Calligraphy - what is it?
Calligraphy comes from the Greek words ‘kallos’ and ‘graphos’ and means ‘beautiful writing’. It is a traditional art - gestural drawing or painting that illustrates and illuminates the written word in a sumptuous, spontaneous and sometimes elaborately unintelligible way.
In the western world calligraphy is often associated with famous historical examples like the Celtic ‘Book of Kells’, a lavishly decorated medieval manuscript containing the Latin text of the four Christian gospels illustrated by Scottish monks and now housed at Trinity College, Dublin. But various forms of calligraphy have been embraced by virtually every civilisation inspired to make a mark, correspond, honour human words or achievements, remember history, worship deities, keep records, illustrate stories, advertise or package products, or create multi-disciplinary art works of great harmony and beauty drawing on anything from wood block printing to architecture and computer aided design.
In ancient China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, Master calligraphers created massive calligraphic wall scrolls, exotic pen-and-wash paintings and expressive small scale character studies that look spontaneous but are in fact the result of many years’ contemplation, trial and error. Modern Tibetan monks, including the Dalai Lama, continue to celebrate Buddhist teaching via ancient inscriptions and prayer wheels once created with reeds rather than pens or brushes. Ancient Mayans produced highly decorative leaflets using calligraphy and pre-Islamic Persians decorated their royal monuments with decorative Farsi inscriptions. Christian, Aramaic, Hebrew and Islamic scholars have been honoring the written word through sacred texts for many thousands of years.
Arabic calligraphy has adorned the walls and ceilings of mosques and formed a central element in Islamic art and architecture since ancient times. For Muslims, calligraphy and art in general originate from the holybook of Islam, the Qur’an, and help translate its values into the physical world. Calligraphy in particular provided an ideal aesthetic for the spiritual and contemplative nature of Islam. Interestingly, in classical Arabic there is only one word (sane) for people who work with their hands and it means both a worker and an artisan. The idea was to share knowledge rather than pursue a path to individual self-expression.
In the western world calligraphy began with the earliest humans scratching into dirt with sticks and has been morphing ever since from cave paintings, Egyptian hieroglyphics and pictograms via the Roman alphabet to classical inscriptions, the great illustrated manuscripts of Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Europe, through new engraving, typesetting and printing technologies in use since the 15th century, and via the broad-edged pen-led handwriting revival of late 19th century to the advent of personal computers in the late 20th century.
Historically, calligraphy, typeface design and illustration was the preserve of scholars, monks, holy men (they were mostly men) and, later, specialists working in studios and type foundries. These days anyone with a personal computer can download calligraphic-style fonts like Blackadder, Bradley Hand, Edwardian Script, Gigi and Vivaldi and design their own wedding invitations, scrap book schemes, cards, awards, certificates and albums.
While the accessibility of typefaces and associated materials such as gorgeous handmade papers has undoubtedly introduced calligraphy to a far wider audience than an ancient art could reasonably expect at the start of the 21st century, seasoned practitioners say calligraphy takes many years of study and practice to perfect. It provides expressive irregularity, spontaneity, individuality, abstraction and a thoroughly contemporary ability to melt with other art forms - graphic design, multimedia, photography, typography, industrial design, fine art, illustration, cartooning - to create something that computer programmers will never be able to replicate.
Once, calligraphers devoted their talents to illuminating the words and deeds of their various gods. These days they ply their trade in the commercial world, designing everything from headlines and illustrations in magazines to stationery, inspirational quotations, inscriptions, literary texts, maps, posters, certificates, awards, greeting and gift cards, packaging, poems, posters and store signage.
Materials
Calligraphy is a delightfully inexpensive hobby for beginners requiring, at its most basic, a pen (usually flat- or round nibbed), high quality paper (porous enough to enable clean lines), ink (usually water based) and knowledge of the written alphabet. Parchment or vellum is often used because it allows experienced calligraphers to delicately remove mistakes with a knife. Lined paper and templates (often illuminated from below via a light box) are sometimes employed to help achieve straight lines.
But, as always with arts and crafts, choice of materials can extend as far as the imagination. The internet and bookshops are awash with DIY guides to calligraphy and quality art stores stock some truly beautiful calligraphy sets containing all manner of hair and steel brushes, flat- and round-nibbed pens, felt-tip pens, embossing tools, inks, paper, cards, gold and gilding tools and Chinese painting equipment. For designers and craftspeople looking to weave calligraphic elements into everything from scrap booking to printmaking, sculpture and even fashion design, the list of potential calligraphic canvases is endless.
Leading calligraphers
Edward Johnston (1872-1944), the quill-wielding Englishman behind the revolutionary sans-serif typeface designed for the London Underground, is credited with quite literally changing the face of 20th century typography and reviving the art of penmanship, which in the west had been stagnant for about 400 years. His book ‘Writing and Illuminating, and Lettering’ published in 1906 (and in print ever since), generated widespread interest in calligraphy and a new school of scribes. Two of the most popular typefaces widely available on computers today - ‘Perpetual’ and ‘Gill Sans’ - were designed by one of his pupils, Eric Gill.
