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