Things are hotting up for Art in Action - it is 2.5 weeks away at Waterperry Gardens starting on the 17th July. I have been invited to exhibit and will be one of 400 artists. We have to have ACTION, so I'll have something interactive, some demos and Have a Go at calligraphy. Megan and I designed the Rope of Words table on Saturday for our book and I have lots of original artwork and cards. My interactive activity will be a pebble garden for people to rake into a pattern and write their names in … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]