditions conceives of the beast in distinctive ways, as original in the imagining as it is in the rendering. This handmade book is a new updated version of our classic Beasts of India, long out of print. Individually screenprinted on handmade paper, this wonderful introduction to Indian painting styles is an art and book lover's dream.

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"Did we take more than our due?" Weaving his tale around a Gond fable about water, artist Subash Vyam muses on the history of our relationship to this most primeval of elements.

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Fingerprint is a visual fable that celebrates resistance to state surveillance and control. Actual fingerprints, letter-pressed onto the pages of a book, create progressively complex patterns and sequences, transporting the fingerprint from the world of forensics and law into the freeing world of art and imagination. Playful yet provoking, this is both an art piece and a political communique. High-level political issues, such as international borders, immigration and state control, are addressed, simplified and made accessible. A poignant afterword adds to the visual tale; inciting deeper thought.

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Malashka and Akulka, two little girls, are playing together happily when they get into a disagreement... and before you know it, the entire village is involved! This adapted classic about conflict and resolution is printed with Tara Books' vintage letterpress.

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A tribute to the Seed, the basis of all life.Linked by short concise essays, four distinct paper forms explore a diverse set of themes: each designed tocapture a particular aspect of the cosmos contained in a seed.

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A step-by-step guide to art lessons, as well as thoughtful and clear summaries of ideas on art and art teaching.

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"Here’s another book about Frida Kahlo, and this one doesn’t feature even a single original painting. What it does contain are encounters with her– curious, moving, or just fun – from around the world. From Frida fashion dolls to little clay Friditas, all of us at some point have encountered the countless souvenirs, images and mementos that reinvent the great Mexican artist, and keep her alive in popular memory. Her own painting was steeped in Mexican folk art, and the connection has turned out to be curiously reciprocal. Popular artists – not just in Mexico but around the world – have been inspired by her life, art, and persona, to come up with extraordinary and at times very curious tributes to her. The ways in which she is repeatedly re-labeled and re-invented is unprecedented in the world of art. Is this global appropriation of Frida as an icon – Fridamania – just commercial kitsch? Or is there another way of thinking about the phenomenon? Featuring a staggering variety of Frida objects, images and mementoes in every conceivable material, this book traces some of the trails that Frida herself laid... a legacy which allows people to create their own countless versions of her. "

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Trace, flip and bring each animal in this book face to face with his or her twin… What happens next? That’s entirely up to you!

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Zany artist Koki Oguma loves to wander around his neighbourhood in Tokyo, watching people go about their business. Then he goes home with his head full of ideas, and starts to doodle. Sometimes his scribbles take on a life of their own, and he's not sure what they're meant to be. So he talks to them, to find out more, and see what they can be turned into. One day, for example, one of his scribbles turned into a terrific beard. Koki started talking to the beard, and realized that it needed a barber. So he added a barber to his painting. A barber would have fun with this beard. Or would he be nervous? Hmm... read the story and find out!

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This is the story of a Kadar elder who takes a young urban visitor through the tangled woods that make up his ancient home. The book captures an urban nature lover's experience of learning from a forestdweller - and is beautifully illustrated to bring alive the dark richness of an lndian tropical forest.

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This book calls for a re-imagining of global picture book history: with the former Soviet Union at the centre of this narrative web. The result of an unusual collaboration between India and Lithuania, the book looks at two different global impacts of the Soviet picture book enterprise. At a particular period in Indian history, cheaply available Soviet picture books, in English and vernacular translations, changed the way Indian children read. This was part of the Soviet Union's efforts to spread 'socialist' culture across the world. Meanwhile, a different and more problematic kind of cultural 'globalization' was underway in the regions governed by the Soviet State, and Lithuania is a rich case in point.A sumptuous and unusual archive of art has been mined to go with this history: from socialist realist art to classic examples of the Lithuanian primitive-modern, many of the images in the book are featured in an English language publication for the first time.

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Sunny cats, sad cats, grinning cats, bad cats, cats with scowls and cats with jowls ...hand-bound with a silk screened cover, "I Like Cats" features a gallery of irresistible feline characters from some of the best-known tribal and folk artists of India. A delight for cat lovers, art lovers, and artsy cat lovers!

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First published in 1905, German poet Christian Morgenstern's piece is a darkly comic linguistic caprice. Illustrated with punctuation marks, the text is a romp, and yet the political undertones are unmistakable, suggesting systems of menacing control. Rathna Ramanathan's art and design invoke well-known icons, styles and genres of early 20th Century western and Russian art and craft to make a compelling argument about freedom of expression. This handsome hand, silkscreen-printed edition recreates the brilliant conceptual art of the book, with ink, line and paper combining to add depth and texture to every page.

