TRACI L. SLATTON
Author Blog
The Dabbling Mum Speaks with Alyice Edrich: Interview with Novelist, Traci L. Slatton:
Traci L. Slatton read her first BIG book at the age of six……
New Perspectives Radio Interview of Sabin Howard & Traci Slatton
Listen to a great radio interview here.
Check out my new review of the essential skin care book SKIN RULES Trade Secrets from a Top New York Dermatologist by Debra Jaliman M.D. Here’s the link.
This book is beautifully, concisely written and full of practical advice. Get the book–you’ll be glad you did!
When I was in my early twenties, my beloved Aunt Judy advised me, “A good skin and a good figure, that’s what a woman needs.”
We were conversing in the kitchen, preparing dinner together, so this bit of feminine wisdom was just a casual mention. But she was in her fifties and still boasted both qualities, so I took her words to heart. They sparked a lifelong commitment to taking excellent care of my complexion and my body. That same week, I undertook a meticulous habit of using sunblock every day.
A few years later, my first pregnancy wrecked my carefully tended complexion. I was enthralled by the wondrous, delicious creature who was my new daughter. I was equally determined to repair the damage done by pregnancy hormones. I had read that a pregnant woman produces more estrogen during the nine months she’s pregnant than a non-pregnant woman does in decades. My face, stippled with pimples and depressions, showed it.
A girlfriend with lovely skin recommended Dr. Debra Jaliman, and I took myself to her office on one of those precious days I had a babysitter. I waited anxiously in the exam room, wondering if the doctor would be able to help me. The door opened and in walked a gorgeous woman wearing a white lab coat over a leather mini-skirt — and a very pregnant belly. I could only applaud her feminine confidence. I knew immediately I’d come to the right place.
My first baby is now a graduating senior from college, and I’ve been Dr. Jaliman’s patient all these years. I have remained in her care for the same reason that I use the multiplication table: because it works.
It was with pleasure, as a happy dermatology patient with a complexion I like, that I requested a review copy of Dr. Jaliman’s book Skin Rules: Trade Secrets from a Top New York Dermatologist (St. Martin’s Press, March, 2012).
First, let me attest: almost the first order of business in Dr. Jaliman’s office is to ensure proper face-washing technique. After two decades, when I come in for an appointment, she still asks how I am washing my face, and what I am using for cleanser. So, as a long-time patient, let me assure the general reader that Skin Rules meticulously documents Dr. Jaliman’s actual advice. She practices what she preaches in this slim, smart volume.
The book itself is a pleasure to read. It’s concisely and elegantly written. There’s not a wasted word in this book, nor an infelicitous one. Every one of the 77 rules is spare, practical, and instantly understandable. The rules come with product recommendations at all price points; Dr. Jaliman does not expect that her readers are all millionaires with an endless supply of money for dermatological goodies, whether they be procedures or creams.
The tone of this book is as empathetic as it is pragmatic. Rule 42 gently advises, “Don’t Despair If You’re Over Thirty and Breaking Out — Nobody Needs to Know.” Rule 39 reminds us, “Acne Doesn’t Just Ruin Skin; It Can Ruin Self-Esteem, Too — Just Ask Any Teenager.” It’s important to remember how vulnerable people feel when they don’t look their best, how adolescents in particular suffer from that vulnerability, and how much self-esteem can be improved by simply clearing up acne. Some people would like to dismiss dermatology as purely cosmetic, but there’s a deeper level here. Our appearance is inextricably entwined with our feelings of self worth.
Sometimes a medical condition results in skin problems, and Dr. Jaliman notes that in several places. In rule 33, “Legs and Feet Need Extra Care,” she mentions having diagnosed hypothyroidism in patients by observing dry, cracked heels and referring the patients to an endocrinologist. The skin isn’t its own separate, isolated system. It’s integrated into the body as a whole, and often reflects underlying disease.
I’ve set this review within the context of my own feminine beauty regimen, but it’s a book for men, also. There’s advice on shaving, hair loss and tattoo removal.
With a title encompassing the word “secrets,” a reader hopes for the scoop on what’s hot and really works. The book doesn’t disappoint. Rule 61 “Freeze Fat, Don’t Suction It” discusses the latest cryolipolysis techniques, and the machines that really do freeze off the fat.
At the back of the book is a resource section that lists products, injectables and lasers. It’s probably worth it to buy the book just to have this well-researched list of products and procedures that actually work.
This is a gem of a book that I’ll keep handy on my book shelf — unless my second daughter, now seventeen and seeking out her own beauty tips, spirits it away so that I never see it again.
Lively, appealing, informative Londoncalling.com posted a thoughtful interview of me and my husband Sabin Howard. We answered questions about our book THE ART OF LIFE.
Check out the article here.
