NEWSLETTERS

Summer 2008

Where's Don?

When he's not creating calligraphic art, he's teaching calligraphy. And when he's not teaching, he's dreaming of even better ways to "serve the words."

FOR SALE

Don now has exclusive new artwork and some old favorites available as prints, posters, cards, and calendars from Ardie & Friends.

The wedding planning and consulting service www.SomethingBorrowedSomethingBlue.com / The Wedding Library, available on-line or at the store in Falls Village, SC, has signed Don on as a preferred calligrapher.

If you're in New Bern, NC, see Don's prints at the new Shops of Old City Hall, 224 Craven Street.

A select number of Don's prints are for sale at Casey & Co. stationers in Durham's Brightleaf Square (corner of Main and Gregson), the Artists' Oasis, which offers all manner of supplies, space and special instruction for artists and crafters in historic downtown Apex (1000 N. Salem St.), and Aly's, a gift shop in North Raleigh's Stonehenge Market (7430 Creedmoor Rd.).

ON DISPLAY

Six Biblical Pieces [read more]

"Light" at the Folk Arts Center [read more]

Don has donated one of his calligraphic sculptures, "War," to the USO's North Carolina headquarters facility in Jacksonville. The mixed media piece is made of rag board and paper, dirt, barbed wire and acrylics.

TEACHING

POINTED PEN SCRIPT

Over the past six months, Don has conducted two courses in the Copperplate Hand at venues in the north Raleigh area, and plans to continue those very popular courses in early 2009. If you would like to be in the loop for information about future classes, let him know and you'll be included in his student list.

FUTURE COURSES AT MEREDITH COLLEGE

This fall, Don will be offering his very popular "Calligraphy For Everyone" course, now in its fourth year, through the Community Outreach Program at Meredith in Raleigh. The course catalog has not yet been published, but the course is expected to start on either September 9th or 16th and will run for ten consecutive Tuesday evenings. The course involves a brief study of three hands currently used by calligraphers worldwide: Foundational, Italic and Copperplate. The course is especially designed to accommodate those who "cannot draw a straight line" and whose "handwriting is terrible." Contact the Community Outreach Office at Meredith (919-760-8450) to be placed on their mailing list. The catalog includes complete course and registration details.

Next spring, "The Scribal Arts of the Middle Ages" will be offered. Starting with a brief study of Roman letters, C A P I T A L I S M O N U M E N T A L I S, Square Capitals, Rustica and Roman Cursive, we will delve into the rich scribal history and culture of the period from about 200 - 800 AD in what is now Western Europe. We will also look at three unique hands developed and used by isolated monasteries all over the region: Visigothic, Merovingian and Beneventan.

The prominent hands, or writing styles, to come out of this period and used by calligraphers to this day are the Uncial and Half-Uncial hands, and the decorative letters known as Versals or Insular Capitals (after their origin in Ireland.). The majority of the course will be devoted to developing a basic level of proficiency in these letterforms.

THE FOUNDATIONAL HAND AT SERTOMA ARTS CENTER

Don will be offering a six-week course at Sertoma Arts Center in early 2009. Exact dates and pricing have yet to be worked out, but the format will be six two-hour sessions on consecutive Thursday evenings, 6:00 to 8:00. He will be teaching the Foundational Hand, which was specifically designed in the very early 20th century (ca. 1902) to teach the basics of "making beautiful letters", which is now known as "calligraphy." There's an example on the Hands page.

In this endeavor, Don will be continuing a tradition of sorts at Sertoma. His very good calligraphic friend, Belinda Ferro, taught Foundational there for probably twenty years before "retiring" about five years ago.

Sertoma is one of two Raleigh city art centers (the other is at Pullen Park, adjacent to the NCSU campus), and is located at 1400 Millbrook Road, in Shelley Lake Park. Their phone number is 420-2329. Registration has not yet begun, but those interested can call and be placed on a notification list.

NINE-MONTH ITALIC MASTER CLASS

In September of 2009, Don hopes to be able to assemble a group of about a dozen calligraphers with a strong desire to master the Italic Hand, the dominant style of contemporary calligraphy. The course will involve one Saturday a month for nine consecutive months (December excluded) and will end in June, 2010. Homework and self-study will demand about ten to twenty hours between the Saturday sessions; motivated students will probably devote more than that. Completion of at least one Italic course or equivalent experience is a prerequisite and a sample of work will be required as part of the application. Contact Don if you have questions.

IN THE NEWS

Don was featured in a story about the Triangle Calligrapher's Guild in the Raleigh News and Observer on Thursday, March 30, 2006, entitled "It is written: calligraphy's back".

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