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Bhajju Shyam - a brilliant artist from the Gond tribe in central India - was commissioned to paint the walls of an Indian restaurant in London, and spent two months in the city. The book that emerged from the journey is a visual travelogue of his first encounter with a western metropolis. With radical innocence and great sophistication, Bhajju brings the signs of the Gond forest to bear on the city, turning London into an exotic jungle. This new and fully re-designed edition of the now-classic book marks the tenth anniversary of Bhajju's momentous journey to London.

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What is a good toy? To find out, learn to make your own! Follow the step-by-step instructions in this book, and come up with an unbelievable range of playthings using simple everyday materials. All of them are based on a vanishing tradition of so-called folk toys, which used to be created by small time toymakers from all over India. With clues, poems and jokes thrown in, children will find the instructions easy to follow on their own. Adults working with children will notice how they begin to explore, value and handle physical material intelligently – an important sense to restore in an increasingly virtual world. In addition to toy making, the book also looks at the science behind some of them. A thought provoking last section is meant for adults who would like to think through the complex issues of toys and play in today’s world: how can we enable free and open-ended play which is not tied to expensive products, virtual reality, ready-made stories, or regressive notions of gender?

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Where s my bear? asks a little girl as soon as she comes home from school. But...he s missing! Where could he be? So she sets off to find him, knocking on the door of each apartment in her building. As she climbs higher and higher, she meets all kinds of people, makes a lot of new friends, and sees some strange sights but what about her bear? Will she find him?A child s quest turns into a wonderful adventure that literally unfolds, step by step, into a building full of life. Knock! Knock! is book architecture at its inspired best."

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This unusual art activity book featuring the Indian elephant introduces children to a variety of Indian art traditions. The elephant is imagined and rendered in eight different folk and tribal styles. Through tracing, patterning and coloring the elephants, the child can immerse herself in detailed exploration of styles - or just have fun. Older children will begin to understand that art is as much about the imagination as it is about depiction.

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ln this richly perceptive travelogue, Japanese designer Nao Saito explores the kitchens of South India, bringing together architecture, cookery, and conversation.

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This unusual art activity book featuring the deer introduces children to a variety of Indian art traditions. Through tracing, patterning and colouring the deer, children learn to explore each of the eight distinctive styles in the book – or just have fun. Children also get to experience and understand how art is as much about the imagination as it is about depiction. The book comes with clear and valuable information on Indian art traditions.

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Above the peaks of the Himalaya, Garuda, the divine eagle of the God Vishnu, sees the Lord of Death hastening towards an exquisitely beautiful little bird. He decides to save it, and hides the bird away - but can death be cheated? A haunting parable of love and destiny, printed and bound by hand, and illustrated in the delicate and ornamental Patachitra tradition of Orissa in eastern India.

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The only notebook that is as unique on the outside as whatever you choose to scribble inside, each flukebook is covered with a fusion of eclectic prints and colours, totally original and knock-out gorgeous. Every cover is stamped "Edition 1 of 1" and it's true - you'll never find one flukebook exactly like another. They're impossible to reproduce! Flukebooks are stitched and bound by hand to the highest of standards by Tara Books, whose workshop has produced over 120,000 handmade books. Each flukebook is covered with a distinctive screen-printed test page created during the bookmaking process. These test pages are themselves works of art, and we were unable to face the idea of throwing away such vibrant experiments! We decided instead - in the spirit of recycling - to reuse the test pages to cover our notebooks.

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A retelling of traditional Gond tales about the tiger, illustrated with richly symbolic art - capturing not only the mythic and iconic status of the great beast, but also a time, place and relationship that is lost to us.

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This collection of unusual folklore features the world of the Kadars, a indigenous community in South India. These stories recall ways of living in forest habitats that hold important lessons for all those interested in conservation. Textured illustrations by Matthew Frame bring alive the world of animals and foliage in a tropical forest.

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Part of everyday life, yet rich in symbolic meaning, renderings of the sun and the moon are present in all folk and tribal art traditions of India. They are always in relationship with each other. Agrarian societies keep track of time by referring to markers in the seasonal variations of the sun, moon, and the planets. Over the course of time, they have also woven wonderful stories and myths around them. Here, for the first time, is a collection of unusual stories and exquisite art from some of the finest living artists, on this most universal of themes.

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Chomp, chomp, chomp... who's munching on their lunch?

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A sketchbook that is as unique on the outside as whatever you choose to scribble inside. Covered with a fusion of eclectic prints and colours, stitched and bound by hand, each flukebook is totally original and knock-out gorgeous. Also available as: a pocket-sized notebook (the classic flukebook) and a larger, ruled journal (new!). Each cover is stamped "Edition 1 of 1" and it's true-you'll never find a flukebook exactly like another-they're impossible to reproduce!

