Louisville Workshops! Books! Clocks! Canvas!

Louisville Workshops! Books! Clocks! Canvas! Ohboyohboyohboy!
There has been a dearth of calligraphy workshops in Louisville for a few years. Suddenly we will have three (calligraphy-related) workshops - all this Fall!

Bonnie Stahlecker's book











Michael Clark's refined letters

Jacqueline Sullivan acrylics

Take your pick, or take all three!
These three extraordinary workshops are coming to Louisville this Fall.
On September 7 and 8 Bonnie Stahlecker, fabulous teacher of the book arts, will be teaching us how to make the leather covered book pictured above in her class entitled "Byzantine Sewing with Leather Covered Boards." We will be making a wonderful book with decorated hard leather covers. She is the most well organized instructor I have ever had! If you like books, this workshop will be a 'don't miss'!
Just a month later Michael Clark, calligrapher extraordinaire, will be here to teach a shortened version of his "Going Beyond the Poem" workshop. It is about design and refining letterforms. He will also demo the ruling pen that he wields so expertly and we will design a clock! (Google Michael to see some he has made.) So cool! Here's more about this workshop in particular.
Michael Clark: Going Beyond the Poem Level: Intermediate
This workshop will explore the calligraphic possibilities of the illustrative word as opposed to our standard forms, the ones we use day to day. The focus will be on “writing” and design that goes beyond the simply laid out text (such as poems or testimonials) used in our bread and butter work. Employing our chisel edged pens, brushes, ruling pens, Speedball B’s etc. (or tool of your choice), we will pursue several projects over two days (a Thursday and a Friday) : a piece of letter art (designing with a quote), a logo (personal or imagined), a functional clock (I will provide the clock mechanisms for $11.00 so that you can take it home in working order). During the workshop we will be looking at the lettering styles you use with an eye toward trying variations of those forms, a way to expand our everyday styles. While we explore a variety of layouts and designs in each of the exercises, we will look at the effect that contrast, texture and color have on those designs. We will also experiment heavily with the ruling pen. About his October workshop, Michael says, "There is a lot of room to move within these guidelines. I want to give everybody what they need in this class. But I do not want to waste a second. SO, come prepared to work your fannies off and have some fun."
Last, but not least, artist/calligrapher Jacqueline Sullivan of Lake Orion MI will be teaching Visual Poetry, calligraphy on canvas. Her workshop will be October 19 and 20. Jacqueline is a Golden representative and she knows acrylic mediums! You may own one of her instructional DVDs. I've known Jacqueline for years, have taken workshops from her, and can just about guarantee that this will be a wonderful workshop! Contact me about any of these workshops. Space is limited, but still available for all three of these fabulous opportunities. We are keeping the prices as low as possible - maybe you can come to all three!
My email is jan(DOT)hurst(AT)insightbb(DOT)com

Decorated Envelopes

I've been getting lots of good mail recently in the form of decorated envelopes. These great envelopes mostly contained deposits for a workshop that's coming to Louisville in October, and one was just a friendly gift.

Here's a detail from the lovely envelope Anne-Davnes Elser sent me. I'd seen a Facebook post where she'd casually offered to send one to others who liked the one she posted. I took her up on it. It is a stunner with colors transitioning between the letters. I love it! Thank you again, Anne! (Anne teaches workshops at Bookbinders in Atlanta, and besides her excellent calligraphy, she makes beautiful books.

This one is from my great friend Diana Hutchison. Diana used to be known as the QueenODots for her penchant for decorating envelopes with dots. She does so much more than that, and so much more than pretty envelopes. Her large scale contemporary mixed media pieces are amazing! I loved getting this happiness in my mailbox.

Heather Lee sent this spring green beauty with lush black letters that look like velvet. The letters make you want to touch them to feel the pile, but of course there is none. Note the neat ligature between the H, U and R! Gorgeous!

My friend Shirley Sawyer sent this cute little mouse-illustrated envelope. Apparently her illustrations are well known among our friends, but this is the first time I'd seen one. How cute he is!

It is so much more fun to get pretty mail than the usual advertisements or - shudder - bills.
My cousin and I used to exchange long letters written in calligraphy and mailed in lavishly decorated envelopes. We worked full time, were wives and mothers and were even busier then than now. I don't know how we did it. I rarely send a pretty envelope for myself these days. I spend my days lettering wedding envelopes for others, but they're so much fun to receive I am going to have to send more, more often.