Art in Action - Gaynor Goffe: Left is Right

Spiral staircases went clockwise so that the defenders would be coming from above and have a long swing with their swords held in the right hand. However, in Scotland in the Kerr Clan, there are a number of "lefties" e.g. Sir Andrew Kerr - his spiral staircase went anti-clockwise. I'm a Kerr by marriage and my son Andrew is yet to be knighted and thank goodness we are all right handed!*


But this makes the point that on the whole, things such as calligraphy and spiral staircases were designed for right handed people.
When I have taught lefties in a beginner class, I give them so much extra attention that I ask everyone to hold the pen in their left hands and attempt a simple zig-zag with the nib at 45°. I rest my case.


There are many ways that a left hander can approach calligraphy but they have to work it out for themselves. We can only suggest possible ways of holding the pen and paper. There are different degrees of left-handedness and each person has coped differently in a right handed world. So, some people may slant the paper upwards slightly to the left but it can work quite well to write completely sideways with the top left hand corner of the paper turned 90° so that it is on the top right. It is then possible to do a zig-zag without smudges. I knew a leftie guy of 16 who did very passable Gothic upside down.

Gaynor Goffe is probably the most famous left-handed calligrapher and I took these shots of her at Art in Action to show you how she holds her pen. She has her paper slightly slanted towards the left and twists her wrist at an impossible angle and writes exquisitely without smudging.

But not many people would be able to do this. Gaynor is exceptionally skilled and could probably do beautiful Italic with her left foot!

See her work at www.gaynorgoffe-calligraphy.co.uk

*b.t.w. I have two left-handed brothers and I first learnt Italic on my own at 15. In desperation, my mother had bought a little book on Italic by George Thompson, to help them write legibly and I took this to boarding school to while away those long boring hours at prep.

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