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A unique picture book for adults where language, design and politics intersect. First published in 1905, German poet Christian Morgenstern's piece is a darkly comic linguistic caprice. This fun romp populated by punctuation marks as characters nonetheless suggests systems of control that go beyond language. This illustrated edition is a brilliantly inventive dance of text and image, translated faithfully by Sirish Rao, with typographic illustrations by Rathna Ramanathan.

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Pictures from Italy is one of Charles Dickens' earlier works, a fantastic and whimsical foray into the twin worlds of travel and the imagination. Written in the 1840s when he took a respite from the writing of novels and traveled with his family to the continent, it is a travelogue offering a rare glimpse into the life of the great author. In this illustrated edition, Italian artist Livia Signorini takes inspiration from Dickens' words and plays with his sense of place, memory, and politics. The result is a brilliant contemporary dialogue with his work - a reading of history, time and change - which renews our sense of his enduring vision. Pictures from Italy is a tribute to the world of the great master in the 200th year of his birth.

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A cat on a tree, an apple for mewhat else can you see, on this tree?

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Cat is fed up with her tail, and it never does what it should. She now wants a brand new tail, one that she can choose...

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Introducing the latest addition to our flukebook family: the large, unlined sketchbook. A notebook that is as unique on the outside as whatever you choose to scribble inside. Covered with a fusion of eclectic prints and colours, stitched and bound by hand, each flukebook is completely original. Flukebook covers are created from the off-prints of our Book Craft workshop, where each one of our hand silkscreen printed books are born. So aside from being objects of great beauty, they're recycled too. Each cover is stamped 'Edition 1 of 1' and it's true - you'll never find a flukebook exactly like another - they're impossible to reproduce!

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Peek-a-boo... I see... who?

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Gita Wolf and Sirish Rao, Illustrated by Indrapramit Roy Antigone, pious, headstrong and reckless, breaks the law and defies her uncle, King Creon, in order to honour her slain brother. This is an original and dramatic retelling of Sophocles' famous Greek tragedy. Inspired by the pottery of the period, the illustrations recreate the drama of Greek

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The fish is imagined and rendered in eight different folk and tribal styles. Through tracing, patterning and colouring the fish, the child can immerse herself in detailed exploration of styles - or just have fun. Older children will begin to understand that art is as much about the imagination as it is about depiction.

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Sita's Ramayana shifts the point of view of the Ramayana - the saga of a heroic war - to bring a woman's perspective to this timeless epic. Narrated by the heroine Sita, it is a powerful meditation on the fate of women, as they become pawns in the wars between men and kingdoms. But Sita is not just a patient victim of events - she endures her fate with fortitude, until the moment she decides to challenge it. The book unites two women from very different backgrounds: young urban writer Samhita Arni collaborates with Patua scroll artist Moyna Chitrakar. To read the Tara blog about the making of Sita click here

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The Mahabharatha, a great Indian epic, is a compelling chronicle of ambition and destruction. Samhita Arni's re-telling - written when she was just twelve years old - is bold and unorthodox in its depiction of characters, and in the sharply critical tone it adopts towards the epic's main theme: war. Illustrated with charming and intricate line drawings, this book offers a fresh and accessible perspective on this timeless myth. Originally published in the UK as two separate volumes, the book is now available as single combined edition.

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The Night Life of Trees is an exquisite hand-bound and screen-printed book of paintings by three of the finest artists of the Gond tribal art tradition. The Gonds, a tribe of central India, are traditionally forest dwellers. They believe that trees are hard at work during the day providing shelter and nourishment to all. Only when night falls can they finally rest, and their spirits reveal themselves. These luminous spirits are captured in The Night Life of Trees, a fascinating and haunting foray into the Gond imagination. Each painting is accompanied by its own poetic tale, myth or lore, narrated by the artists themselves, which recreate the familiarity and awe with which the Gond people view the natural world. Screen-printed by hand on black paper, every page of this book is an original print. Each book in this limited second edition of 1,000 is individually numbered.

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An accordion-fold book with two versions of the same classic tale by the Brothers Grimm, one that follows the traditional plot line, and the other a contemporary retelling with a twist. Both sides include new possibilities and perils!

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Photographer Mayur Tekchandaney discovers the unexpectedly quiet beauty of Mumbai: the happy coincidences of colour, the lyricism of place names and the energy of its citizens. It is a book of photos and essays serving as tribute to a city that hovers forever between collapse and hope.

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African-American griot retells the Brer Rabbit tales, reclaiming them from their discredited ideology; comes with a music CD/download code

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People from the Rathwa tribe in Gujarat create a ritual wall painting as a way of worshipping their gods Pithora and Pithori, depicted as horses. The creation of Pithora paintings is considered a form of worship, to keep away ill-luck and invite good fortune. To paint is to mirror — and honour — all that has been created in the universe. This sophisticated conception of the transformative power of art has been rendered into a deceptively simple children’s tale by Rathwa artist Harsingh Hamir.

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