2011
Gestural Calligraphy
Judith Barbour Osborne, instructor
Saturday May 14, noon to 6 pm
Sunday, May 15,
10 am to 4 pm
Held at 24 Silkey Road, North Granby CT; directions
only 9 seats available, all skill levels welcome
$125 CVC members
$135 non-members
registration form
See her website
Calligraphy is a skill, an exacting skill with an expansive counterpart, gesture. Like identical twins with wildly divergent personalities, the meticulousness of calligraphy is harmonically paired with gesture. According to the Gage Canadian Dictionary, gesture is “a movement of hands, arms, shoulder or head used to express thought or feeling, to take the place of words or add to their meaning.” Gesture appears in various ways in the forming of letters and in the making of marks not directly letter-related. It appears before the first mark is placed and after the final stroke has left the paper. It is experienced within the calligrapher and in the air surrounding her.
Each day will begin with preparing our bodies, hearts, minds and spirits for a day of attention to our personal rhythms. Through calligraphic exercises we will recognize our strengths and weaknesses, honoring our strengths as we express our personal voices through our gestures, which are as individual as our voice, gait and handwriting, and developing techniques for getting us past our particular sticking points.
By Day Two we will be headed in the individual directions that most clearly express and develop our personal gesture.
The overall goal for this workshop is to integrate our skills with expressive gesture, to integrate our letters with our non-letter marks, bringing a new layer of meaning to our work. Let’s see where it takes us.
Osborne has been exploring control and freedom in her calligraphy and fine art for a few decades. She exhibits her work locally at Gallery One in Old Saybrook, Chester Gallery and at the Alexey vonSchlippe Gallery at the University of Connecticut, Avery Point. She exhibits nationally and internationally and her artwork is in private and public collections including Mobile Museum of Art. She is director of Gallery One, a cooperative gallery in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, and teaches calligraphy privately and in classes and workshops.
