Tuesday 5th August Meeting- Gifford Gallery, Mt Eden  

'Playing with the Tools of our Trade'

- Margaret Woollett -

 Tutor

Experimenting and experiencing the 'tools' will be the the focus of the evening. Using the nibs and tools of our 'kit' we will have an evening of experimentation.

I will demonstrate using some of the main tools I use in producing my art and work, but this will be an evening of your own journey as you learn to experiment and experience using your tools in new ways

Come prepared with paper of different weights, surfaces, colour, paints, inks, brushes, etc, and an apron, as we will be using paint and ink to play and get a hands on 'feel' for some these tools. Come prepared to let old ideas grow and develop into something 'more'!

This will be an evening of learning new ways of using standard tools, looking at some tricks which assist us in our making of 'good lettering', learning and  'seeing' what others do with these same tools.

 It will be a fun evening of learning as we 'play'.

Tuesday 5th August Meeting - 6.30pm - 9pm, Gifford Gallery, Mt Eden  

  

Many members of our group belong to the Association of Book Crafts and there is an international conference being held here in New Zealand. For more information :-
Visit website: www.abc-nz.org
Programme, presenters and registration details
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Email: abc2014nz@gmail.com

Calligraphy Classes

Beginners and Continuing

Parnell Community Centre

Jan Leonard is tutoring a 6 week Calligraphy course to held at the Parnell Community Centre,  545 Parnell Road, Parnell 1151. Phone (09) 5555164. It is for beginners and those wishing to build on previous skills

Term III starts on 14th August, a Thursday 7pm - 9pm

Term IV starts on 6th November, a Thursday 7pm - 9 pm.

Cost: $110 plus $18 materials charge

Contact for bookings or more information.

Rayna Terziyska

Phone (09) 555 5164
Fax (09) 379 2901
community@parnell.org.nz

Glenn Grishkoff

Brush Maker Extraordinaire

California-based Glenn grew up watching his Chinese-born Russian father grind his own ink and brush iconic glyphs from his childhood onto rice paper. This and his own experience in Asia taught Grishkoff the power of a brushstroke and the spirit of natural materials. The sculptural objects and performances he creates with clay, paper, wood, metal, textiles and hair, reference his own story and the materials he uses.

In his work, one sees a reflection of human experience as the artist pays homage to the animal spirit instilled within the physical world.  He is interested in the brush as art and function. More information  here.  

"Rock", coil-built porcelain, garnet sand; raku fired, cone 06; horse mane hair; 10"x15.5"x12",

He conducts hands on brush making workshops and is currently booking future workshop presentations. He is constructing a second website that will feature, his functional brushes, paintings, student work, collaboratives and all workshop information for people wanting to host workshops and people taking his workshops. The brushes he teaches how to make in his workshops work with all visual art areas and appeal to a diverse crowd. 

"Ink Well", porcelain sculpted with elbow and hand impressions; 

high salt fired, cone 10, powdered glass; brush handle, course garnet dust, deer tail hair; 10"x 7" x 3.5", 2008

    

I wrote to Glenn and he kindly gave his permission to use the images and information on his site. If the contents of this post interested you - there is a lot more available and I recommend visiting Glenn's website http://www.glenngrishkoff.com/ 

Installation

Calligraphy for Beginners

Regretfully this class has been cancelled  because of unforeseen circumstances.

Course: Warkworth Weekend Course on Foundational Hand

Date: 23rd - 24th August, 2014 

 Time: Saturday 9.30-3.30pm 

              & Sunday 9.30-12.30pm

 Cost: $50 (KAC Members $45)

Venue: KAC Rooms, Warkworth Showgrounds, 

State Highway 1

Cost: $50 (KAC Members $45)

Bookings: $25 deposit with bookings

Contact: Hilary Lewis - phone 09 425 7042 email  hilary@arcon.co.nz

Report from July's monthly meeting

If you needed to know what the phrase 'bring your usual calligraphy gear' means  - last night was the night to come to our meeting.

Despite the awful weather outside we were spell bound by Margaret who had set up a wonderful display of tools and materials available to modern day calligraphers, combine that with her years of experience meant that our questions were answered with anecdotal comment, hints and tips. An excellent back to basics discussion and I am sure that everyone of us learnt something.  

