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Wednesday 2 October 2019

Most calligraphers will have heard that Bruges is quite a special place for calligraphy and lettering art.

Even if you haven’t, you may have heard of some of the calligraphers who live there such as Lieve Cornil, Brody Neuenschwander, Yves Leterme, the Boudens family; Kristoffel, Liesbet, Pieter and Joke and, maybe less well known internationally, Maud Beckeart and Jurgen Vercaemst. 

In recent years the magical city of Bruges has become something of an international mecca for both traditional calligraphy and pioneering and audacious lettering.



Lieve Cornil set up her school first called Studio XI, now the European Lettering Institute or ELI about 10 years ago - one of her pupils, now a teacher on the course, was Carry Wouters who stepped in to teach at Festival 2017 at the last minute when Denise Lach was taken ill. It was after talking to her that I started to dream of coming here too. The city of Bruges was chosen as the venue for the Sunderland Symposium in 2015 which I was fortunate to attend  - and now I am back.
I started almost immediately working on the November issue of the Edge - I had foolishly thought I was nearly finished with it before term started having made some notes of things that needed improving since my first issue - most notably the quality of the images. I re-evaluated my aims, which are, to produce a magazine that is full of interesting articles and reproductions of work to inspire and educate calligraphers and lettering artists. I want, while I am in Bruges, to be able to reflect some of the international scene. And of course I want it to look visually interesting. I didn’t realise how much I didn’t know about picture grids and print settings!

I have had a few dramas to contend with since arriving. First I fell off my new Belgian bike and arrived with blood dripping down my leg on the second week of term. Then more seriously I tripped over the cobbles in the street outside my flat and bent the fingers of my right hand back more than 90 degrees,  and had my hand and wrist in plaster for 21/2 weeks. I still haven’t got full mobility back in it and thirdly I have had troubles with bureaucracy! I still haven’t got to the bottom of that and don’t know whether it is Brexit or the private nature of the course that is the problem but I am still waiting to be issued with a resident’s identity card that in turn, would give me the benefit of being able to park in my street, and visit all the Bruges museums for free and apply for the public liability insurance required by the college! I have learnt that I should not take these things personally and it is all part of the learning experience.


We start studying InDesign (which I use for the Edge) next term, but this term it is Adobe Illustrator we are getting to grips with. I am learning how to digitise lettering by way of designing cartoon cupcakes! I have learnt that the handles must be horizontal or vertical on curves on text and                            never use live trace.



left handed work while my hand was in plaster!

We have all been studying Illustration as well. This monthly session has been a real treat for me as it was the subject of my original degree but I have never worked as an illustrator. Some of it is revision for me and but also a chance to enjoy half a day drawing. However it is important for all calligraphers to learn these skills because they are used to design and draw  letters. I was fortunate to be able to do some much freeer drawing than usual with my left hand while I had the cast on my right. It gave me the confidence that my time here in plaster without the use of my right hand, need not be wasted. Our tutor is Astrid Verplancke and her uncle Klaas Verplancke,  who wrote the award winning childrens’ book ‘Applesauce’, will take over the class in the Spring. I am really looking forward to this. (You may find the description on his website klaas.be of the making of the book and the differences between English and European styles, interesting.)


I have also been designing my own font or typeface. This has been a revelation. If I had discovered earlier how much I enjoyed it I might have had a different career. I started from an idea that grew during Yukimi’s workshop at Festival this summer.

Aside from a lot of computer work and drawing, we have two exhibitions to prepare for and a creative project with Carry Wouters that is about to start. We won’t be using computers and we will work with a partner to create a site specific exhibit. We are being gradually given more information and visit the secret venue early next term. It is called the w.h.i.t.e. project (When hands and ideas touch emptiness).





