Sunday, 9 June 2013
Requiem for the Printed Word - exhibition at Florence Mine, Egremont
Last month we provided calligraphy to an exhibition on at Florence Mine in Egremont, a few photos are below of the work we did and some of the other exhibits. All based around a Cumbrian theme and word related!
Carolingian Workshop - with Angela Dalleywater
Our May workshop was a tutor day with Angela Dalleywater
This was Angela's first visit to our group and it was a real treat to welcome her to Penrith. We spent the day looking at Carolingian lettering - an Eighth Century script and the first to fully use minuscules. It's place as one of the most important script developments is well deserved however nowadays it does seem to have taken a back seat in workshops to the the more popular Italic, Gothic and Uncial hands.
It's a beautiful looking script, developing from the roman half-uncial and it has a natural elegance to it with extended ascenders and descenders.
This was Angela's first visit to our group and it was a real treat to welcome her to Penrith. We spent the day looking at Carolingian lettering - an Eighth Century script and the first to fully use minuscules. It's place as one of the most important script developments is well deserved however nowadays it does seem to have taken a back seat in workshops to the the more popular Italic, Gothic and Uncial hands.
It's a beautiful looking script, developing from the roman half-uncial and it has a natural elegance to it with extended ascenders and descenders.
Angela Dalleywater, above, pointing out some of the particular strokes used to create the letters
examples of Angel's work
The last image above shows some of my lettering practice sheets along with the hand-out provided by Angela that we used for reference.
Saturday, 11 May 2013
April 2013 - Visit to Carlisle Archive Office and Cathedral
For our April meeting we had planned a trip to the new archive office in Carlisle to look at some of the oldest manuscripts they keep, followed by a group lunch in the town centre and an afternoon tour around Carlisle Cathedral.
Below are some of the stunning documents from the archive office, the oldest of which dates back to the 1200's.
Below are some of the stunning documents from the archive office, the oldest of which dates back to the 1200's.
Friday, 5 April 2013
Last Writes - exhibition
An exhibition celebrating the best of the printed word and reflecting on its possible demise as we enter the digital age.
Featuring: calligraphy from Eden Valley Scribes, Cumbria's oldest known poem (Dingoad's Smock) from the 6th century, the best library in Cumbria, banned books and books for burning. And a look at what the future holds for the printed word.
Held at Florence Arts Centre, Egremont from April 8th to 30th 2013
Admission free. Usually open Monday to Saturday 10am to 4pm but see their website for more information.
Sunday, 16 December 2012
AGM Meeting - January 2013
.
Our next meeting is January 12th 2013 and will be our AGM meeting in the morning, followed by an in-house session in the afternoon. Most of us will probably be practising our Rustic Caps from the last workshop!
In the AGM we'll review last year and confirm what we plan for this year's workshops and in-house sessions. If you're interested in Calligraphy and want to see more of what we do then you're more than welcome to come along and meet us all. We meet every month, on the second Saturday (except July & August) and have a mix of professional tutor workshops and in-house 'self help' group sessions.
For more information you can email me on mrstopham@hotmail.co.uk
Rustic Capitals - workshop with Jilly Hazeldine
Our December meeting seems to have come around fast this year! We were lucky to have Jilly come and visit us to take a workshop on Rustic Capitals.
Now I have to admit I wasn't too keen on learning this historical Roman scrip. But a couple of our members wanted to explore it further so Jilly came and did an excellent workshop with us - and yes, converted me into appreciating the script more!
There aren't many example of this script around which is probably why it's not that familiar, and unlike most hands, it requires a lot of pen manipulation - pen angles range from 45 degrees up to 80 degrees depending on which letter you're writing, and as you bring the nib down on a vertical stroke you twist the pen slightly to get a thicker 'flared' line towards the bottom serif.
It's not for the faint hearted, and even Jilly warned us at the start of the day this would be hard!
As usual the whole group really threw themselves into the workshop session and I think we surprised ourselves at the end results. I haven't taken many photos this time but the below hopefully gives a flavour of the script.
We were also able to welcome Clare, a new member who joined us last month from the Kendal area. as a beginner to calligraphy Jilly was able to spend the day getting her used to Foundational Hand and the basics of letterform construction.
Now I have to admit I wasn't too keen on learning this historical Roman scrip. But a couple of our members wanted to explore it further so Jilly came and did an excellent workshop with us - and yes, converted me into appreciating the script more!
There aren't many example of this script around which is probably why it's not that familiar, and unlike most hands, it requires a lot of pen manipulation - pen angles range from 45 degrees up to 80 degrees depending on which letter you're writing, and as you bring the nib down on a vertical stroke you twist the pen slightly to get a thicker 'flared' line towards the bottom serif.
It's not for the faint hearted, and even Jilly warned us at the start of the day this would be hard!
As usual the whole group really threw themselves into the workshop session and I think we surprised ourselves at the end results. I haven't taken many photos this time but the below hopefully gives a flavour of the script.
We were also able to welcome Clare, a new member who joined us last month from the Kendal area. as a beginner to calligraphy Jilly was able to spend the day getting her used to Foundational Hand and the basics of letterform construction.
Saturday, 8 December 2012
Alston Hall - Residential calligraphy week with Jilly Hazeldine
Back in August myself, Cynthea and Mabel went on the residential course with Jilly at Alston Hall, the theme for the week was Letters As Patterns, and right up my street as a designer!
