In the News

Dear Members and Followers,

Find out what is happening in the world of calligraphy.


In pictures: Mixing graffiti and calligraphy in Tunisia 

 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26515754

 The International Exhibition of Calligraphy 

http://calligraphy-expo.com/eng/about/News.aspx

Calligraphy Southscribes at NSW Heritage Festival

Dear Members and Followers,

Calligraphy Southscribes will have a display on 29 March 2014 to tie in with the N.S.W. Heritage Festival. See details below.

I Read It in a Magazine

Dear Members and Followers,

This post is about recent magazine editions to our library.

·         New Zealand Calligraphers Newsletter – Issue 85: Spring 2013 – This edition contains reports on the Christopher Haanes Workshop held in October; Members works based on quotations for use in the magazine and a profile of Margaret Woollett.

·         ASC – Colophon – Volume 35 No.01 December 2013 – An edition with a Copperplate theme. The Sydney Copperplate Group; an Ibook preview Script in the Copperplate Style by Dr Joseph M. Vitolo; To Flourish or not to Flourish; Profiles of different Calligraphers; From Copperplate to Type and Nibs Worth of Info. 

·         Canberra Calligraphy Society – Alphabetical Order – No 189 – December 2013 – Designing an Inscription, Olivia Roberts; Reports on Workshops with Jenni Cole – Making Envelopes; Lyndell Dobbs – Paper Art; The Opening of their 2013 Exhibition (great work CCS).

·         Canberra Calligraphy Society – Alphabetical Order – No 190 – February 2014 – A special mention to Carol Perron for the exquisite envelopes she did for the magazine (here, here!). Articles on Patricia Lovett’s visit to Sydney; Workshops galore for 2014; How to Present Your Work for Exhibition.

·         Postscript – The Calligraphy Society of Victoria Inc – February/March 2014 – Massimo Polello returning to Australia; Workshop Reports – We’ve Got You Cornered, Vitalize Your Hands and Persian Filigree; Calligraphy at Kensington Palace; Heading North.

Gemma Black

Dear Members and Followers,

Gemma Black is one of the teachers this year at Sturt Winter School for more details see their website
http://www.sturt.nsw.edu.au/courses/calligraphy-tracing-the-threads-with-gemma-black

Les Enluminures

Dear Members and Followers,

You may recently have read about the 16th century Manuscript that has been acquired by the Les Enluminures Gallery that may have a kangaroo nestled amongst its text.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/16thcentury-manuscript-could-rewrite-australian-history-20140115-30vak.html# 

Well, it is worth having a wander through the web pages of Les Enluminures itself and sighing over the beautiful manuscripts and miniatures that abound.

http://www.lesenluminures.com/

Workshop Calendar Now Available

Dear Members & Followers,

Please check out the new workshop calendar for the year on our workshops page. It's enough to make you want to book now!

Patricia Lovett – Professional Calligrapher and Illuminator – State Library of New South Wales – 6th January 2014 - Part 2

We then viewed William de Brailes’ de Brailes Hours (Book of Hours) c1240 it is reputed to be the oldest book of hours. Patricia explained that saints’ name days were written in red (thus giving us the term red letter days). Also by William de Brailes is the Last Judgment.

Following this were pictures of the Sherborne Missal and works by David Aubert, a French calligrapher who produced works for the court of the Duke of Burgundy, as well as illuminations at Bruges and other centres for the Dukes Philip the Good and Charles the Bold and the Duchess Margaret of York.

Patricia then spoke about the materials used:

Skin Treatment: Skins were soaked in vats of lime, then stretched out to be scraped, they were then left to dry and were scraped again. Once this had been completed the skins were cut, lines ruled and paintings or illustrations were completed. To remind us, Vellum is calf skin and parchment is sheep skin.

Writing Tools: Quills were made from the first five flight feathers, as these are strongest. In the 19^th century the feathers were exported from Russia (St. Petersburg) and Canada as they were of the highest quality.

For our general knowledge, Patricia told us Queen Victoria’s favourite pen was a swan feather and Edward VII’s was from a Hudson Bay goose. A quill knife was a curved blade and thus pen knives have rounded blades.

Ink: In ancient times, carbon wasn’t substantial enough for a Caudex, and then later came walnut ink.

We were then presented with more brilliant pictures to illustrate this fascinating talk. The Book of St. Cuthbert, 698AD was found in the coffin of St Cuthbert, illustrations showed the Coptic binding used at the time.

Ceolfrith’s Bibles; Ceolfrith, was abbot of the monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow in Northumbria from 690 to 716. Ceolfrith commissioned three large bibles from his own scriptoria, one for Wearmouth, one for Jarrow and one for Pope Gregory II. Realising he was close to death, he resigned his abbacy and set out for Rome however he died en-route and the bible made its way to the monastery of Monte Amiata in Florence. It is the only one of the three bibles to survive intact and is the oldest surviving full copy of the bible in Latin. The British Library MS Additional 45025 is thought to be part of one of the two other bibles commissioned by Ceolfrith. Only ten leaves and a fragment of an eleventh survive.

Further illustrations to the talk included; the Utrecht Psalter, the Harley Psalter and works by Nicolaus Bertschi (artist).

Lines were marked on all pages of the manuscript from the beginning, then the scripts were completed and then finally the art work was completed, over the lines. It would be too difficult to decide where not to rule lines so the artwork was completed over them.

We were then shown Johann von Hagen’s writing sheets.

Some more information for you – the word miniature comes from minima; the red of the design and shell gold is derived from gold being sold in muscle shells, thus shell gold!

There were some final slides of the Gottingen Model Book; the Vespasian Psalter (British Library) – Capital Letter – Historian is the first recorded and finally the Stockholm Codex Aureus.

This report goes nowhere near representing the in-depth and beautifully illustrated talk by Patricia. I can only recommend that you view her website and blog; and research some of the magnificent manuscripts mentioned by viewing them on the web.

Cathy

patricialovett.com