Calligraphy Guild of Pittsburgh

I want to once again thank Linda for providing the pictures and Norma for doing the review. Thanks girls!

ANNIE BARNHARDT’S PENCIL LETTERING
June 9-10, 2007

by Norma

The class was full and we looked forward to learning all about the “lowly” pencil. Annie started the class by going through the handouts she had provided and asking us to pull out certain pages to use later. She also had us look at what was in the kits she had provided. She had us begin by learning some basics such as cushioning our paper, what kind of erasers work best, that pencils have different degrees of softness and hardness, to keep your pencil sharp, to slow down when doing lettering, to use a light touch – lighter — lighter — a little lighter, to do pressure/release with a pencil, oh yes, it can be done, and to pierce the guideline when making straight-stroke letters. We talked about brands of pencils – Annie’s favorites are called Towbow. These may or may not still be available, but another brand she uses is Staedtler-Mars.
Then it was time to begin to work. As Annie wrote the letters on the board, she explained exactly how she got thicks and thins by using pressure/release. Now it was our turn so we got out the pages we had removed earlier and began to do some writing using the tools Annie had provided. Some of us soon learned that we needed a softer pencil while others preferred a little harder one. We also learned the value of an eraser! Yes, erasing was allowed and even encouraged if needed.
Annie showed us a variety of papers that work well with pencil. She explained that we needed to try several kinds to find what works best for us. Some of the papers mentioned were Arches Text Wove, Parson’s Diploma Parchment, Mohawk Superfine, and Arches Text Laid. We also looked at a variety of black papers. At this point, we all took colored soft pastel dust, a torn piece of paper and a piece of black paper. We used the torn paper to act as a shield and we dusted the black paper with the pastel dust. This created a quick background for working on later. When we returned from lunch, we got out our silver pencils, picked a quote and wrote on the black paper that we had dusted. Very quickly, we had a lovely piece.
On Sunday, we learned how to draw letters with our soft pencils and clean up with a hard mechanical pencil by sharpening up the tops and bottoms of the letters. We learned that mechanical pencils have various hardnesses of lead also.
We began to work with Verithin colored pencils and learned to layer color over graphite. We also worked with Prismacolor pencils which are softer than the Verithins.
When doing reproduction work, Annie showed us that 100% cotton vellum is so much easier to work with than tracing paper. We learned some easy tricks for writing in a circle and also got to try pencil lettering on canvas.
Annie is a wonderful teacher and we learned so much about the pencil and how much you can do with it. If you don’t like it, you can ERASE it! Thanks, Annie for two great days.

More workshop pictures can be found here and be sure to click on images for a larger view.

I want to extend my deepest appreciation to Flavia for writing this passionate review and to Linda for her wonderful pictures and review of Myrna’s workshop. They help make my job easier and add a richness to our guild. Thank you girls!

Sincerely, Toni

The review:

One of the privileges of being a member of the Pittsburgh Calligraphy Guild is meeting extraordinary practitioners of a time honored art form. A recent workshop brought such a practitioner, Mike Gold from the American Greeting Card Company, to Pittsburgh for a two day tour de force.
As in any art form there is the formal aspect, the crafting of the letters. The calligrapher commonly works in alliance with the creator of statements by rendering the words with skill and grace to lend visual beauty to beautiful and meaningful words.
There is another aspect to the craft that elevates it to the level of Fine Art. Humans are beings with profound appetites, we crave satisfaction of all our five senses but most of all we need the expression and definition of emotions. Beauty satisfies the senses and the expression of feeling satisfies our inner being, our soul if you will, that we seek to define and by defining possibly refine to reach a deeper state of being. We usually think of music, images and sculptures as a vehicle through which we liberate and define our feelings and believes. We now must add calligraphy to the traditionally excepted forms of expression due to the redefinition of the nature of calligraphy by 20th century calligraphers.
Expression demands profound insight and the ability to allow what emerges from that inner depth to guide the hand and mind to make visual decisions. In any form of art that is the most difficult aspect in creating a tangible expression of an experience. Those who succeed we revere as masters of their respective form of expression. It is a daunting task to guide those willing to follow to experience the liberating of sincere expressions, one such brave man, Mike Gold, came to Pittsburgh and guided those who participated in his workshop with patience, kindness and generosity that is only possible from those who have in thought and deed reached deeply within and touched the sublime aspect of the self. Frustration and exhilaration helped those he guided to hone understanding of the potential of infusing calligraphy with a power that transcends mere skill.

~by Flavia

Myrna Rosen’s “From the Ground Up” workshop was an intensive study of the Roman Majuscules. Our class was surrounded by majestic, colorful samples of Myrna’s Roman capitals. She shared with us her vast knowledge of the history of letters, and offered many handouts to guide us, including the beautifully inscribed letters of the Trajan Column in Rome. Our weekend started in pencil with a study of the proportion of the skeleton form of each letter and quickly moved on to making large letters using the tool of 2 pencils banded together. We experimented with many sizes of nibs and pen widths. Myrna effortlessly demonstrated her skill and gave each student her personal attention. We were reminded that letters should be designed by artists, not engineers!

Submitted by Linda Arandas