Monday, August 17, 2020

Blackletter and Variations with Reggie Ezell

 We will have our fall workshop Zooming with Reggie Ezell!


For now, send Judy and Maggie your information so they can start a roster. Checks can be sent directly to Judy Bilbrey, treasurer. You can also pay online on our website, or through our Facebook page.


So excited that we’re having some great inspiration and instruction coming our way.


If you have any questions, just give a shout out...


Blackletter and Variations

Instructor: Reggie Ezell

Hosted on Zoom by the Memphis Calligraphy Guild

October 17-18, 2020


Class Schedule for both days:

10 am - noon: Class

noon - 12:45: Lunch

12:45 - 2:15 pm: Class

2:15 - 2:30 pm: Break

2:30 - 4 pm: Class


About Zoom

After you register, the Guild will send you an email confirmation with detailed instructions on attending a Zoom class. The email will also contain a link from Reggie on “how to set up your workspace” for the Blackletter class.


Priority sign up will be given to members of the Memphis Calligraphy Guild. Open registration to the public will begin on September 1st.


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Saturday, May 30, 2020

Bookbinding Mini Workshop

Bookbinding for People Who Are Lazy and Cheap

Date: Saturday, May 30, 2020
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Instructor: Dawn Vinson
Place: Memphis Northeast Police Precinct, 6850 Appling Farms Pkwy, Whitten exit North off of I-40
Price: $15.00

In this workshop, participants will learn how to make a hardcover book, a softcover single-signature book, and other simple books using inexpensive and easy-to-find or salvaged materials. These books can be used as journals, gift books, special- or limited-edition manuscripts, zines, and much more.

SUPPLY LIST:

Participants should bring*:

For the hardcover book

  • Cardboard or Chipboard, about 1/32" to 3/32" thick – two 4-1/4" x 5-3/4" pieces for the covers, and one 7/16" x 5-3/4" piece for the spine.
Look around your home for suitable material: the cardboard backs of store-bought notepads, sturdy packaging or shipping boxes – deconstructed and cut to size, etc.
  • 18 sheets of 8 1⁄2 " x 11" or 36 sheets of 5-1/2” x 8-1/2” paper for the inside of your book
Choose any paper – white, colored, or a mix of colors and textures – that you like to write or draw on; however, I strongly advise against using thick paper like watercolor paper or some of the thicker specialty papers – unless you enjoy crying in public.
  • One 7" x 10-1/2" piece of paper for the cover; choose anything you like as long as it will hold a crease
  • One 5-3/4" x 9-1/2" piece of paper for the cover facing sheet; this will not be seen in the finished book, so don’t waste pretty paper for it
  • Carpet, button, or upholstery thread
  • A sewing needle
  • A thimble (optional)
  • A pushpin or thumbtack
  • Glue, double-stick tape, or a glue stick
  • A pencil
  • A ruler
  • An old paintbrush or foam brush (optional)
  • Binder clips or wooden clothes pins
  • A burnisher or bone folder if you have one (optional)

For the softcover book

  • 6 sheets of 8 1⁄2 " x 11" paper for the inside of your book – again, choose whatever you like to write or draw on
  • 1 sheet of 8-3/4 " x 11-1/4" cardstock or art paper for the cover; I’ve also used plastic covers salvaged from spiral-bound reports
  • Embroidery floss – coordinate or contrast with your chosen paper and/or cover
  • A sewing needle (upholstery or tapestry – something with a larger eye)
  • A thimble (optional)
  • A pushpin or thumbtack

Also bring

  • A few extra sheets of 8 1⁄2 " x 11" paper for one-page books and any other simple books that we have time for Any decorative papers that you may want to use as end papers 
  • Any decorative elements that you may want to use to embellish what you make in class
*Do not under any circumstances go out and purchase any of these supplies. Look around your home and see what you have that might be usable. Bring extras if you have them and are willing to share.

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Friday, February 7, 2020

Watercolor and Calligraphy Workshop

A Unique Combination of Watercolor and Calligraphic forms…

  
2 day workshop April 4th and 5th, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. at Atelier, the studio of Fred Rawlinson. 

