For everybody who is fascinated by nature, art, and life in different cultures.

In drawing attention to the fundamental elements of form that are inherent in all graphic and sculptural art, Van James opens our eyes to the alphabet of the language of form. Through the simplest of indications, we find ourselves able to read the meaning of works of art from other cultures and times. We begin to know these cultures and peoples in ways we could not know if we were dependent on oral and written language alone. Likewise, we can begin to read the language that Mother Nature speaks through the form of every created object and being. We can join those on the cutting edge of a new science that investigates the spiritual forces at work within physical phenomena through exact perception of qualities of form. ?from the Foreword

Contents:

The Formative Nature of Art: Primal Images; Archetypal Forms (Curve and Straight; Point and Dot; Circle and Spiral; Chevron, Zigzag and Lattice; Ladder, Spine and Tree; Symmetry; Cross and Swastika

Archetypal Themes in Art (Mandala: Picture of the Universal Self; Labyrinth and Maze: Journey to the Center of the Universe; Thread and Knot: The World Weaves)

The Formative Art of Nature: The Essential Gesture; The Open Secret

Van James, Hawaiian-based artist, teacher and author, is a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, Emerson College in England, and the Goetheanum Painting School in Switzerland.