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Altars and Icons

Sacred Spaces in Everyday Life By Jean McMann

7-1/2 x 7-1/2 in; 124 pp ; 50 color photographs
Hardcover
Published in April, 1998
ISBN 0811818160
ISBN13 9780811818162
Sorry, this book is out of print. Please contact alibris.com for limited availability.

$16.95  

Altars and Icons -- Don't we all crave a refuge from daily life, a haven of tranquility, regardless of our creed? Altars and Icons draws together 40 eclectic personal shrines in the first photographic celebration of its kind. Here are altars -- formal and casual, secular and religious, heartfelt and whimsical -- created to evoke contemplation, inspire creativity, amuse, encourage, or honor the memory of a loved one. Amalia and Carlos Vasquez celebrate the Day of the Dead in a bright-hued altar of roses. Harrod Blank makes his car an emotional sounding board, adding a new element (bottle cap, figurine, birthday cake) each time he feels the urge to express himself. Eleanor Coppola offers a sunny spot for family memories, while in other homes a kitchen table commemorates Kwanza and a living room altar showers praise on a beloved cow. Including interviews with the people who fashion these remarkable shrines, as well as plenty of how-to tips, Altars and Icons is inspiration for creating your own sacred place.

Jean McMann has taught courses in writing, photography, and cultural studies at the University of California at Berkeley and at the San Francisco Art Institute. Author of Riddles of the Stone Age: Rock Carvings of Ancient Europe, she lives in Mill Valley, California.

Quotes

Do you have a windowsill lined with rocks collected from childhood vacations? Call it a shrine. Jean McMann would. A writer, photographer; deep thinker and shrinemaker extraordinaire, McMann has composed a book that takes a look at a sacred spaces—in homes, gardens, even cars—assembled by herself and nearly 50 others. It may sound hokey, but the book is very touching. It's not about things. It's about people, their tributes to memory and their hope. Chicago Tribune

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