Atelier  
6645 Poplar Avenue / Suite 205  
Germantown, TN 38138  
901-624-6654


About Fred*…the first years of his career concentrated on medical illustration. The precise ad controlled nature of this scientific speciality stirred a longing for the freedom and creativity of more personal visual expressions.  By 1973, Rawlinson had committed full-time to fine arts concentrating primarily on the watercolor medium.

Fred served many years on the faculty at Memphis College of Art, and, in a return to medical illustration roots, assisted in designing a preprofessional degree program in Biomedical Communications at the University of Memphis.

Upon retirement, Fred and his wife, Jo, a fabric artist, moved to New Orleans and opened a gallery in the historic French Quarter.  The gallery studio was moved to Germantown Tennessee in 1999.


Cost: $150.00 (for Guild Members).  

             $175.00 (for non-members). *

$50.00 deposit is required with registration to hold your place on the roster

Includes:
(2) 30” x 44” sheets of Kilimanjaro 140# watercolor paper 
(precut at Atelier)
(4) tubes (.5 ml)) of Windsor & Newton watercolor
(color preselected for class)
(2) Brushes- 8” round, 1” flat
(1) small bottle of Daler-Rowney FW White acrylic ink

Other Supplies To Bring:

  • Large water container (i.e. Cool Whip size)
  • Out of date Credit card (to be cut up in class)
  • Single edge razor blade
  • Paper Towels
  • Masking Tape (approximately 1”)
  • Non-absorbent Watercolor tray or white plastic plate with enough space for mixing color/pallette.
  • Plexiglass or board (approximately 18” x 26”, at least 1/4” thick)
  • Pocket Knife
  • Small kitchen sponge

==========================================
Name_____________________________________________________________

Address__________________________________________________________

Phone____________________________________________________________

Email:_____________________________________________________________


We are working on an online payment…stay tuned


For now……Send a check to (Memphis Calligraphy Guild)

Judy Bilbrey, Treasurer
8462 Lansingwood Cove
Germantown, Tn 38139

*Guild members will be given priority until March 1st.  Then open to all.


Saturday, November 2, 2019

Pointed Pen Uncials

Date: November 2, 2019
Time: 9:00 am till 1:00 pm
Instructor: Maggie Naylor
Place: Memphis Northeast Police Precinct, 6850 Appling Farms Pkwy, Whitten exit North off of I-40
Price: $10.00 member, $15.00 non-member

We will take a different look at the traditional Uncial lettering style. This wonderful style can be packed pretty tight on a page and makes very interesting, inner-woven textures. Along the way we’ll develop confidence with the pointed pen and discover the unique advantages of lettering with a flexible tool.

This script is based on Mike Kecseg’s work. Mike began doing calligraphy when he worked as an engrosser.  Since 1984 he has owned and operated PenGraphics Studio, Inc.  He has been on the faculty of the IAMPETH Conferences and the International Calligraphy Conferences.  His work has been exhibited widely and can be seen in Letter Arts Review, Lettering Arts, The Encyclopedia of Calligraphy Techniques, several Artful Letter calendars and the Speedball Textbook, including the cover of the 23rd edition.  He was inducted as an IAMPETH Master Penman in 2002.

SUPPLY LIST:

  • Pointed, flexible nibs-your choice:  Examples: Pen N Nikko “G”, Hunt 22
  • Pen Holder (either straight or oblique)
  • Black Ink (Higgins eternal or McCaffrey’s)
  • Dinky dink  (or small container to dip ink)
  • Small water container (can use one of your dinky dip containers
  • Graph paper with 1/8 squares size is unimportant, but at least 8 1/2 x 11”
  • Marker paper
  • Pencil, ruler, eraser
  • Paper towels
  • 1-2 sheets of quality art paper (Arches HP, Canson Mi Tientes or Diploma Parchment or your favorite art paper
  • Gouache (one color…your choice and permanent white)
  • Mixing tray
  • Mixing brush 
  • Water container

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Saturday, September 7, 2019

Italic Exploration

A Two Day Workshop with Roann Mathias

Italic Exploration

from beginner to advanced

September 7th and 8th, 2019

TIME:     9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day
PLACE:  Memphis Northeast Police Precinct, 6850 Appling Farms Pkwy, Whitten exit off of I-40
COST:    $100.00 members, $120.00 non-members, Members only Early Bird Special $95.00 by July 1st, 2019

