Calligraphy Guild of Pittsburgh

Here is a tip from Denise:

Greetings, Calligraphy Friends!

I had to share this one, folks!

For those of us who have EVER tried to mix flour (a dry powder) with water (a liquid) to make GRAVY… you have likely learned that a WHISK is an indispensible tool … and adding the liquid a little at a time is an undeniable method… for preventing LUMPS!!
Well, if you are mixing up very small quantities of pigments (a dry powder) with gum arabic, water, etc. (a liquid), a TINY WHISK is a wonderful thing to have!

SO I MADE ONE!!

All it takes is a few loops of monofilament (like fishing line) with a few turns of tape to hold it all together. Works like a CHARM for those powder pigments that are very finicky about blending with liquid!!! Don’t forget to add your liquid a few drops at a
time. Just like making lumpless gravy! Yeah!!

Happy writing!!
–Denice

Due to a scheduling conflict at CMU, the Guild has re-scheduled the Pencil Romans workshop from May 19-20 to June 9-10, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.

So if you couldn’t make the May dates, perhaps June works better for you.

Registration form and payment must be received by Friday, June 2 to confirm your class space.

Annie Barnhardt Workshop:   Pencil Lettering

Pencil?  Yes!  Think of the pencil as the calligrapher’s comfort food! We’ve used it since we were little AND it erases! No fiddling with surly nibs, recalcitrant writing fluids, or picky pen angles –  we can immediately focus on form, proportion, ductus and family group. With pencil, line quality can easily be manipulated by the hardness or softness of the lead: hard and precise, soft and juicy, delicate or bold.

Roman capitals will be de-mystified in this class. We will build our capitals, step-by-step, simple shapes and lines, laying the foundation for more complex letterforms. Pressured strokes and serifs create surprisingly strong and elegant letterforms. In a series of structured exercises, we will push, pull and prod our letters into playful variations of the parent form.

Building on our new and renewed understanding of Roman Capitals we will learn a few techniques for using graphite, color pencil, and small pointed drawing markers, with emphasis on pressurized and built-up letterforms, working on both light and dark papers.

At the end of the workshop we will bind our practice sheets into a book.

Fee:  $100 for guild members, $120 for non-Guild members

Download Workshop Registration Form.

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

You are invited to the opening reception of Huang Xiang, a great Chinese poet and calligrapher, Saturday 31st of March, from 5 to 8PM. The poet will give a lecture in Chinese (that will be translated) at 6:00.

Saturday, March 31, 2007
From 5 – 8 pm

RSVP by March 29 at (412) 661-0177
or europartgallery@hotmail.com
Gallery hours: by appointment

europ’ART Gallery
1135 Mellon St.
Pittsburgh, PA 15206

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

Sent in by Linda.

The Washington (DC) Calligraphers Guild and the National Association of Letter Carriers are once again sponsoring the Graceful Envelope contest. This year’s theme is A MAILABLE FEAST, and entries must be postmarked no later than April 30, 2007. Visit the the Washington Calligraphers Guild website for rules, additional information, and past year’s winners..

Saturday-Sunday, April 14–15, 9 AM–5 PM
Lecture Saturday 7 PM

The class will look beyond traditional, formal hands to lettering that is more appropriate in contemporary personal, commercial, and fine art. Mike will offer some guiding design principles that will help in modifying or creating new lettering for a job or work of art. These principles also help us critique lettering and understand why it works and why it looks so fresh. We will use formal pointed and broad-pen scripts, as well as our own handwriting, as springboards to more contemporary scripts. Both freely drawn and built-up letterforms will be considered, exploring with a variety of tools, writing surfaces, and media. Our goal is to find ways to create unique lettering styles that beak many or all traditional rules, making work both personal and expressive.

SUPPLY LIST
1. Pads of paper:
Borden & Riley Triple T tracing paper
B&R Boris Layout Bond (or equivalents), 9×12”
2. Miscellaneous papers:
Various smooth and textured papers, white and color: Arches Text Wove, Bugra, Bristol, rough watercolor paper, whatever you have
3. Writing tools (don’t buy new; bring what you have)
Pentel Color Brush with black cartridge
Pointed brushes, Winsor-Newton Series 7 (1,3,5)
Oriental brushes, miscellaneous brushes you like
Assortment of pointed and broad pens
Recommend Mitchell 3,4,5,6
Flexible and stiff pointed nibs
Speedball C-1 through C-5
Automatic pens, medium to wide
4. Media
Higgins Eternal and/or Sumi ink and/or Walnut ink
Assortment of gouache, with black & white
Color inks (if you have)
5. Miscellaneous
Pencil, ruler, t-square, eraser, xacto, mixing brushes, water jar, apron
6. Favorite passages / quotes, if you wish

ABOUT MIKE GOLD: Mike has worked the last 15 years as a lettering artist at American Greetings. He has an M.A. in Visual Communications and 25 years’ experience as a commercial artist. Mike has taught around the country and at two international conferences with his friend and collaborator Judy Melvin. Collaboration has been a feature of much of his personal work. Mike’s work has been included in numerous Letter Arts Review annuals since 1991. Visit his website:

Registration form and payment must be sent to Lily Hoy by April 7. Workshop fee: $100 Guild Members / $120 Non-members.

Workshop Registration Form

Saturday – Sunday, March 3–4 • 10 AM – 4 PM
Myrna’s ongoing “basics” workshop continues March 3–4. Even if you didn’t attend the first one, in December, feel free to sign up!

The December course covered lower case letterforms (minuscules). The March workshop will thoroughly examine classically proportioned Roman capitals (majuscules). This all-too-short course is roughly based on a 14-week course taught to beginner students in the Design School at Carnegie Mellon University. For those who have neglected our roots, or for real beginners, this course will be good discipline and/or review. It will also be excellent for teachers who may want to consider a new or different perspective.

Myrna says: “When Phil Mickelson approaches a tournament, he goes to his coach and asks, ‘Teach me to play golf.’ That’s how a super-pro considers his performance. Calligraphers are no different: we always must practice, especially the hard parts,” Supplies: all of the usual things in your tool box plus slant board, etc. A supplemental supply list will be sent to participants.

Registration form and payment must be sent to Lily Hoy by February 19. Workshop fee: $85 Guild Members / $105 Non-members.

Workshop Registration Form

We are saddened by the death of our longtime member Ed Fisher Jr. on January 13, 2007. Ed taught workshops for the Guild, helped with exhibitions, and designed and produced the occasional publication “Versal.” He had long been well-known and respected as a graphic designer and teacher.

Obituaries

School of Design, Carnegie Mellon
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review