This website features the writing of Jane Graves.

The Secret Lives of Objects is now available.

It can be ordered directly from the publishers, Trafford

This book looks at objects from a perspective derived from psychoanalytical practice as well as the practice of art/design. Jane has brought together a number of papers. About a third have already been published (although the book sometimes uses an updated version). Others have been presented at conferences or as lectures.

Click here to view a synopsis of The Secret Lives of Objects.

 

What People have Said about The Secret Lives of Objects:

The secret lives of objects are our secret lives. In this extraordinary book of linked essays Jane Graves manages with remarkable lucidity to say something for once inspiring rather than doctrinaire about the connections between psychoanalysis and art; and in the process she brings back, both the word and the things, to a new kind of life. Anyone who makes anything will make much of this book. Adam Phillips

As contemporary design becomes more poetic and allusive there is a need for a new kind of commentary. Drawing on her experiences as a psychotherapist and design educator Jane Graves explores the connections between free association and creativity, the ethics of things and the development of personality. Dr Stephen Hayward

I have been using Jane Graves' writings in my teaching of largely studio-based students of the arts for over a decade. If the reactions of the 800 or so people to whom I have introduced Graves' papers are anything to go by, this book will be well received by students as well as practising artists, craftspeople and designers. Linden Reilly

Jane Graves psycho-analytical teaching and essays have intrigued and influenced generations of students - she is truly part of the cultural heritage of Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design. Dale Russell

The following review was written by Harriet Edwards of the RCA for the Writing Pad resource (Writing Purposefully in Art and Design)

 

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