I have to say the stay at Alston was superb, the food and accommodation was excellent and the location as a retreat was perfect. There was about 12 of us on the course which was a decent size and meant that we all had a lot of one-on-one tuition with Jilly.
Below I've popped some photos on that show the group work over the week. The day's involved two morning sessions, lunch, afternoon session, break followed by a free session, then the evening meal and a late session - we usually finished about 10pm in the bar with a glass of wine (and for those of us staying in the stable block where the workshop was we could sneak in a quick hour before breakfast also!!).
The above pieces were written with a fineliner pen, dividing lines between each letter with the shapes filling the whole space, colour divides the letters making it legible.
Letters above written, overlapping/reversed and coloured.
The above two example are one letter that is repeated at right angles four times in a square, the top is an A,
the bottom image shows a few versions of the letter M
.
Above two quotes using Neuland script - the below piece of work is by Jilly Hazeldine.
At the end of the week we pulled all our pieces together which was a great way to discuss and enjoy each other's work. I certainly enjoyed the week and am looking forward to the next one!
I have to say the stay at Alston was superb, the food and accommodation was excellent and the location as a retreat was perfect. There was about 12 of us on the course which was a decent size and meant that we all had a lot of one-on-one tuition with Jilly.
Below I've popped some photos on that show the group work over the week. The day's involved two morning sessions, lunch, afternoon session, break followed by a free session, then the evening meal and a late session - we usually finished about 10pm in the bar with a glass of wine (and for those of us staying in the stable block where the workshop was we could sneak in a quick hour before breakfast also!!).
The above pieces were written with a fineliner pen, dividing lines between each letter with the shapes filling the whole space, colour divides the letters making it legible.
Letters above written, overlapping/reversed and coloured.
The above two example are one letter that is repeated at right angles four times in a square, the top is an A,
the bottom image shows a few versions of the letter M
.
Above two quotes using Neuland script - the below piece of work is by Jilly Hazeldine.
At the end of the week we pulled all our pieces together which was a great way to discuss and enjoy each other's work. I certainly enjoyed the week and am looking forward to the next one!
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Letters as Patterns - residential course with Jilly Hazeldine
Well it's been a while since I posted anything but we've had a busy couple of months and it's not easing up!
In June we entered The Cumberland Show's calligraphy competition - to reflect the Jubilee the subject was our national anthem 'God save the Queen'
Terry was the winning entry with his round ER layout! A couple of other examples are below
Tomorrow a few of our group are heading off to Alston Hall for a week's residential course with Jilly Hazeldine 'Letters as Pattern' - I'm particularly excited about this as it's the first long workshop I've been able to get to.
I'll be taking a few photos while we're there so will post them up when I return!
Our next meeting is in September, we have John Ward coming to visit us again which is always a great workshop. If you are interested in joining or coming along to see what we do then drop me an email - mrstopham@hotmail.co.uk
bye for now
Alison
Tomorrow a few of our group are heading off to Alston Hall for a week's residential course with Jilly Hazeldine 'Letters as Pattern' - I'm particularly excited about this as it's the first long workshop I've been able to get to.
I'll be taking a few photos while we're there so will post them up when I return!
Our next meeting is in September, we have John Ward coming to visit us again which is always a great workshop. If you are interested in joining or coming along to see what we do then drop me an email - mrstopham@hotmail.co.uk
bye for now
Alison
Saturday, 4 February 2012
The Year Ahead - Calligraphy Workshops and updates
The snow stayed away long enough for all of us to make our AGM this morning, after reviewing last year we confirmed what we had planned in for this year, elected the officers and had a generally good catch up with everyone!
REMINDER - Oue Exhibition "Penmanship Now" is still on at the Penrith & Eden Museum, and runs until 29th February. We've already had some lovely comments from visitors and enquiries about work for sale which is all very positive. It would be great to encourage a few more members to the group also from this.
click here to visit the museum website
Above is the link to our page on the museum's website.
A couple of our members are off to Alston Hall at the end of February for Jilly Hazeldine's workshop weekend. More of us have already booked to go on her week workshop in August!
This year we have a couple of planned tutors coming, including John Ward in September which I'm already looking forward to. John has been a regular tutor of ours over the years and it'll be lovely to see him again.
NEW MEMBERS WELCOME - we're always eager to encourage new members, if you've an interest in calligraphy and want to find out more then please get in touch, my email is at the top of this page or contact our secretary, Shirley Kingsbury on 01768 840686. Beginners are more than welcome and we can teach/tutor you the basics during our workshops.
Think that's all for now!
REMINDER - Oue Exhibition "Penmanship Now" is still on at the Penrith & Eden Museum, and runs until 29th February. We've already had some lovely comments from visitors and enquiries about work for sale which is all very positive. It would be great to encourage a few more members to the group also from this.
click here to visit the museum website
Above is the link to our page on the museum's website.
A couple of our members are off to Alston Hall at the end of February for Jilly Hazeldine's workshop weekend. More of us have already booked to go on her week workshop in August!
This year we have a couple of planned tutors coming, including John Ward in September which I'm already looking forward to. John has been a regular tutor of ours over the years and it'll be lovely to see him again.
NEW MEMBERS WELCOME - we're always eager to encourage new members, if you've an interest in calligraphy and want to find out more then please get in touch, my email is at the top of this page or contact our secretary, Shirley Kingsbury on 01768 840686. Beginners are more than welcome and we can teach/tutor you the basics during our workshops.
Think that's all for now!
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