Art & Love: My Life Illuminated in Egg Tempera - Paperback

by Lora Arbrador (Author)

Art & Love is the memoir of a woman's quest to master the ancient art of egg tempera painting, gain confidence as an artist and find lasting love.

It's 1966 and unaware that a counterculture tsunami is brewing, Lora Arbrador arrives in Berkeley, California where she is introduced to egg tempera, a painting technique that combines colorful pigments with egg yolk. Lora falls in love with this luminous medium but cannot find a teacher to unravel its mysteries. Her love life is similarly marked with many failures.

Art and love converge when she falls for a tender, charismatic artist, but after their eight-month immersion in the great museums of Europe, Lora follows him into a commune that she later realizes has become a cult.

Set against a backdrop of huge cultural changes - from the counterculture of the 1960s and back-to-the-land movement of the 1970s, to the AIDS epidemic and sex underground of the 1980s - Art & Love is a journey of creative and emotional fulfillment that captivates, educates and entertains the reader.

Arbrador's stunning artwork enhances the narrative, inspiring those grappling with their own artistic expression and longing for love.

Includes her bonus essay "Which Came First? A Taste of Egg Tempera History."

Author Biography

At theage of 19, Lora Arbrador was given a recipe for making egg tempera paint by a college professor who admitted no knowledge of the technique. Like a musician with a strong affinity for a particular instrument, Arbrador found her creative home in egg tempera. To support her art practice, Arbrador became a registered nurse and the medical world has been the inspiration for many of her paintings, including the series, Ways of Dying: A Chronicle of the AIDS Epidemic. Her painting, Don't Go My Friend: The Death of John Walsh, MD, won first place at the Art and Healing exhibit at Artwest Gallery. Captivated by the fascinating history of egg tempera, Arbrador was invited to speak at the Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University in 1995. That lecture has evolved into two presentations: What is Egg Tempera? and Which Came First? A Taste of Egg Tempera History. In 1997, Arbrador co-founded the Society of Tempera Painters which was modeled after the 1901 Society of Painters in Tempera in England. Her first book, A History of Roman Calligraphy, is housed in the Marjorie G. and Carl W. Stern Book Arts & Special Collections Center of the San Francisco Public Library. Arbrador is the former Editorial Director of NurseWeek magazine. Arbrador has exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the US, including South Bend Regional Museum of Art, Wenatchee Valley College Art Gallery and the Bade Museum of the Pacific School of Religion. She shares her love of egg tempera with young children, professional artists and other curious people. Arbrador's studio is in San Francisco, California.