Our guild recently had the opportunity to take a two-day workshop with Canadian calligrapher Martin Jackson, and nine of us had the pleasure of working with Martin for two full and exciting days.

When we first approached Martin about coming to Ellensburg for a weekend, he gave us several options to choose from among the classes he teaches.  The group’s first choice was “More Beautiful Letters” followed closely by “Layout and Design”.  When Martin suggested that we might be able to have both classes in the same workshop, life became just about perfect!

Last Friday, Martin drove from Vancouver to Ellensburg, and met Linda and me at Ellensburg Floral, where eleven of my paintings were showing, for our First Friday Artwalk.  I had to stay with my show from 5:00 to 7:00, so we visited for a bit, then Linda and Martin left to walk around town to see some other shows.  After the artwalk, we met at a local restaurant for a cozy supper and more conversation.  Then it was off home to get ready for an early start the next day.

Day One: More Beautiful Letters

By 9:00 Saturday morning we were all assembled at Annette’s house, set up and ready to learn.  Since our guild is concentrating on Italic this year, Martin focused on enlivening and beautifying this particular letterform.  We concentrated on just four different elements to add to our calligraphy to enhance the beauty of the letters; then it was practice, practice, and practice some more, under Martin’s watchful eye.  We had several breaks to have a cup of tea or coffee, walk about Annette’s beautiful gardens, and we shared a wonderful potluck lunch.

By the end of the afternoon it was apparent we had all learned a lot, and we would be ready to apply what we had learned on day one, to the layout and design class the next day.

Day Two: Layout and Design

Back at Annette’s house the next day, bright and early and ready to learn!  This part of the workshop was my favorite.  I do a lot of design work in my own calligraphy business, and this creative part of calligraphy is dear to my heart.  After all, what’s the point of creating all those beautiful letters only to surrender them to a mundane or trite design?

It was fun to see Martin’s process for creating a successful design for a piece of calligraphy, and it was especially gratifying for me to learn that his process and mine are very similar, from the initial concept, through the thumbnail sketches and style considerations, to the layouts with letters in what would be the finished forms, all the way to a final layout and ultimately a finished piece of work.

Choices, choices, choices – each one leading just a little closer to a final design – each one becoming more refined – nothing cast in stone at any stage until finally all that’s left to do is get out the good paper and the gouache and create the finished piece, which is by this time is an old and familiar friend!  No fear!

By 4:00, it was time to pack up as Martin needed to get on the road home.  Many hugs all around, and a sweet end to a weekend of cameraderie and learning with one of our favorite people in the whole world.  We’re already planning on having Martin back next year to continue the journey!

Martin is a full-time calligrapher, making his whole living from his beautiful letters.  To view Martin’s work and the classes he teaches, go to http://www.martinjacksoncalligraphy.com/index.html.

I recently had the opportunity to attend a workshop with Gina Jonas, a wonderful Seattle calligrapher and instructor.  Our guild, Windwriters, sponsored Gina, who presented “Living Letters”.  This was the first time Gina has given this particular workshop, and it was such a great privilege to be part of the “test group”.

Several years ago, Gina and I were seatmates in a week-long class given by Thomas Ingmire at a Black & White conference.  It was such fun to renew our acquaintance, and Gina was every bit as much fun as I remembered!

I think if I had to describe the content of Gina’s message to us in one word, that word would be “awareness”.  Our focus over the two days we spent working with Gina was to become aware, not only of the marks we were making on the paper, not only of the connections between our minds and the forms we were creating, but of many more subtle things as well.

Just as athletes, musicians and dancers warm up before performing or practicing, we started our sessions with simple but invigorating stretches and movements, becoming aware of what muscles we were using, and how the movements prepared us for our practice.  Then, seated at our tables, feet flat on the floor, with relaxed but upright posture, we used first pencils, then pens to warm up on paper, making large circles and straight marks in all directions, focusing on using our shoulders for freedom of movement.

Later, we would focus on hand and finger movements as well, playing with our pens in order to learn not only strokes, but focusing on all the muscles we were using to make different marks.

One of the most interesting things Gina showed us was how the thumb relates to the left corner of the broad nib, and the forefinger relates to the right corner of the nib.  Once a calligrapher is made consciously aware of this relationship, many subtle movements and pressurized strokes are opened for use, contributing to the lively feel of whatever letterform the calligrapher is using.

Another highlight of the workshop, for me, was discovering it was OK for the hand to have no contact, or very light contact (little finger only) with the paper.  Very liberating!  (In my own studio, it has long been my guilty pleasure to write with my hand raised slightly from the surface – I found it contributed to freedom of movement, but I have never taken a class from another calligrapher who encouraged this practice).  Gina explained that there are certain movements we can make with the pen that are awkward, if not downright impossible, with the hand ‘locked’ on the writing surface.

At first, when the calligrapher raises the hand from the paper, it feels like loss of control, but it only takes a few minutes for the body to learn which muscles to use to recover control of the pen’s contact with  the paper, and it’s a delight to discover the subtle differences such a simple thing can make in one’s letterforms!

Gina’s first book, “Finding the Flow: A Calligraphic Journey” details the use of movement and form to take one’s calligraphy to the next level, and she’s hard at work on a second book which will continue the journey to ‘Living Letters’.

The next best thing to having Gina in the room, with her passion for letters, her energy, and her boundless enthusiasm is to have her book in your studio.  Anyone who is interested in taking his or her calligraphy to greater heights should have “Finding the Flow” in the calligraphy library.

Those who are interested can contact Gina at gina.jonas@gmail.com to obtain a copy of “Finding the Flow: A Calligraphic Journey” or to schedule a workshop with Gina.