London Calling talked to sculptor Sabin Howard and his wife, author Traci L. Slatton, about their collaborative book, The Art of Life, a collection of essays and visually stunning photography detailing Sabin’s equally stunning sculptural work.
London Calling: What was the original genesis for the book project and how long did it take to complete?
Traci L. Satton: Sabin claims that he was talking about his work one morning, as he does obsessively, and I said, “We have to write a book. People need to know what you’re doing and why it matters.”
Sabin Howard: The whole idea was to reach a broader audience and to educate them. People have lost the concept that they can have an opinion about art that is contrary to the established academic status quo. The art world is run by critics and academicians who are not trained in the visual, but who are more trained as writers writing a manual explaining art. I see the title “visual art” as self explanatory. Art is visual first and foremost. The book returns to the idea that you need to look at the piece and be with it. Then you can write or talk about it. It’s not the other way around, as current “concept art” espouses.
LC: The book is very personal, almost a love letter in places. Was it a challenge making a book so close to home?
TLS: Yes! Sometimes our discussions grew rousing. Names might have been called, objects might have been hurled.
SH: Making the type of art that I do is already extremely personal. I understand that any choices I make in my art expose how I think. If you look at my sculptures, they are completely out in the open because they are nude. Explaining the human and personal process of making my art was not uncomfortable. Without Traci, I wouldn’t have been able to put this in writing that was accessible to the general public. I would write something that was more esoteric. It was really important that I follow Traci’s lead in how the narrative was assembled.
Interview of Traci Slatton & Sabin Howard on Bookpleasures.com
Great interview, great questions!!
What fun!
Norm Goldman, B.A. LL.L, is the Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures, which he created in 2002.’ Practicing law for over 35 years enabled Norm to transfer and apply to book reviewing his many skills that he had perfected during his career in the legal profession and as a result he became a prolific free lance book reviewer & author interviewer.
Norm:
What motivated you to write The Art of Life and what was your creative process like? What happened before you sat down to write the book? What do you hope to accomplish with the book?
Traci:
Sabin is always talking about art, and what contemporary art lacks: rigor, grounding in the great historical tradition, and beauty. A lot of art right now is just silly–especially sculpture, which tends to be tschotchkis, ridiculous balloon animals, or oversized toys. Sabin brims with passion to change the art world and to bring back the rigor of craft and the good feelings and uplift that great art inspires. The process of writing the book revolved around us sitting down at the dining room table and me listening to Sabin. (And boy, can he go on about art!) Then I would do research, reading books that we discussed and making trips to museums with Sabin. Finally, I would write. Sabin would add and revise. I would rewrite.
It’s not so easy to write a book with one’s husband; names might have been called, objects might have been thrown!
What we hope to accomplish is to spread the word in the art world: “The emperor has no clothes.” Then we want to suggest the alternative to people: beautiful art made with passion, integrity, and superb technique.
Sabin:
Currently the norm in the art world is the decimation of the difference between “art world” and “real world,” there is no difference. I was brought up to believe that art is sacred; once you look past the picture frame, you look into an elevated world. Or if you look at a sculpture on a pedestal, it’s lifted up off the ground. So art is not “real” but more about what can be. I wanted to write this book because education is so important in how you look at art. Art works on many levels, but principally, art’s main function is VISUAL. So the book is a way to educate people about the importance of our rich historical past and how that’s not something to be thrown out.
This rich historical past talks about us as human beings. Figurative art should always be present in the art world because it represents us on a cultural level, as well. Since the art represents us as humans, it should represent our best parts, not our isolation and devolution, as modern art does. Modern art is a desensitization of our humanity and a discontinuation of our rich past.
I realized when I spoke to all my clients that the more they learned about the depth of the art, the more they become intrigued and passionate about sculpture. After twenty years of teaching, I realized my ideas could reach a broader audience with a book.
Norm:
Sabin, you have had quite an eventful career, what influenced your evolution as a sculptor?
Sabin:
I didn’t start off my life knowing that I would be an artist. It came to me on October 19th, 1982 in a grungy wood shop in South Philly, where I was working after having dropped out of college. I decided that afternoon that my life was going nowhere and I had to do something radically different. I decided at that moment: I would become an artist.
This did not come out of a vacuum but was the direct result of having grown up in Italy and having experienced Michelangelo and all the great cathedrals of Europe as a child. I knew that great art was something sacred. I knew that it took great skill and learning to create an art that changed people inside. When you are 19, the sky is the limit. Anything is possible. With an urgency to set out on that path, I enrolled in the following fall in the nearby art school, Philadelphia College of Art, and this is where I met my teachers and mentors Martha and Walter Erlebacher. I had zero interest in the current art world and showed no respect for other teachers who told me that the Renaissance was something from the past. I knew that the feeling one got when viewing this type of art was timeless. I obsessively looked at Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael. Everywhere I went I carried a book under my arm. It was a template for me to follow. I knew instinctively that I had to learn specific information from the Erlebachers so that I would have the tools to make “real art.” Art was part of another world that you looked into. It was divided from this world by a picture frame, or elevated about the ground on a pedestal. Great skill was involved and not everyone was capable of doing it.
