Art in Action - Iris Milward

Well, there were 400 artists at Art in Action and this is just a taster.

And the last artist from the lettering fraternity is Iris Milward with her unique and fabulous pottery.

Iris (pronounced the Dutch way - Eeris) works on a slab of clay and uses a clay tool with wire on it something like the one on the left. This is then used as a calligraphy tool to scoop out the clay using the same movements as you would use with an edged pen.

Here is a design of fishes and words. The areas where clay was removed are filled with coloured slip and the whole thing is fired. Well that's the simplified version - obviously there are all sorts of finer details.

Here are the amazing results!

"Poetry is not always words"

"To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour".

Iris gives workshops where you can create your own slab lettering - www.poetrytiles.co.uk

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Art in Action - Tom Perkins

We saw Gaynor in action yesterday - she had teamed up with her husband Tom Perkins at Art in Action this year and he had a stand next door. They are real heavyweights in the lettering world and if you have not seen Tom's book, even if you won't ever do carving, its a real treat just for the letterforms.

Anyway, Tom showed a piece he was working on and if you look next to it, you'll see a beautiful d and an a on the display board. His style is particularly recognisable for his own style of letters, like the pointed d & a and the wide shouldered O.

My son (the one who wasn't knighted) had a lovely weekend on one of Tom's workshops in Wales to do carving as an experience, for the day when he has free time. He went back to Sweden with a great big chunk of stone in his luggage and was thrilled with the course. But, so far, with two little girls and his dinosaur apps, he's had no free time! 

If you didn't look at Gaynor's website yesterday, look it up today as they share a website.

www.gaynorgoffe-calligraphy.co.uk

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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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Art in Action - Josie Brown

Josie Brown is a talented calligrapher and a very warm and encouraging teacher.

Inevitably we all have to think of a different ways of writing names to demonstrate and engage!

Josie has experimented and had a lot of success with traditional gilding techniques including Persian gilding using gold dust and working with lapis lazuli. Her stand showed her versatility, and had my absolute favourite piece, Hedgerow in Silver, which is written with silverpoint on a titanium-pigment ground with an underpainting of acrylic. You may remember that the scribes used to draw lines in silverpoint on vellum. Silverpoint is exactly what it says it is - a finely ground 'nib' or point of silver which is used without ink, because it leaves a deposit of silver where a nib would usually leave ink. It works well on gesso and was often used for drawings for oil paintings. It can't be erased, so that's why we can see the ruling lines on vellum manuscripts. 

This photo doesn't do the work justice, but it's a difficult one to photograph. It really has to be seen in real ife.


By the way there was lots of very exiting artwork at Art in Action - well, with 400 demonstrators, you can imagine! So we'll be there for another week and will still have only scraped the surface!

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Art in Action - Celia Lister

Celia is a very committed and hard working artist. I say artist rather than calligrapher because she expresses herself in a style worthy of the title of 'fine art' and she has been exploring her environment with her calligraphic paintings. Her new series are food paintings / recipes like the one below.

At her stand at Art in Action there are her little "signature" concertina books - beautifully designed and made. She demonstrated her fluid ruling pen writing and some hand painted cards.

I'm going to crib her clever display method - you know how it's always difficult to hang saucepan hooks or framing hooks over display boards because they never fit well and the paintings seem to sway around. Well, Celia's portable hanging system is to have those little screw clamps to hold invisible fishing line. very smart - you could patent that, Celia!

One of the things we chatted about was the importance of having a 'calligraphic identity' and a 'body of work' that shows cohesiveness. This is so difficult to achieve because in our training (UK) the aim seems to be to gain as many styles of calligraphy and skills as possible and to be a "Jack of all trades" (See my rant in mid-June about choosing a direction). I actually find this really difficult despite my belief, because I get restless and want to do different things. However, I try to ensure that most of my major artworks are a series of at least 12 pieces, before moving on.

Celia Lister always has such a fresh immaculate image at her stand. Her colours are lined up neatly,  The display boards are covered in white muslin with a panel of soft yellow silk and sparkly bits of colour. Such understated Elegance!

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Art in Action - Best of the Best

Each of the 400 artists who are demonstrating at the show are invited to submit one piece for the "Best of the Best" tent which provides an overview of what is on offer. Other artists vote and there is an award for the Best of the Best.
Here are some stunning pieces which took my fancy:

These massive vases are by James Oughtibridge - the black ones were in the B of the B tent.
Then there was the glass wave by Graham Muir. I went along to the glass works tent and took a few extra shots there.

Sensuous lines! Exquisite colours.

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Inspiration

Where do you get your inspiration?
From looking through Letter Arts Review or art magazines?
From visiting art exhibitions?
Attending workshops?
Going to contemporary art and craft fairs like Art in Action?
From blogs?


I often find more inspiration is associated arts than in the calligraphy world especially as I am on an eternal quest for originality.


I have just joined Oxford Printmakers Co-operative on "probation". I have to do 20 hours with a technician on members' days doing printing of any sort and then may join (if I pass)! Training is so important in a co-op like this where presses need to be kept clean and there are dangerous chemicals and pressure hoses etc. It is a fabulously equipped studio, with a back-lit cleaning station for "silk" screens. Also, it's so nice to see the work of professional printmakers and work alongside them.  I have always felt that printmaking is very harmonious with calligraphy because it is essentially two-dimensional and stylised.

From the logo of Oxford Printmakers Co-operative   

So watch this space!

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