O Is for Oystercatcher: A Book of Seaside ABCs »

Barbara Patrizzi grew up in southern New Jersey and received her BFA from University of the Arts (then Philadelphia College of Art) in Philadelphia, PA, in 1981. She has exhibited nationally, and her paintings and sculpture are held in private collections throughout the country.

Her work has taken various forms - sculpture, painting, box assemblages, and now a book - but "always having to do with our relationship to or perception of the world we live in." Her work has been included in exhibitions in Anchorage, Alaska, which evolved around the Exxon-Valdez oil spill (1993); at Rutgers, Camden, in a show titled "Message from the Planet: Artists Work to Save the Earth" (1995); and "Undercurrents: Women Artists Focusing on the Beauty and Vulnerability of Aquatic Ecosystems" (1993) at the Noyes Museum in Smithville.

She currently resides in Philadelphia and Somers Point, NJ, where she lives with her partner and various four-legged friends, and keeps busy swimming, kayaking and gardening.

A is for albacore... B is for blue crab... C is for cattail... And all the way to Z, which is for zygoptera.

One letter at a time, accompanied by beautiful hand-colored linoleum block prints, we are introduced to one of the most interesting ecosystems on the planet.

O is for Oystercatcher - A Book of Seaside ABCs is a tantalizing introduction to coastal life in a format that is a pleasure to read and impossible to outgrow. This seashore natural history primer is designed to please children as well as adults. With beautifully reproduced artwork, this hardbound book is likely to appear on coffee tables in beach homes as well as next to a child's bed.

Author / Artist Barbara Patrizzi's affection for the coast is apparent in her graphically beautiful depiction of coastal species. Each image in this book is from an original relief print made from a linoleum block. For this book, the uninked white areas on the print were hand-colored using polychrome pencils.

Each page of artwork faces a catchy, informative natural history vignette. The key species in this book  - many threatened by development and loss of habitat - depend on the health of the coastal ecology for survival; this book gently helps bring about an understanding of seashore life as well as sensitivity to the most serious issues facing the coast.

"Pretty and useful" is a line from the text describing Irish Moss, but it also describes this lovely book itself.  From limpet to zygoptera, albacore to monarch, this book's appeal is both timely and aesthetic.

Long Beach Island, NJ, 8/25/04 - The SandPaper

Gorgeously illustrated.