Roann Mathias is a calligrapher with 20 years of teaching experience. For over 25 years she designed greeting cards and calendars for Conception Abbey’s Printery House. She teaches calligraphy and mixed media workshops throughout the US and Canada.  Her work has been published in Somerset Studio Magazine, Letter Arts Review and exhibited nationally. She was chosen by Cloth Paper Scissors magazine as 2012 Artisan of the Year in Art Journaling and Bookmaking. For the past 30 years she has taken workshops from all the major calligraphers, and has taken Reggie Ezell’s Yearlong class 4 times! Roann has been teaching calligraphy classes to all levels of students for the past 15 years. She was on the faculty of Island Magic conference in 2007, and taught mini workshops at Letters Mingle Souls in Chicago. Roann completed an MFA in fine art in 2015.

Workshop Description

In this class you will be introduced to the elegant italic hand. If you are new to broad-edge calligraphy, you will learn the basics you need to begin writing a legible and beautiful hand. If you are more experienced, you will learn how to fine-tune and create variations based on your existing skill level.

The class will begin with studying the letters in their individual form and move on to understanding their dynamics within a word, sentence, and page. Topics will include how to set up your work space, how to use pens and inks, and how to draw lines efficiently. As the class progresses, you will learn how to modify the letters to create endless interpretations that you can use for any project.  Exercises will show you how to compress, extend, slant and generally experiment with this style. While learning the letterforms and how to modify them, I will also show you how to create interesting layouts.

SUPPLY LIST

General equipment:
  • Slant board
  • T-square
  • Mechanical pencil, eraser, ruler, masking tape
  • 2 clean 6-part mixing pans
  • water bottle and dropper
  • cheap mixing brushes
  • paper towels
  • 2 disposable rinse water containers (like yogurt cups, cool whip tubs, etc)
  • Gum Arabic
  • selection of quotes that you like to letter

Lettering guide NOTE: The linex guide (the green one) is not being made anymore, therefore it is not being sold new. If you can find one on ebay, or know a pal who is not doing calligraphy that weekend and can loan you theirs, that would be great!  You can bring the Ames one (the clear one) if you have it but it is harder to use.

WRITING TOOLS:

  • Parallel pen – green cap and blue cap 
  • Full set of Mitchell nibs, from largest to smallest size
  • Pen holders
  • Speedball nibs – size C-0 and C-1

WRITING MEDIA:

  • ivory black gouache and a few colors of gouache that you like.
  • Walnut ink – either bottled or in crystal form

PAPERS:

  • Grid pad (11 X 17 non-repro blue, 8 squares to the inch) 

INSTRUCTOR WILL PROVIDE:

  • Paper sample packet
  • Extra parallel pen cartridges
  • Other inks to try
Registration Form Valid only with Payment in Full
Make checks payable to Memphis Calligraphy Guild
Mail to Ann Rabinovitz
1696 Belledeer Dr. W., Cordova, TN 38016
For questions telephone Ann at 901-757-2403 or annsrab@bellsouth.net
Roann Mathias Workshop-Sat & Sun. September 7th and 8th. 2019

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Saturday, August 3, 2019

A Survey of and Introduction to Calligraphic Tools

These ongoing courses have been designed to either introduce you to calligraphy, advance your proficiency or just catch you up on things that you might have forgotten and for those more advanced, a good time to practice. These offerings should be great for any level student, including beginners.

Date: August 3, 2019  
Time: 9:00 am till 1:00 pm 
Instructors: George, Peggy and Ann
Place: Memphis Northeast Police Precinct, 6850 Appling Farms Pkwy, Whitten exit North off of I-40
Price: $10.00 member, $15.00 non-member

George Harmeling, Peggy Kunkel and Ann Rabinovitz will be showing and demonstrating a plethora of calligraphy tools and how they work.  

The workshop is designed as an overly ambitious introduction to beginners, and refresher for experienced calligraphers, to the commonly used tools of calligraphy and some of the less commonly used tools.

It will include examples, demonstrations and opportunities to try out some of the tools. 

