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June 10, 2009
Triennial non-juried exhibition of the Friends of Calligraphy. A wonderful representation of modern calligraphy. Here's a review of the show on my blog. My Spelling Words book in its black , white and grey form is on display, along with the wonderful box made by Dreaming Mind for the book and its backstory booklet.
June 10 hrough August 23
Skylight Gallery, top floor of the main San Francisco Library, 100 Larkin Street (at Grove)
Exhibition viewing hours:
Sunday 12-5
Monday 10-6
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 9-6
Friday 12-6
Saturday 10-6
In addition, every Saturday from 2-4 FOC will present demonstrations of calligraphy techniques and tools by noted Bay Area scribes, in the Latino-Hispanic Room, lower level main library. June 20 through August 15, with the exception of Saturday, July 4.
May 24, 2009
I've been honored to be included in the latest Letter Arts Review, the annual juried issue for work submitted in 2008. That funky U majuscule in the center of the cover is from A Goddess Alphabet and derives from forms I've been studying on Old European artifacts. One of the Spelling Words books was also accepted.
There is a wonderful selection of contemporary and very international calligraphic applications and media in this issue: books, type design, ceramic, steel, slate, plywood, embossing, woodcut, encaustic, collage, watercolor, beach writing, letters as room divider, traditional and deconstructed letters; even a fascinating exhibit in Germany of gilded and colored pieces of paper hung from the ceiling of a industrial-style gallery space and the wall pieces that went along with them (would have loved to experience calligraphy like that), and several entries from the international WOR(L)Ds exhibition, a collaboration between letter carvers and letter artists that exhibited in Belgium.
All in all, this issue is a real feast of letters!
May 20, 2009
I've uploaded photos of a new book work called Alphabet Ancestors. A series of three books, each one shows six Roman majuscules juxtaposed with ancient marks or natural forms that could be seen as ancestors of the modern forms.
I'll be adding a post to my blog soon on this subject, considering alphabetic forms as carriers of ancient wisdom rather than phonetic or symbolic only. As Eric Gill so perceptively noted: "Letters are things, not pictures of things."
April 9, 2009
Since I made this print, it has come to my attention that Goethe is not, strictly speaking, the author of these words, although apparently provided the source for a translation. So, to set the record straight, here is the complete quote, correct attribution and source:
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy,
the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness
concerning all acts of initiative (and creation).
The moment one definitely commits oneself,
then Providence moves too.
A whole stream of events issues from the decision.
Whatever you can do or dream you can,
Begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
Begin it now.
-W.H. Murray
The Scottish Himalayan Expedition
J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1951
usually attributed to Goethe
Source: The Millionth Circle, by Jean Shinoda Bolen. Also here is a good link exploring how this quote probably did evolve from Goethe, according to the Goethe Society anyway.
I continue to trust the fact-checking of print editors more than internet sources.
February 5, 2009
New paintings uploaded to the Art section. These are mostly from my early days doing paste paper, 2001-2003. Working with this medium was wonderfully freeing for me; playing with pigment and paste on the paper without always knowing what text I would use, not having everything planned out. Learning to welcome the happy accidents.
October 11, 2008
Today I've uploaded photos of my new book Spelling Words, in all three of its variant forms. I began painting pages for these books in 2006, but didn't get around to the actual lettering and binding until January of this year. But I have been exploring the word "spell" for several years: previous forays into the subject can be seen in Eucalyptus Spell from 2000 and Abracadabra from 2001. I will probably post more of my thoughts and process on my blog in the coming days.
October 9, 2008
I'm finally getting some photos and web pages uploaded for new books from the last year. Today it's a page about Portal, a book I made the summer of 2007. This book represents a change in my way of working, because it has no words, just images, symbols, paint, and stitching.
September 28, 2008
Updates to the website:
Shows: an artist talk in October
Publications: the Ampersand article about my work is now available as a PDF to read
September 10, 2008
The new issue of Bound and Lettered has an article I wrote entitled "The Making of Star Spell."
Since so many people had questions about my production process I agreed to write the article for this journal of calligraphy and bookbinding. It includes some in-depth discussion of my handling of digital files and printing, since so much of the compositing of this book took place in Photoshop.
There are also some other great articles in this issue, including another article about producing a book using hand calligraphy and Photoshop by Sherrie Lovler, which also has much detail of her digital process. It's great to see other artists combining hand work with digital process. The computer is a great tool.
There's also a short review of my Beginner's Guide: Calligraphy and Illumination by Alice Koeth. For those who don't know Alice, she has been a professional calligrapher and lettering artist in Manhattan for over fifty years, and she is more commonly known by her first name only. As one of my early teachers, her influence on me was great, and she set the bar high for letterforms . I am honored to have her review my book.
July 19, 2008
The gallery section of the Bay Area Book Artists website is now launched. Here you will be able to browse through images of many amazing and beautiful books, and information about the artists. BABA is the sponsor of the annual Book Arts Jam every October at Foothill College, which I have participated in almost yearly since 2002.
