Marilyn Anderson is a long time GJEP friend and supporter, and resident of Rochester, NY . Her newest book is Guardianes de las artes: grabados de artistas y artesanos de Guatemala/ Guardians of the Arts: Prints of Guatemalan Artists and Artisans (2916, Ediciones Del Pensativo, Antigua Guatemala). Produced after years of residence, research and documentation, it graphically celebrates Guatemalan arts and crafts traditions and the artists themselves.
She made her first print in this series of forty three wood and linoleum prints prints in 1995. The book contains reproductions of them, along with twenty five drawings. Each print has an extended bilingual caption in Spanish and English which describe techniques, treat the various uses of the crafts along with history of them and their place in today’s world.
The book also has further background text including a preface, introduction, and acknowledgements, In the back of the book, five short essays, “Supplementary Notes”, give more context to the arts and crafts shown in the prints. They are: 1. “Sustaining Culture”, 2. “Maya Arts and Change”, 3. “Weaving and “La Violencia”, 4. “Ecology and Arts and Crafts”, and 5. “To Treasure and Nurture: Guatemala’s Artists and Artisans”.The book ends with a call to appreciate how ….”the Guatemalan spirit of creative ingenuity and tradition lives on in their craft making”.
A project for children is another of Anderson’s efforts. It consists of an educational coloring book about arts and crafts as an important part of traditional Guatemalan culture.
Anderson has had many exhibits of her prints, drawings and photographs in NYC, Washington DC., Mexico City and Guatemala City among others. She received three NEA awards in the 70s and 80s.
She has produced previous books, two printed in the 1970s, BACKSTRAP WEAVING (1975) AND GUATEMALAN TEXTILES TODAY (1978) along with a third, GRANDDAUGHTERS OF CORN (1988) with co-author Jon Garlock.
Anderson attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, graduated from RIT and obtained her MFA from the Visual Studies Workshop / SUNY Buffalo.
For info on ordering the book contact Greenwood Books +1.585.325.2050