A suitcase to help keep the gold, foils, metals etc secure and uncontaminated. The pros and cons of quills, even how to make a reservoir to slide up a shaft. Beautiful boxes of nib stock, so there is no excuse not to play. 

One of the most important things is to experiment and play with tools, pigments and paper. Margaret impressed upon us to do this and to keep our efforts as a record for comparisons. Some materials are better than others for a particular effect. Margaret shared several of her books, some containing a whole variety of different papers, some with stubby leaves to which she had then added larger trials and tests as they were completed. After the talk we were able to examine and discuss the various equipment and have a cup of tea. Margaret is starting a calligraphy course very soon, click here for details for more information.

       'To Make Good Letters'

                                                                     Margaret Woollett -Tutor

Common writing tools:- ccrk, automatic, stick, bamboo, coit, mapping, parallel, glass, aluminium, ruling, witch, butterfly, suede and felt.

A night of delving into our 'kit', learning about the 'what' and 'how' of some of these tools, inks, paints and papers we carry around in our workboxes.

We will look at what are some of our calligraphy tools, how we use them, getting the best out of these tools, and their potential to be used in the making of 'Good Letters'.

A look at some of the myriad of other tools available to us as calligraphers, and techniques learned over many years of experience on the how and why's that assist a freelance calligrapher in 'Making Good Letters'.

Bring your 'kit', pencil and paper, your questions, and come along, there is much we can all learn from the experiences of others… we will have a great evening as we learn and share together.

Tuesday 1st of July Meeting- Gifford Gallery, Mt Eden

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

A last reminder for this year's meeting to come along and contribute to your group, to have a say in how things are run, and how you think we could improve, or get your questions answered. It will be a busy evening, as your committee have quite a few things planed to get through. Please bring a plate to share after the business side of things and we will socialise over an excellent supper.

 'Making Good Letters and Arranging them Well'

Margaret Woollett -Tutor

I am offering a calligraphy class with a difference. Looking at some of the foundations of where our western calligraphy has come from. 

Working our way through, Edward Johnston's books, "Writing & Illuminating & Lettering" and "Lessons in Formal Writing"….using these 'classics' and learning from the 'Master' himself. There is a huge amount of information and knowledge contained within these volumes.

A good foundation of the why/how/what, is fundamental to producing good lettering. Looking afresh at some of the very basics of calligraphy by doing, and experiencing the problems, then, finding solutions, and putting it all in to practice, will be what this class is about.

Edward Johnston's wealth of knowledge, found in these volumes will change the way we see letters and enhance the letters we make. Johnston insisted, "learning must be from making actual things"…. I intend in this class, to make an 'actual thing'… what ever you want that 'thing' to be… To do this collectively, offers a wider view point, a learning together, a sharing of experiences, and processes, making our own learning faster and greater.

It will be a regular fortnightly class - this it is important as it will assist us in developing and keeping our hand trained. Dates yet to be confirmed - hope to begin end of June, I am able in my studio to accommodate up to 8 people 'cosily' or we could look at another more central venue - I am in  Narrow Neck, Devonport- another venue would come at more cost, which is not something I want to incur!

Many classes are the study of a certain style of 'hand' with exemplars provided…we will not be working from 'exemplars' per se …  we will look as 'EJ' does, on how to analyze a hand, make formal hands, versals, design elements, colour, tools, gold etc.

Looking to begin this class, Thursday 26th June.

Open to all, from beginners, to those like me, with many years of writing experience, but a desire to learn more. 

Look forward to your queries.

To contact Margaret Woollett by email click the following Margaret's email or
Ph: 09 4451205, MOB: 021 1283424

UPDATE:

Journaling.

Please continue to use your journals as often as you can. We would like to publish anything you think might be of interest to others who are doing the same thing. We would like to know how you made the time to do it, and the sorts of things you used it for. Sometimes solutions for you can help someone else who has ground to a halt. Please contact Dale if you would like to share.

Collaborative book.

This is on hold temporarily as members are over committed with courses and completion of other calligraphy artwork. If you want to continue please contact Dale as there may be enough people to continue a smaller edition. The contact details are in the sidebar of this blog.
Reminder. Artwork with 'Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter' for the magazine is needed now, please make sure you send it to Dale or bring along to the A.G.M. if you cannot.