Companeras: Women, Art, & Social Change in Latin America

San Francisco, California, U.S.A.: City Lights Books, 1991. Third Printing . Trade Paperback. Very Good. 7 1/2" X 10. 126 Pages. January 1991 Edition. Tight bright book with nor marks or stamps. Interior text pages are flawless. Illustrations on every page, some in color. Betty LaDuke brings together in Companeras the personal stories and recent work of contemporary artists in the Caribbean, Central and South America. These urban and rural women, who work in such diverse situations as those in Haiti, Chile, and post revolutionary Nicaragua, are dramatically reshaping crafts and fine arts in a period of rapid political and economic change. This representative survey of fourteen countries includes professional painters and sculptors of the big cities, self-taught painters, and women who work in a variety of crafts media. Here are Brazilian lace makers, Amazonian potters, Bolivian and Guatemalan weavers, birthing doll makers in Peru. Some artists are determined to retain high standards in traditional arts and take pride in an ancient heritage; some are inventing new media or making startling innovations in old ones. What comes through strongest is the passion with which these women make material their vision of the world and with which Betty approaches them and their work. Somewhere in the sharing of that passion, a spark is flared and we, the readers, are caught up in the excitement of this art, these artists. Margaret Randall LaDuke's book is a valuable, first-hand account of important American art that most Americans know nothing about. She makes continental connections between ancient past and modernizing present, between so- called arts and crafts, popular, and fine arts. Read, learn, and hope.