(Entertainment-NewsWire.com, February 09, 2023 ) – Denver, CO and New York City, NY – Christine Archer was one of the first art teachers in the country to gain National Board of Professional Teaching Standards for Adolescent and Adult Education Certification. Her new book, Negative Shape – The Defining attribute, was originally written for visual arts educators and students, but will resonate with those of any age, artist or not. The book has been published by Outskirts Press—the fastest-growing, full-service self-publishing and book marketing company.
This book is about negative shape—the thing between things. The time-space between what we perceive to be events in time. The unspoken, unformed things between one person and the next. Christine Archer has taught visual arts for many years, and has found that many of the concepts of design are applicable to daily life. That opens the door to unexpected discoveries of how shape, in all of its aspects, becomes the defining attribute of interrelated events, things and even people.
“It's not just negative space,” Archer explains. “Important and real things happen within the negative shape. Thinking happens in the silence between words. Growth happens in the dark soil. Passion lies in the breathless moment before our lips touch. Pooh said that the best part of eating honey is just before you eat honey. Fear and dread. Anticipation and expectation. All of them lie in wait in the negative shape.”
These ideas stem from the principles of composition in the visual arts. Balance. Perspective. Perception. All things taught as part of introductory elements in Painting and Drawing courses. And these elements can be stretched to be analogous to how we live our lives: balancing work and home obligations; seeing different or opposing points of view; looking forward to holidays that, while once were joyful family events, are now more of a reminder of how many are no longer at the table—the empty seats now outnumbering those that are filled.
“We can be confused or saddened by these changes. We can be angry or in despair. Or we can choose to grow from these experiences,” says Archer. “We can prepare for these moments by redefining the ‘shape’ around what might occur.”
Soundly grounded in artistic theory, Negative Shape is also a deeply personal anecdotal narrative of one person's experience with negative shape.
Learn more about the author at outskirtspress/negativeshape-thedefingattribute.
At 180 pages, Negative Shape: The Defining Attribute is available online through Outskirts Press. It is also sold through Amazon and Barnes and Noble for a maximum trade discount in quantities of 10 or more and is being aggressively promoted to appropriate markets with a focus on the non-fiction category.
About the Author: Christine R. Archer attended Southern Connecticut State College, Central Connecticut State College, Wesleyan University, and the University of Hartford. She holds degrees in Art Education, Inter-field Studies in Art and Movement and an Advanced Graduate degree in Business and Leadership/Evaluation. Ms. Archer taught in the Berlin, Connecticut, public schools for 35 years, was Connecticut teacher in residence with the state Department of Education in 1995 and was State Art Education Administrator of the Year in 1997. Upon retiring in 2008, she started writing, as well as starting a jewelry design business, Kris Weaver Designs. Ms. Archer has taught art to elementary through adult age students and provided workshop presentations at the state and national levels. “Ditching the Sketchbook” was an workshop effort to make “art stuff” accessible to non-arts-oriented individuals and to demonstrate how many facets of life and experience can be seen through the lens of the creative process. Ms. Archer lives in Middletown, CT, with her husband, Kenneth, an internationally noted progressive keyboardist and composer.
About Outskirts Press, Inc.: Outskirts Press offers full-service, custom self-publishing and book marketing services for authors seeking a cost-effective, fast, and flexible way to publish and distribute their books worldwide while retaining all their rights and full creative control. Available for authors globally at www.outskirtspress.com and located on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado, Outskirts Press, Inc. represents the future of book publishing, today.