I spent 15 years learning my craft. I learned the nuts and bolts of creating an art form that would be seen as “awesome” and carry with it a startling presence. I became fascinated with the variety of body types and poses available to me as a sculptor. I learned that each human being carries a unique soul and life experience within their body and this energy manifests itself externally in the morphology and demeanor of the each individual. This uniqueness can be found in each individual part and how all those parts fit together to make the whole. Once I had gained mastery in the ability to design and compose exactly what I saw in life, I took the next step in choosing what story I wanted the body to tell. The variety of energies that I could choose to depict in each sculpture became the next step in my artistic process.
There is an internal pressure within the body that always pushes outward in a convex fashion. This internal pressure shows the unique spirit or soul of each individual; no two people are exactly alike. Using anatomy to translate this life force energy into sculptural terms, I learned to recreate this pressure within my bronzes, giving them the fullness of energy and presence of a unique human being.
Because my work is about showing man at his full potential, I began recruiting several models to create each piece. This part of my process allowed me to pick and choose the body parts to sculpt a unique morphology that best narrates the story and character that I am presenting. In this process of creation, I use my understanding of anatomy and I structure of the human body to organize the figure. The spiraling of muscles over the architectural foundation of the skeleton has become my grammar in telling a story that speaks to the human condition. As I evolved as a human being, my art evolved in a parallel fashion. The work I did in the 90’s with the seated figures and fragmented torsos exemplified my own struggles and stress, and this is why I gravitated towards that subject matter. Thus my art is, on one level, a visual record of my internal growth. The sculptures are an energetic evolution of my own experience and history. In the last 15 years, the energy of my sculptures has metamorphasized from figures that are closed and pressed down by gravity, to figures that carry an expansive energy with an open heart. The poses have become more elegant and graceful, taking on god-like proportions. The transitions between limbs flow with greater harmony. And the hierarchy of parts fit together with an ease suggesting a greater sense of wholeness. My vision as an artist has evolved from one of oppression and struggle to a realization that the universe is full of grace available to all those willing to open their eyes in the creation of the life of their own choosing.
Norm:
Traci, who has written about your books and Sabin’s sculptures and how do you view their perspectives, opinions, and comments?
Traci:
My books are all over the internet, specifically with book review bloggers (who are very influential!), and fortunately have received some wonderful reviews. Of course, there are always less stellar reviews. My attitude toward those can be expressed in one word: “Next.” But I also try to learn from critical reviews, so that the next book is better. There’s always room for growth!
Sabin’s sculptures have been written about by several art critics, notably James Cooper and Peter Trippi. Jim is a great admirer of Sabin’s work and sees the potential for art to uplift and transform people. He has been a wonderful supporter of Sabin’s rather lonely efforts.
But it’s not just art critics who admire Sabin’s work. Once Sabin was moving the Aphrodite out of his studio into a moving van, and she was on the street for a while. People from all walks of life walked up or drove up in cars to gawk. They were teachers, firemen, trash collectors, shop keepers, lawyers, mothers pushing carriages–Sabin had a wonderful hour of fielding questions from people whose only commonality was that they were struck by his sculpture’s beauty. He came home and told me about this, and all I could think was, “This is what great art should do: magnetically draw people in, all people, from the PhD to the high school drop-out!” We intuitively feel and recognize mastery.
Sabin:
The critics who have written about me are very positive about what I am doing. It reinforces the importance of doing something vital in the art world.
BOOKPLEASURES.COM wrote a great, 5 star review of our sculpture book THE ART OF LIFE.
In part, Norm Goldman and his wife Lily wrote: “…with Sabin Howard’s and Traci L. Slatton’s The Art of Life you are in the possession of a beautiful collection of personal essays and visually stunning content that renders to its readers a vivid glimpse into the world of sculpture and in particular the work of a young American classical figurative sculptor, Sabin Howard….
Quite engrossing and gripping is the last chapter where Sabin illustrates his beautiful intricate anatomical drawings that have been garnered from his decades of experience in the studio, his many tens of thousands of hours working with life models and his sixteen years of teaching of the models for his sculptures that translate life into artistic terms. The sensuality of his creations, the sobriety of his material and the intricate details all give personality to his sculptures that participate in the art of living and create a visual conquest. The functional becomes poetry as these incredible realistic sculptures seem to evolve into a world in perpetual movement.”
It’s always wonderful to get a good review, but it’s especially fulfilling when a really smart reviewer gets it, gets the whole picture. Check out the review, check out this lively book review site.