We will survey nibs, broad and pointed, pen holders, straight and oblique, and other mark-making tools, including automatic pens, folded pens, ruling writers, brush lettering tools. We’ll be showing some of the tools used for aligning marks on paper, the inks and writing liquids:  bottled Sumi, stick ink and ink stones, gouache and watercolor and pencil, graphite and pastels. We’ll include examples of ink wells, and similar storage and mixing methods. Tool and paper storage and carry devices. We’ll have examples of slant boards and ultrasonic cleaners and will discuss cleaning and maintenance of nibs – pretty much what every over equipped studio and calligrapher might want in the way of tools and equipment.

There is no supply list, but you are welcome to bring any of your calligraphic tools that you might not know how to use, or any that you want to share with others that might be unusual.  And you might want to bring a notebook with pencil or pen in order to take notes.

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Saturday, May 18, 2019

Amity Parks Workshops

The Memphis Calligraphy Guild will host Amity Parks for two days of workshops: May18th and 19th, 2019All Skill Levels-though some calligraphy experience is helpful.
Workshop: A Sharp Pencil and a Keen Eye
Date: Saturday and Sunday, May 18th and 19thTime: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day Place: Memphis Northeast Police Precinct, 6850 Appling Farms Pkwy, Whitten exit North off of I-40Cost: $150.00 members, $180.00 non-members

Amity Parks is an artist and calligrapher living in Missoula. MT. For some years she has been studying calligraphy in weeklong and private classes with internationally renowned instructors. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Tulsa, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Montana. Her work has been featured in national and regional exhibits and publications. She has been a long-term active member and teacher in her local and state calligraphy guilds and travels to teach workshops here and abroad. She has taught at many art conferences in the last few years and spends many hours in her studio on her personal and creative work, finding a balance between teaching, her business and family life. More information can be found on Facebook and at her website: www.amityparks.com

Workshop Description

Graphite Techniques for Calligraphers 2-Day Workshop - All Skill Levels-some calligraphy experience is helpful.
In this class, the humble pencil and its relatives become powerful tools in creating many effects from subtle to stunning. We will use pencils, erasers, graphite sticks/blocks, powdered graphite and their water-soluble cousins to explore the possibilities of this medium for creating refined works of art to quickly made drawings in our sketchbooks.

Starting with basic drawing principles like line quality and shading, we will experiment with each tool to discover the marks it can produce. We will then move on to drawing letters and designing word groups, both formal and casual. The monochromatic drawn letterform forces us to slow down and relate more organically to the forms we are creating. You will find drawing letterforms with care and thoughtfulness to be so helpful in improving your design and lettering skills and in allowing for more refined and subtle attention to detail.

Further time will let us explore how to integrate our letters with their backgrounds into designs that will grab our viewer’s eye. Finally, I’ll show you some of the tricks I’ve learned to save time and ensure success when working with this versatile medium.

Supply List

  • Mechanical Pencil- 0.5 and/or 0.3 and leads (I like the Pentel GraphGear 500)
  • A few drawing pencils in various hardness’ (6B, 4B, 2B, HB, 2H, 4H). And bring whatever pencils you have already in your toolkit.
  • Graphite stick (6B or 8B) Water-soluble graphite crayon – Lyra 9B (Look for the water drop on the label)
  • Art Graf Black Carbon Water-Soluble Ink Block
  • Water-soluble graphite pencil (General’s Sketch and Wash or Faber-Castell Graphite Aquarelle 8B for example.)
  • Kneaded eraser
  • Small white eraser stick in holder: Preferably the Tombow Mono zero round, or General Factis
  • Your favorite writing tools (larger sizes of nibs, ruling pens, automatic pens, brushes, etc) (You won’t need any ink…trust me)
  • Scissors, X-acto knife, blades and small pencil sharpener (no motors please) 
  • Steel Ruler
  • Large soft flat brush for wetting paper
  • Paper - Strathmore 400 series drawing paper (any size) or whatever similar you have at home. A few pages of any other papers you want to try. Several pieces (11x17 or so) of budget watercolor paper (canson XL) or any heavyweight water friendly paper that you have already. Arches text wove, Arches MBM, and/or Arches watercolor papers are good quality water-friendly papers also.
  • Paper towels, water container, small spray bottle
  • A short quote or a few words you like to write (5-10 words or so)
  • Drawing Board/ padded surface to work on. (Masonite with a few sheets of paper taped to it.
  • Not required, but for your info: The sketchbook I use and recommend is the Moleskine 7.5” x 10” Plain Soft Cover Notebook

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