About Three Arts Press
Three Arts Press is an expression of creative independence and interdependence - independence from the New York publishing world and interdependence among creative colleagues who have worked together for many years. It aspires to the standards of fine bookmaking and design once practiced by artisan presses. The press is named for the three arts with which its founder Lillian Moats has had extensive involvement: writing, visual art and filmmaking.
Moats was afforded a great deal of artistic control as co-producer/co-director of her films and as author/illustrator of her first book, THE GATE OF DREAMS, a collection of original fairy tales for all ages (Cranbrook Press: 1993, 1996). Cranbrook Press had been established during the Arts and Crafts Movement and, in 1993, was in the process of reinventing itself after a long dormancy. Moats was asked to oversee every aspect of her book's design and production, which gave her the hands-on experience she would eventually need to establish her own press. While learning this new craft, she relied on long-standing creative relationships with colleagues who contributed their editorial, design and technical assistance.
These creative partnerships have continued under Three Arts Press, which was established in 1998. The following year, Three Arts published LEGACY OF SHADOWS, a fictionalized memoir exploring the impact of unresolved emotion passed down within a family. The press is currently preparing for the January 2006 publication of SPEAK, HANDS. This work of creative non-fiction is a personal exploration of the interrelatedness of hands, memory and the unconscious. Three Arts Press has become an ideal vehicle for giving voice to these experimental, deeply psychological works.
About The Founder
Lillian Moats is a writer, artist and filmmaker. After obtaining a B.F.A. degree in painting and creative writing from the University of Michigan and a Master's Degree in education from the University of Wisconsin, Moats taught kindergarten and primary grades before co-founding a film production company with JP Somersaulter. The animated art films for children and adults which Moats has produced with Somersaulter have been screened by invitation in festivals around the world. They have won over 40 national and international awards. Six of the films have been selected to officially represent the United States in foreign festivals by the Council on International Non-theatrical Events (CINE) in Washington, D.C. The Chicago International Children's Film Festival in 1984 honored Moats and Somersaulter with a special jury award "in recognition of the contribution of their body of work to the genre of animation films for children."
While animating classic fairy tales, Moats was writing her own. The revered fairy tale scholar Bruno Bettelheim read several of Moats' unpublished tales and encouraged their publication. The Gate of Dreams (Cranbrook Press:1993, 1996) is a collection of three of these tales: "The Woodcarver's Daughter," "Franz the Fool" and "The Girl of the Bells." Moats illustrated these stories in silhouette, in the tradition of classic fairy tale collections. The Gate of Dreams was selected for the South Carolina Children's Book Awards List for 1995. A full-length ballet based on "The Woodcarver's Daughter" has been choreographed to an original neo-classical score and performed by Midwest Ballet Theatre
Moats' writing for adults focuses on the intriguing question: How do we become the people we are? Her first memoir, Legacy of Shadows (Three Arts Press: 1999), was written as fiction and earned broad critical acclaim (see reviews). Speak, Hands (Three Arts Press; 2006) followed as a work of creative non-fiction in which Moats deciphers for herself and her readers the intricate mystery of her past.
