For centuries, the sampler has been a mainstay of the seamstress's craft, at once a didactic tool, a commercial showcase, and, frequently, a work of art in itself. This beautifully illustrated, accessible book presents a look at some remarkable samplers and offers a concise history of the form as well. Arranged like an alphabet, Samplers from A to Z concentrates on 26 examples, each chosen to illustrate a key facet of sampler artistry. The topic covered range from alphabets, embroidery, and cutwork to landscapes, spot samplers, and whitework. Pamela A. Parmal, who is also curator of the current exhibition of samplers at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, provides an overview of samplers and their role in industry and education throughout their history. This succinct, colorful book is ideal for anyone interested in the technique, history, or astounding beauty and variety of samplers.

Samplers from A to Z

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Parmal, Pamela

Parmal, Pamela A.

Crafts & Hobbies

MFA Publications

Folk art has been part of the American idiom for nearly as long as America has been a nation. Today it remains one of the best-loved and most fervently collected forms of American art, a diverse and authentic vernacular expression. This new soft-cover edition of American Folk presents over 60 remarkable objects from one of the country's most prominent collections of folk art. Included are paintings, carvings, textiles, prints, frakturs, furniture, and utilitarian objects, dating from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century. Such masterpieces as Erastus Salisbury Field's lush The Garden of Eden, E.L. George's surrealistic Child in a Rocking Chair, a complex monumental quilt by former slave Harriet Powers, and Wilhelm Schimmel's extraordinary carved animals appear alongside a remarkable assortment of whirligigs, windmills, decorated chests, figurines and even carousel dogs. Lavishly illustrated, American Folk is a vibrant and engaging introduction to one of the country's proudest cultural traditions. "Many [of these] objects are masterpieces... These works survive as intriguing, often poignant evidence of the circumstances of ordinary lives, and of the need to make art." --Deborah Weisgall, The New York Times

American Folk

Arts & Photography

Ward, Gerald W.R.

Troyen, Carol

Duda, Abaigeal

Reed, Sue Welsh

Shallcross, Gilian Ford

History & Criticism

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Books by Parmal, Pamela