Meetings Archive 2018–2019

Below is a summary of the meetings held during the 2018–19 year.

During this year, the focus was on CAPITALS.

July 10, 2019

Board Meeting: 10am – noon
Program & Workshop Committe Meeting: 1pm – 3pm

There is no scheduled program in July.

Board meetings are held in January and July. All members are welcome to attend. Please check your email for meeting location and times.

June 5, 2019

CREATIVITY: Where do ideas come from?

Presented by Fred Yost

The work of an artist, especially, should be creative not repetitive. Creativity, the most intangible of human qualities, is suppressed by our living within artificial constraints and with a developed fear of disappointment and failure. The probability of successful artistic efforts can be increased through an understanding of the Creative Process.

In this presentation Fred Yost will show beautiful works by famous artists (and not so famous artists) as well as his own attempts at producing works that differ markedly from paintings found in the typical art show. Come and be inspired!

May 1, 2019

Brush Written Roman Capitals: Grand Letterforms

Presented by Randall Hasson

Randall Hasson will demo brush handling and manipulation necessary for creating sumptuous large Trajan Roman capital letterforms – the ‘king’ of them all. Members will have an opportunity to write very large brush forms, adding new techniques to their calligraphic repertoire. Don’t miss this opportunity for experimentation!

Note: Paper will be provided by Escribiente.

Supplies to Bring:
  • Ink or gouache for writing
  • 1/2” flat brush (Winsor & Newton 995 series is a good choice; available at Blick also)
  • for less expensive brush, see Simply Simmons Flat Shader #12 (rec. by Eliza Holliday)
  • Flat, small bowl (preferably ceramic vs plastic or foil), for ‘paletting’ your inked brush
  • An apron or ‘cover-up’
  • seat cushion (for added height)

April 3, 2019

DESIGNED TO BE PACKED: Neuland Letterforms

Presented by Esther Feske

Esther will introduce you to Neuland Letterforms. These letters are modern, energetic and forgiving to write and have several variations. Come give them a try and discover your favorite version for further experimentation!

Supplies to Bring:
  • Metal broad-nib (Speedball C2 or Brause/Mitchell equivalent), and nib holder
  • Ink
  • Grid Pad, OR existing guideline sheets from previous programs AND semi-transparent layout paper
  • Small paper cutting scissors
  • Pencil

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

FOLDED FUN: 3D Capitals

Presented by Julie Gray

Julie Gray will guide members through the process of creating one 5-inch high, three-dimensional Roman Capital letter of their choice. These magnificent letters will be cut and scored into a three-dimensional shape, painted and enhanced with a bit of gold. Don’t miss this opportunity to be truly creative with capitals!

Paper, Paint and Templates: Julie will supply one sheet of blank BFK Rives paper, 8-1/2” x 11” for each attendee (feel free to bring more if you have it). Julie will supply the paint and brushes for you to decorate your paper, as well as some gold leaf, along with two sets of templates for each letter of the alphabet for you to choose from. 

You need to bring:
  • A soft and a hard pencil, HB/6H
  • Tracing paper
  • X-acto knife (with fresh blade)
  • Straight edge (ruler)
  • Cutting mat

February 6, 2019

CAPS WITH CHARACTER: Pressurized & Built-Up

Presented by Patty Hammarstedt

As a follow-up to earlier programs (Fall 2018), members will be writing vertical, classically proportioned Roman capitals but will apply and release pressure, creating more interesting and varied interlinear spaces. Built-Up Caps will require a slower pace, adding weight to upper and lower vertical strokes. Come give them a try and add a little extra life to your capital letterforms!

Supplies to bring:
  • Escribiente will supply the preferred nib for this exercise, one ‘pre-tempered’ * Mitchell #2 nib.
  • Nib holder
  • Ink
  • Grid Pad
  • seat cushion (for added height)

* To pre-temper a nib: Heat water to boiling in a small sauce pan. Drop nib (without reservoir if it has one) into boiling water and boil for 30 seconds. Drain and cool to room temperature. Insert nib into holder. Light a candle and pass the nib through the flame three times, slowly. Turn nib in holder over and repeat three times on the opposite side. Wipe to remove carbon deposit. This increases the nib’s flexibility, facilitating pressure and release.

December 1

Member Holiday Party

Details and location are emailed to members. Spouses and partners are very welcome! Members bring an appetizer or desert, and Escribiente supplies the entree.

Optional: If you’d like to participate in the gift exchange, please bring a small calligraphic art-related item or original art.

November 5, 2018

Presentation by Joke Boudens

plus Potluck and Benefit Raffle

Joke Boudens taught a workshop the weekend prior (November 3–4) and gave a presentation on the Monday evening following the workshop. Joke is a Flemish lettering artist and teacher, living and working in the beautiful medieval town of Bruges, Belgium. Her work has frequently been shown in Letter Arts Review and has been exhibited in the US, Japan and Europe. In the last decade she has taught calligraphy in Europe, the US and Canada.

With a calligrapher father and a visual arts graduate mother, Joke grew up surrounded by art and letters. “My inspirations include 'outsider' and folk art', shaker style.” says Joke. “I love music, children's book illustrations, typography, languages, everything to do with nature. I enjoy gardening, walking in the warm evening sun, reading books and take a guilty pleasure in quizzes and puzzles. My work is in many private collections in Belgium and abroad, including that of the Belgian royal court.”

Benefit Raffle: We also held a benefit raffle for the Pen Fund, which supplies free pens for members when they teach calligraphy at Albuquerque public schools. Thank you to everyone who donated treasures!

October 3, 2018

Drawn Capitals

Demo by Janice Gabel

We continued our study of capitals with a look at historical versals.

September 5, 2018

Capital Structure – Beginning Caps

Presented by Beth House

Beth House kicked off our year of study with pencil-drawn monoline Roman capital letters. Studying the skeletal ‘backbones’ of these majestic letterforms, whether as a beginning or advanced calligrapher, is time well spent. Beth supplied handouts with the building blocks for creating these letters so that we could trace and learn their classic shapes. Beth also demonstrated spacing for these beautiful letters.

August 1, 2018

Presentation plus Show & Tell

Presented by Elizabeth McKee

At our August meeting, Elizabeth McKee will give a talk about the process of creating two books with the text (in capitals) of Gerard Manley Hopkins' Pied Beauty. One was featured in Volume 13 #1 of Bound & Lettered and the other is included in this year's Annual Juried Issue of Letter Arts Review 32:1.

Certain to inspire us all, Elizabeth McKee will present a slide presentation about the creative process of creating her magnificent hand-illustrated, calligraphed and bound book entitled Pied Beauty. Contained within the folds of this colorful book are dancing capital letters that will surely stimulate calligraphic creative juices!

Members are also encouraged to bring projects and summer workshop ‘show and tell’ to share before Elizabeth’s presentation, during ‘break’ time and after the presentation.

  • No supplies necessary for this program.

We have a fabulous line-up of programs in the works for year around the theme of “CAPITALS”! We'll be posting the full year of program descriptions over the summer.

For new members, our next Zero Class for Absolute Beginners(!) will be held in September (date TBC). The September & October programs require only pencil and paper, so don't panic!

Our next newsletter will be released at the August meeting, along with the latest Directory. So if you haven't renewed yet, please do so ASAP! We look forward to welcoming you back!