Internationally acclaimed artist and calligrapher Dave Wood is widely regarded as Australia’s leading exponent of the form. He studied under the calligrapher to The Queen, is one of two Fellows in Australia of the London’s revered Society of Scribes and Illuminators, and has successfully exhibited and taught for many years throughout Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the United States, Japan, Belgium and South Africa. His original and limited edition handcrafted books and prints are collected by state and national libraries throughout Australia and New Zealand and his commissions include Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum, Olympic Park, the NSW Art Gallery, the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the British Council. Dave also runs Australia’s first and only calligraphy gallery (by appointment only).
Dave’s distinctive work combines traditional techniques with contemporary designs and spans a vast range of styles, subjects and surfaces: illustrated poems by Australian icons like Banjo Patterson and Judith Wright; rare and limited edition books such as miniature concertinas displayed on timber stands; and biblical texts and inspirational quotations by the likes of Kahlil Gibran, William Blake and Omar Khayyam incorporating everything from silkscreen to vellum and three dimensional paper sculptures.
The Calligraphy Society of Victoria’s Summer School in Winter
Keen calligraphers and eager beginners have a chance to peruse and purchase work by some of the world’s leading exponents of the art form at the Calligraphy Society of Victoria’s (CSV) Summer School in Winter, held in Melbourne each July.
The CSV currently has around 220 members. This year its Summer School takes place from July 2-6 inclusive at the University of Melbourne’s St Mary’s College in Tin Alley, off Swanston Street. CSV vice-president, Patricia Barth, says the exact program remains a tightly held secret until the last moment. “There’s a lot of competition to get into it now,” she says. The group is also mindful of other states poaching its drawcards for their shows. However, she will say that three well known tutors from overseas and one from Australia will be present. Past luminaries have included the leading heraldic painter in London, a logo design expert from South America and a Belgian master she rates as “the best tutor I’ve had”.
Patricia says the Summer School offers a dedicated class for people with little experience but warns successful calligraphers require infinite patience. “Many people start and stop very quickly because it requires a lot of hard slog,” she says. Other features include two or three-day workshops for experienced and professional calligraphers, dormitory accommodation and social events, tutor-hosted dinners, student galleries and a fair featuring everything from original art and prints to wood-cut letters for children’s bedrooms, handmade cards, paper and calligraphic supplies.
Patricia fell for calligraphy as a teenager after her mother’s family in Switzerland commissioned a family tree for an upcoming reunion. “I saw a copy when I was 15 and I was already painting and drawing a lot so I sensed an immediate interest in the letters,” she says. “I thought they were beautiful, it was that old Germanic script but it was nicely done. I commented to my mother, ‘All those people had to fall in love for me to be born’.” After marrying a genealogist and living and teaching overseas for many years Patricia returned to Australia in 1982 and started her own business, the Family Tree Scriptorium (www.familytree.net.au [familytree.net.au]), to research and create lavishly illustrated family trees designed to capture the interest of younger generations and act as a family heirloom to be passed on from one generation to the next.
Computers have made it tougher for professional calligraphers to earn a living in Australia, according to Patricia. She once spent four months annually producing 10,000 student certificates for universities like Melbourne and LaTrobe. “When Melbourne Uni bought a mainframe computer I lost a third of my business overnight,” she says.
Areas like teaching offer an obvious avenue for proficient calligraphers but Patricia says many beginners quickly abandon calligraphy when they discover how much time and attention it requires. “It’s a cerebral activity,” she says. Successful calligraphers need good body rhythm, patience, an understanding of composition and an artistic flair for choosing and combining fonts.
But those who persevere are rewarded with an immensely satisfying and lifelong love, according to Patricia. “If calligraphy grabs you, you can’t let it go, she says. “We’re all born to make a mark, I think.”
Dip into calligraphy, sign up for lessons or just find out more.
Enroll in the Summer School in winter or beginner workshops with Patricia Barth’s at the Calligraphy Society of Victoria: http://calligraphysocietyvictoria.org.au [calligraphysocietyvictoria.org.au]
Useful links:
• Explore Patricia’s intricately researched and highly visual family trees: www.familytree.net.au [familytree.net.au]
• Marvel at Dave Wood’s unique paper sculptures and works on vellum in gouache and gold shell: www.davewood.com.au [davewood.com.au]
• Dave Wood is guest tutor at the 28th International Conference for Lettering Artists. Find out more at www.chicagocalligraphy2008.org [chicagocalligraphy2008.org]
• Check out New Zealand’s national network of affiliated calligraphy guilds www.nzcalligraphers.co.nz [nzcalligraphers.co.nz]
• Looking for an excuse to visit America? Check out the International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting 2008 convention in California in August: www.iampeth.com [iampeth.com]. This site also includes a vast range of useful online resources including lessons and samples as well as books and videos.
• DIY and historical calligraphy books:
www.scribblers.co.uk/acatalog/calligraphy_books.html [scribblers.co.uk]
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