My section of the gallery shows books I have made, old and new, including a sneak peek at my new book Spelling Words. The photo at right actually appears in Don Drake's section of the gallery (and was taken by him). He made the wonderful box for the book. I will be posting more photos and information about the book project, but it is not quite complete yet.
To visit the new BABA gallery, click here or on the picture at the right.
April 5, 2008
My calligraphy kit (originally published by Walter Foster in 2006 and still available here) was repackaged and reissued for the 2007 winter holiday season by Barnes and Noble, under the name Classic Calligraphy and Illumination (pictured at right).
Many thanks to all of you who called or emailed me to let me know about the problems with this kit.The publisher regrets the errors in this recent production of the calligraphy & illumination kit offered by Barnes & Noble. If you have bought or received this red kit, please contact me and I will forward your correspondence to Walter Foster Publishing, who will then mail you the corrections for this kit.
For more details, visit this page.
December 26, 2007
I have extended the pre-publication price for the standard edition only of Star Spell through New Year's Eve, December 31. So you don't have to go to the mall to find a bargain!
December 5, 2007
Today marks the release of my new limited edition book, Star Spell. In honor of the Yule season, I am offering it at a reduced pre-publication price between now and Christmas. It is being made in a standard and a deluxe edition. After Yule it will go out to a larger audience and the price will necessarily go up. Some of you may have seen the first version of this book at the Book Arts Jam in October.
I will be at Kaleid Gallery on Friday evening, December 7 between 7 and 9 with my books. These are not ordinarily available through the gallery, as they are too fragile to be handled in a shop environment. I will have Star Spell there, as well as The First Writing. I'd love to see some of you there, but if not, stop by in cyberspace and say hello.
The original book Star Spell is now in a private collection, along with most of my other original books. I make a limited edition every few years so that my book work will be accessible to more people.
November 25, 2007
A few changes to my product line: a couple of card packs, and some of the bigger prints now available in a smaller size; both in the interest of offering your a little better value for your $$!
November 13, 2007
If some of you tried to visit this website on the weekend before last, you would have been disappointed to find "Server Not Found" messages instead. My host was involved in a complicated move of the servers and unfortunately some of the websites were affected. This site was down between November 3rd and 5th, so if you visited then, so sorry, and I am glad you came back! We don't anticipate any more problems.
September 21, 2007
Sincere apologies for posting the wrong date on my Shows page for the artist's reception at the Kaleid Gallery for my solo show. The Friday part was right, but the date was wrong. The reception is on October the 5th, Friday evening. Hope to see some of you there!
September 10, 2007
New pictures of another book, A Goddess Alphabet (green), part of the Goddess Alphabet series.
August 27, 2007
Check out the Shows page for two upcoming appearances of my work in October. I will be having an exhibit of framed calligraphic art at the Kaleid Gallery in downtown San Jose, as one of their two featured artists per month. I found when pulling together artwork for this exhibit that I had thirteen pieces going back thirteen years, beginning with fairly traditional lettering and illumination techniques, moving into paste paper and abstract marks about seven years ago, and returning to traditional techniques while preparing work to be included in the Walter Foster beginner's book. So there is an interesting range, but they all share in common my desire to "enlighten" the words with gilding, color and design. Thus, the title of the exhibit, Illuminations: Enlightening Words. I never fail to be enlightened by my text while working on it: living with a set of words for a period of time reveals more nuances of meaning, like a meditation. I will be at the artists reception at the gallery on Friday evening, October 5, from 7 to 9, and would love to see you there. At right, a detail from Mother of Us All, one of the pieces in the show.
The other October show is the sixth annual Book Arts Jam at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills. Books are where I'm putting most of my creative energy these days: lettering, painting, sewing, gluing. I plan to have a new limited edition ready by then, plus some original books. This show will have many incredible books artists, so if you are bookish, you will not want to miss it!
August 11, 2007
Uploads today include new images in the Awards Section, and a couple more of my handmade books, A Goddess Alphabet (red) and Star Spell. There are also a few new sample images of handlettered names on my Garden Wedding Certificate, and my Elements Wedding Certificate.
February 4, 2007
Sage Woman magazine has published a review of my work in the winter issue, on sale now (the cover theme is Joy). Primarily a review of my book The First Writing, it also covers some of my other work, and kindly includes my website in the title of the review (though there is an erroneous website, FirstWords.com, printed in the body of the article). I'm very pleased to be recognized by this publication of the Goddess community, which has done so much to nourish my creativity and provide inspiration for my work.
January 10, 2007
To my great surprise, Walter Foster has rushed through a second publication of my new book, in their very affordable Beginner's Guide instructional series. This oversize paperback book (10.25" x 13.75") preserves the 13 alphabet exemplars at the 100% size they were written, and fixes a few other problems with the original book (much better fonts, for example). It will probably start appearing in arts and crafts stores soon, and will be available from me in person or through this website within the week. Click here for more information.