EXHIBITION: THE ART OF LETTERS

WHERE: Lake House, Takapuna
WHEN: 5th - 24th May, 2015
OPENING: Tuesday 5th May, from 5-7pm

This is an open exhibition and all members are encouraged to enter as many pieces as you like.

Work needs to be delivered to the Lake House by Monday 4th May. If this is not possible please contact Jan Leonard (09 232 0068) to make other arrangements.

Please see below for a full list of detailed conditions and information about entering the exhibition.

For those who find it hard to come up with an idea we will also have a category involving a poem written especially for us by one of our members, Elaine Riddell. You may use all or part of the text in any format that appeals to you.

NIGHTFALL

Wind drops, sea settles

sun dips below cloud

casting gold over hills,

waves on rocks below soften,

two remnant gulls

above the headland

call their departure.

Across the gulf

hills of Coromandel mist away, 

day moon brightens into night,

lone cricket begins to sing.

Rarely does night so gently fall.

- Elaine Riddell

CONDITIONS
1. Lake House commission on work sold is 30%. This means the price you put on your work should include this.
2. All work must be the artist's own work and completed within the last year. We ask that it is for sale. You may enter as many pieces as you like.
3. NZ Calligraphers are charging a fee of $10 per entry to help cover the costs of the gallery rental.
4. Work MUST be ready to hang when delivered. Lake House has the Artiteq rail system so works need to have D rings or eyelet hooks placed 3/4 of the way up the back of your piece. If you have an unframed piece which is light you may hang it with bulldog clips. This is your responsibility.
5. Please label the back of your piece with your name, address, phone number, medium used and the price. Also attach this information on a swing tag. (This is for cataloguing purposes.)
6. Although we will take every care of your work NZ Calligraphers cannot be responsible for any damage or loss.
7. Work needs to be delivered to Lake House preferably on the morning of Monday 4th May or you can leave your pieces with the person on duty on Sunday. If this is not possible please contact Jan Leonard (09 232 0068) to make arrangements.
8. Installation will be on the 4th and 5th of May. The opening will be on the 5th of May from 5-7pm.
9. All unsold work must be collected at the completion of the exhibition on May 24th.
10. The curator has the final say on which works may or may not be included.
11. Please complete the entry form and send to -   
     Jan Leonard
     120 Torkar Road
     Clarkes Beach
     Auckland 2122
If you require an entry form please email us at - newzealandcalligraphers@gmail.com

We would really like to have an idea of your pieces and how many you will be submitting before the exhibition. If you find you have more time to produce more work we will happily accept it on the day.
12. Lake House have requested that each person who is exhibiting provides a CV. Could you please right a brief one up to 300 words and send it to Jan Leonard - jan.c.leonard@gmail.com as soon as possible as they want it before the exhibition.

Celebrating 21 Years of Calligraphy: Our 2012 Exhibition

Opening night of our Exhibition:

The Warkworth Group,         Margaret and Roselda forefront.

This year it was held at Lake House, and over a short five day period. Thanks have to go to the small group of members who worked so hard to deliver this event to us all. On this blog you will see photos of only a small selection, which have been divided into sub groups, although in the gallery the works mingled.

Glenice and Al,             Peter and Tom,                Dale and Gill.

Art Works: Nearly 20 members participated in supporting the call for submissions, and many had multiple works for sale. Beginners, intermediate and advanced members worked hard to create for the exhibition, it was wonderful to see the skill and range of abilities. There is no way I can do justice to the individual art works but below are a few snapshots of the work after hanging in the gallery. 

The Alphabet on Canvas: The Society purchased 6" square blocks, covered in canvas and primed. They were offered to old and new members who were to decorate with a given letter in any style they chose. These were all for sale with proceeds going to the society.

Making A Mark: Small similar works, where each was added to over a period of time, building up to a final image. This was open to all levels of calligraphers.

Dale's work immediately above, Glenice's below.

Book Artists: Recent books covering a large range of construction types, both experimental and traditional. All levels participated. You can see a few of the books submitted below.

Thanks to Dale-Cormack Pearson  who took  all the photography for this post.

