State of the Arts: California Artists Talk About Their Work

by Barbara Isenberg

If California is a state of mind, Barbara Isenberg's interviews with more than fifty of California's prominent painters, writers, composers, architects, directors, and performers help explain why. They include Dave Brubeck, Joan Didion, Clint Eastwood, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Frank Gehry, David Hockney, Randy Newman, Maxine Hong Kingston, Luis Valdez, Larry Gelbart, Matt Groening, Robert Graham, Carol Burnett, Michael Tilson Thomas, and many others. Some were born in California; others came from afar for its light, space, natural beauty, and opportunity. In these conversations, they talk about how they became artists and how living in California influences their work. They offer a kaleidoscopic view of the many ways that environment affects and nurtures the creative process.

Genres: Nonfiction

382 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

About the author

BARBARA ISENBERG,is an award winning journalist and author who has been writing about theater, art, music and arts personalities for over three decades. She is the author of the Los Angeles Times best-sellers Tradition! The Highly Improbable, Ultimately Triumphant Broadway-to-Hollywood Story of "Fiddler on the Roof," The World's Most Beloved Musical, and "Conversations with Frank Gehry," as well as "Making It Big: The Diary of a Broadway Musical," and "State of the Arts: California Artists Talk About Their Work ." Her writing has appeared in the LA Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time, Esquire, The Huffington Post, and London's Sunday Times. She received a Distinguished Artist Award from the Los Angeles Music Center and has been a Visiting Scholar at the Getty Research Institute. She lives in Los Angeles.

Her newest book, Tradition!: The Highly Improbable, Ultimately Triumphant Broadway-to-Hollywood Story of Fiddler on the Roof, The World's Most Beloved Musical, is now available in paperback as well as hardback. It was first published by St. Martin's Press to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the iconic musical's Broadway debut, and is also available as an audio book from LA Theatre Works and online.

Reviews

[Alana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personal stories of artists, writers, etc on the west coast.