Online Exhibit: Calligraphy Works, A Show of Two Hands

February /March 2020 Student examples of the Modern Calligraphy style:

Modern Calligraphy Class Community College of Allegheny County/Boyce Campus, Monroeville, PA

(There’s more! For last year’s Calligraphy works originally exhibited on this website, scroll below.)

STUDENT EXAMPLES OF THE MODERN CALLIGRAPHY STYLE:

I’ve been teaching art and writing off and on (anything from teaching calligraphy to drawing to middle school students to memoir writing to the blind and visually-impaired) for many years. Lately, I’ve been teaching calligraphy (the art of beautiful writing) at CCAC North Hills Campus in McCandless Township and CCAC Boyce Campus in Monroeville, PA:

The Intermediate Calligraphy course ran for six weeks during the Fall of 2019.

Course content included learning the Batarde lettering style, an intermediate “hand” that combines elements of the Italic and the Gothic. The Ellesmere Chaucer (a book of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales) is a notable example of the Batarde style.

Projects based on the Batarde included designing a monogram and “illuminating” an initial, utilizing calligraphic design elements, stippling and hand-drawn designs.

Below are examples from the first-half of the class (Scroll down to see the final projects):

Instruction also included learning the Half-Uncial. A famous example of the Half-Uncial is The Book of Kells.

Students also learned how to construct Celtic Knot work designs including Knot work of Celtic, Pictish and Egyptian origin (braids, pretzel borders, circular designs, etc).

They were introduced to using free-hand gouache watercolor techniques on Fabriano, Arches or Bristol paper. These techniques were used for the background. Lettering ( students picked the hand they wanted to use) was superimposed on the paper after it was dry. Lettering with two run-in colors was introduced.

For the final project, everyone was encouraged to utilize any or all of the design techniques learned during the six weeks.

Below are the final projects: