The Calligraphy Guild of Pittsburgh Web Site of information and gallery reviews.
Art Exposé – A Collection of Techniques for Creative Expression is a 20 page book on how to make beautiful artwork using techniques for creative expression described and taught by artist Judy Melvin.
pages 16–17 pictured above.
List Price: $14.95
ISBN 978-0-615-21611-9
You may order from art@judymelvin.com for $16 (includes tax and shipping)
On NPR’s Weekend Edition, Saturday April 12 artist Ellen Frank was interviewed on the art of illumination and her ongoing project ‘Cities of Peace’.
To read the article and listen to the program click here.
To see a slide show of the art work click here.
To find out more about Ellen Frank and her Illumination Arts Program click here.
May 3–4, 2008
The desire to decorate lies within us all and for over 1500 years the letter has served us well. Beginning as a signpost to the reader it quickly became an object of beauty as an end in itself.
The letter ‘L’ by Adolf Bernd.
Using the wonderful letters of Adolf Bernd (1909–1994) for inspiration and as a starting point, we shall examine 3 areas of his (and our) major interests.
a. the backgrounds
b. the letterforms
c. the colour harmonies and integration
In this workshop, for all levels of ability, we shall begin with simple exercises in colour unity and contrasts on shapes, patterns and themes of Adolf Bernd’s (and our own) choices which will lead to the decoration of both historic and contemporary letters.
A feature of the class will be to take/use colours from ‘nature’ (see material list) and transfer these onto our letters and backgrounds.
Example of student work from a previous workshops.
Two sheets of 25 x 40 inch Arches MBM Ingres paper will be provided for a materials fee of $7.20.
Also…
Example of student work from a previous workshops.
Workshop Registration Form
Registration form and payment must be sent to Lily Hoy by April 19.
Workshop fee: $100 Guild Members / $120 Non-members.
Workshop will be held Room 227, Margaret Morrison Hall, Carnegie Mellon University (campus map).
Sharing what we do and create can be inspiring and helpful. So here is an open invitation to any guild member who would like to post a tutorial, share something you are working on, write a class review or share a gallery or museum viewing. Email me your write-up along with pictures and I will post it ASAP. Thank you, Toni Kelly
The following was sent in by Nadine.
“Sending pics of the concrete heart garden stone I
finished this weekend, which will be one of 12
auctioned off at the American Heart Assn. Heart Ball
on February 9. This is not all what I had planned when
I was first asked to do this. I was going to do
something with flowers, but decided to let the
calligraphy be the “star”. The background was a happy
mistake – I tried brushing on the blue acrylic, didn’t
like how it looked and started dabbing with a paper
towel, ending up with a cloudy sky backdrop. The
surface was smooth enough that I could write with a
nib.
Nadine in Uniontown PA”
FOR THE LOVE OF LETTERS
is a calligraphic arts show presented by members of the Florida Society of Calligraphers. Denice Nitschke of Yulee, FL has contributed several pieces to this exhibit and invites you to attend! The show will be at the Women’s Resource Center, 340 South Tuttle Ave., Sarasota, FL from Thursday, Dec. 6 through January 29, 2008.
Opening Reception is Thursday, Dec. 6, 5-7 p.m.
Artist’s Demonstrations will be Monday, Dec. 10, 2-4 p.m.
This exhibit is the culmination of a year-long art journey. For one weekend a month during 2006, a small but dedicated group of Florida calligraphers met in Sarasota to study with Reggie Ezzell. None of us were beginners, but all of us spent a year growing. In addition to honing lettering skills, we were exposed to techniques—from watercolor washes to gilding—that can be used to enhance our work. We have spent the past several months preparing for this exhibit in order to share with the public some of what we have learned—and continue to learn. Influences from the class, combined with our varied exposures to other instructors and experience, are evident throughout this exhibit.
I hope you have an opportunity to see it, and if you know of others who might be interested in attending, please pass this email along to them!
Thank you,
Denice H. Nitschke
Lily found the links from an ornamental penmanship mailing list.
Friday, Sept 28 Guild meeting
7:30 PM, “Show and Share”
Saturday, October 6 Book related play day — Lily Hoy
Friday, Nov 16 Lecture: Sheila Waters
7:30 PM
Sat–Sun, Nov 17–18 Workshop: Sheila Waters
9 AM – 5 PM (?) Registration required by Saturday, Nov 2
Sat-Sun, Dec 8–9 Workshop: Myrna Rosen
10 AM – 5 PM (?)
For more information about workshops, see the Workshops page.
For more views of the Exhibit go to the Gallery Page
September 1 – 30, 2007
Sewickley Public Library
500 Thorn Street, Sewickley, PA 15143
Telephone (412) 741-6920
Hours:
Mon – Thurs: 9:30am – 9pm
Fri & Sat: 9:30am – 5pm
Sun: 1pm – 5pm
(closed Sundays Memorial Day to Labor Day)
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.
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 
