Welcome to Escribiente

Meetings are held on the first Wednesday of the month, and we welcome guests and members of the public who have an interest in learning more abut the fine art of beautiful writing. Please see our Meetings page for full details and directions and download our Newsletters for reviews and photos from our workshops and programs.

 

Meetings

Monthly programs take place in two sessions from August through November, and from February through June. Check our Meetings page for more details on upcoming meetings.

Program: Wednesday, April 2 @ 6:30pm * Online via Zoom

Members are encouraged to sign in at 6:15pm.

Dancing Versals

Presentation by Cindy Haller

Our legacy of Roman lettering has quite a history. We will take the standard formal Roman Capitals, loosen them up and render shapes still legible but more informal and playful. Taking our cue from the majuscules, the same ideas can be applied to their minuscule counterparts.

Members: Check your email for Handouts and a supply list!

Cindy Haller, owner of Cindy Haller Designs, is a graphic designer and teacher, specializing in custom hand lettering and bookbinding. She is a charter member of the Houston Calligraphy Guild, having served as vice president, president; membership, workshop chairman and newsletter editor several times over throughout her 45 years in Houston. She also helped organize Artist Bookworks Houston, serving as president and show chairman. She has taught numerous classes and workshops throughout Texas, in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, serving as newsletter editor for Escribiente and for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers. She also served as Special Activities chair and Archivist for LIBROS: the New Mexico Book Arts Guild. She served as Scholarship Chair for five years for IAMPETH, and served as the Newsletter Editor for The Guild of Book Workers for over seven years.

Cindy’s first love is lettering, an avowed “workshop junkie”, always open to ideas to expand her calligraphic toolbox.

 

UPCOMING WORKSHOP:

Out of Your Mind and on to the Page:
Art Journaling for the Fearful

Workshop with Nancy Hays Hills

Online Workshop: Four Mondays: April 28, May 5, May 12, May 19 from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm

Zoom sessions will be recorded. Recordings will be available for 3 months after the last class.

OPEN NOW for Members to Register! Download Registration Form PDF

Members: Pay $100 by check (use Registration Form) or $105 PAYPAL/CREDIT CARD

This workshop is now open to non-members for $130 via check OR $135 Paypal.

Enjoy Nancy’s journals in her fabulous February 2025 program on YouTube.

Making your own feast for the eyes and the mind – this class is designed to ignite your imagination and get your fingers moving to create your own special magic on the page. The class will start with a little Show and Tell, and then move on to making friends with the blank page in front of you. We’ll start with the basic tools I use in my journals – pens, pencil, and watercolor – and as the weeks progress, I hope you’ll add your own favorite tools and colors. You don’t have to be an expert at drawing or lettering or layout to take this class. Each of us will start right where we are, and learn by doing. The most important thing to bring to class is your willingness to pour out your heart on to the page. It is that, more than your artistic skill, which will give your journal its value, and make it uniquely yours. 

Enjoy Nancy's art journals by watching the video of her February 2025 program on YouTube.

Nancy Hays Hills is an artist and Episcopal deacon living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her working career was in the field of advertising and graphic design from which she retired in 2020 to devote more time to her dual vocations of ministry and art. She shares a home with her husband Julian, and her trusty feline sidekick, Samantha.

She began drawing as soon as she could hold a crayon, and was lucky enough to have parents who encouraged their shy child to express herself on paper. She took her first calligraphy course at age 17 and has incorporated lettering in her art ever since.

In addition to individual pieces, she has been working in art journals for over 20 years, and her artwork from those journals has appeared in Alphabet, Bound & Lettered, and in the most recent Speedball Textbook.

 

Members receive email notices for all programs and workshops.

Live Zoom meetings are open to members only. The Zoom replay will be available for a limited time to members after the meeting. An edited replay may be posted to our YouTube channel after editing, provided permission is granted from the presenter.

Upcoming events – please check your email for more details!

View previous programs from 2024–2025 Meetings Archive page.

For more details and upcoming programs, please see our Meetings page...

 

Latest Newsletter

Back issues are available for download on our Newsletter page.

Download PDFWinter 2024–3 (January)

Download Print Resolution PDF (32MB)
(can also right-click and select Download Linked File)

Edited by Lynda Lawrence.

  • In Memoriam – Beth House. Tributes & Photo Gallery.
  • Photo Gallery: New Mexico State Fair 2024
  • Photo Gallery: What We Did This Summer
  • Heather Martinez – Letter Styles from Signs
  • Rick Paulus – Pointed Pen Romans
  • Diane lnman –  Art Journaling Resource Guide
  • Escribiente Workshop reviews: Mini Workshop Weekend Sessions (November 2024) with Michal Sommers, Esther Feske, and Trish Meyer
  • Dear Arrighi: Article on writing with white ink by DeAnn Singh
  • Review of recent programs & meetups & more!
  • Cover art: Beth House

 

New Mexico State Fair – September 2024

Escribiente exhibited in the State Fair at Expo New Mexico.

All skill levels welcome. Exhibit entries are open to all New Mexico residents.

See our Exhibits page for more info.

See the Winter 2024-3 Newsletter for a photo gallery of the 2024 exhibit.

montage

Escribiente members exhibit each year at the New Mexico State Fair in the Creative Arts Building during the show.

 

Weathergrams Installation

Open Space Visitor Center, 6500 Coors Blvd. NW, Albuquerque NM

In conjunction with local poets, each year Escribiente members calligraph dozens of Weathergrams that are hung on trees around the Open Space Visitor Center grounds as a temporary art installation.

Images from 2024 installation are included in the June 2024 Newsletter.

Images from 2023 installation are included in the July 2023 Newsletter.

In conjunction with LIBROS Book Arts group, our members provide original artwork that is included in a handmade poetry chapbook. Illustrations for the 2022 chapbook (some are shown below) was provided by Esther Feske, Elizabeth McKee, Caryl McHarney, and Trish Meyer.

All proceeds from the Poets’ Picnic event benefit Open Space Alliance, a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to promote public awareness and conservation of Open Space lands.

If you haven’t been to the Open Space Visitor Center on Coors Blvd NW, check out their website.