Our group met here at Lake House, Takapuna on 24th June. The rain came down and the sun shone - a bit like the meeting. It was the place to remember this past year, our successes, the busy times, to air our grievances, to plan our program and  to improve for next year. 

We are considering participating with Lake House, who are planing a display of Victorian paraphernalia which they will hold towards the end of the year. After the meeting we gathered round the main table which was filled with ideas. We made thaumatropes, discussed vovelles, and how we could apply calligraphy to other everyday victorian items.  Finishing off with the legendary home baked afternoon tea.

Colour, Collage and Calligraphy Workshop

Students who attended the workshop with Gemma Black.
Dale, Marion, Roselda, Pam, Elaine, Lesley, Bevan, Jan, Barbara, Theresa, Gill, Glenice, Rose, Kirsten, Ann, & Gemma.

Dale-Cormack Pearson

What an inspirational workshop this has been, we have been shown different mediums and we have played around with them. We have been shown how to mix colors with washes for backgrounds. Then to apply calligraphy to them. Thank you Gemma for your hard work to bring this to us, we have enjoyed

it very much. The evening lecture was most interesting and I think we all learnt something. For me the most important aspect is to always write everything down. The date, medium, style, what worked, what didn't work. Always to make sure you name your piece, take photos of your work. Making your mark is the most important thing you can do for yourself and your calligraphy. Dale-Cormack Pearson

Barbara Ellis

This was a fun course! Gemma showed us how our back grounds for our calligraphy can come from a variety of possibilities, as far as our imagination can take us, by using different media, support and methods. We tried inks, water colors, gouache and acrylics with water on a variety of papers, they could just have easily been used on canvas, wood, fabric etc. We used paint brushes, spray and dropper bottles, salt, glad wrap and anything else we had with us. Each media, paper and method gave a different effect. We had a wonderful play and serendipity played a huge part. A large tray was used to keep the paint etc contained (and the mess). To finish off Gemma showed us a quick but very effective calligraphic style to use on our backgrounds which could be protected with an acrylic medium later on. Barbara Ellis.

Lesley McKeesick

Paint, gouache, inks, water, brushes, different papers and anything you could think of for collage. A new experience for me to be dripping/sloshing paint etc onto wet paper. But what fun!  It was interesting to see everyones different colors and styles. The Saturday afternoon was spent learning some new scripts and again it was fun. They had a casual look and were to be written at speed, though I found that I had to write more slowly to achieve that look. Sunday we designed and put different collage materials onto our now dry paper, (toilet paper seemed ideal for collage work) with three different types of paste. A session with Gemma to see how best to present our master pieces! She gave us many helpful tips and useful information for our calligraphy craft. Lesley McKeesick

Gill Carlsson

I was one of the fortunate members to attend the Colour, Collage and Calligraphy workshop with Gemma Black. She is the most delightful person and wonderful tutor. I had wondered whether I would be out of my depth attending with such an international teacher of calligraphy, but no, she accommodated all levels of knowledge and everyone really had a good time. Saturday was spent experimenting with colour effects onto a background we created with different mediums, ink, watercolor, and gouache. We made crinkled effect paper by blobbing randomly onto the paper then screwing the paper into a ball! Unravelling it revealed a wonderful effect. Then ironed it when dry. The drying was enhanced by the lovely sunny day, and we dried our papers outside. We had bought some images, hand made papers etc to do collage. When the paper was dry enough we all set to creating with our embellishments. What an amazing variety of designs started to appear around the room. We were all so absorbed in our work the classroom was quiet!! By the end of the day we had finished several decorative papers and were quite exhausted from the concentration and went home happy. That evening we had a sociable lecture from Gemma at Jan's house, called 'Making your Mark' signing your work or not? Sunday we learnt Akim cursive script originally developed by Hans-Joachim Burget. This hand is certainly different! First we had to practice free form skeleton Roman capitals using Gemma's variation - fun and not difficult to do, then we moved onto variation of Hans-Joachim. No angle of the pen to worry about and the letters flattened and sprawling were enjoyable to practice. The rest of the day was spent practicing and creating some phrases or poems of your choice. Some managed to actually write onto the prepared papers we had made and it looked stunning. The simplicity of the hand requires little writing to gain great affect! I must get on and do my practice! Gill Carlsson