I am enrolled on the Specialisation postgraduate year so my course is very much individually tailored but I find it fascinating to watch and learn from Lieve  while she is teaching the structured course that she has devised for the other undergraduate students. They are all at different points along the route but are learning the fundamental skills of lettering in a very concentrated and meticulous way, starting with Roman capitals and spacing and working their way through historical documnents and different hands through the ages with attention to detail, rhythm and skill. The results are truly inspiring. You can follow us all on our Instagram and Facebook pages.
www.instagram.com/europeanletteringinstitute/ 
www.facebook.com/europeanletteringinstitute/

I am currently the only student from the UK on this course and surrounded by other nationalities and languages though fortunately for me English is the common language. There is a bit of a divide among the students, the Belgian contingent who tend to be more mature, part-time and friendly but naturally they chat amongst themselves in Flemish and it can be easy to feel left out of the day to day conversation. They mostly live outside Bruges and drive in one or more days a week. The international students are mostly young, (apart from me) speak Spanish, Russian, Czech, and English and live in town. 

So my social life depends on visitors from home!

this article first appeared in the February 2019 edition of the Edge 
for the Calligraphy and Lettering Arts Society clas.co.uk

Wednesday 24 April 2019

Back to full-time education

After many years of envying others, I have been studying full time since September, at the European Lettering Institute. I've also taken on the arduous job of editing and designing the Edge the magazine of the Calligraphy and Lettering Arts Society (CLAS) clas.co.uk - I've been able to combine both and have published several editions of my news from Bruges in the Edge.

the news from Bruges part one



Or Brugge as I shall now call it!

Since the last issue I have been looking for and finding somewhere to live. I travelled over in early July with my husband to look for what at times seemed to be impossible, i.e a flat or apartment with two bedrooms, some outside space and a parking space and I ended up with everything I needed at a price I could afford. 

We stayed near the park in a very modern yet compact airbnb with use of two bicycles so we could explore the whole city and get a real feel for how it all joined up! Our hosts were lovely and really interested in calligraphy. A friend of theirs, Maud Bekaert (lettter carver www.lettersinsteen.be) whose studio I had visited when in Bruges for the Sunderland Symposium in 2015, had offered to open specially if I called round - and on the wall in the bedroom was a Brody Neuenschwander original piece of work. www.brodyneuenschwander.com. Instagram @brody_neuenschwander.







lettering on restaurants in Bruges and Damme

Belgium doesn’t do furnished accomodation and a normal lease is 9 years! In fact I was told in no uncertain terms that 3 years was an absolute minimum and though it was possible to leave early, you had to pay a penalty and would be responsible for the rent until another suitable tenant could be found. We traipsed round numerous agents and some were much more helpful but I felt a bit long in the tooth for student accomodation! Fortunately I had been getting email alerts from a couple of websites and had arranged two viewings before I arrived. The first was happy to give me a one year lease and right in the area near the college.... but oh so depressing when I viewed it....



I must be mad - I thought - to be attempting this wild adventure. We sat outside a cafe in the sun drinking coffee and got talking to some locals about the Belgium world cup match that evening that was being shown live on a big screen in one of the squares. We decided to join them and ................................the luck changed and Belgium won......I started to feel happier and was enjoying the atmosphere.



Next day while waiting for more appointments we went to see the second place I had seen online....now this might be the one! It was on the first floor, with two bedrooms a balcony and the option of a garage and the landlords wife had English parents and he was happy to give me a one year lease!! Not only that, it is just down the road from ‘Simbolik’ a delightful shop selling all things calligraphic by Nathalie Beelprez who I have been following on Instagram. @nathalie_beelprez www.simbolik.be. There are so many calligraphers and lettering artists in Bruges and soon I will be one of them for a little while!


Nathalie Beelprez’s shop Simbolik


Since then I have been in touch with other students on the course - they come from Belgium, Taiwan, Czech Republic, Argentina, Colombia, Russia and I am the first from the UK! We are travelling over together for the Letter Exchange Conference and I feel I have some friends already.

Details are being finalised for the courses during the year with options for drawing, letter carving in wood, letter carving in stone, Adobe Illustrator and InDesign - This is what I really want to get to grips with and I will be using the Edge as my main focus for learning so I will be practising on you!

I’m writing this surrounded by boxes getting ready to take a van full of furniture and washing machine, tumble drier, drawing board and art materials! The wifi is arranged, deposits and fire insurance paid and there is no backing out now! My husband is staying home with the dogs, cats and chickens but we’ve arranged sitters and walkers so he can visit often and anyway half term is not far away.

India - trying to find my own voice in print...

Inspiration from India for my current print







inspiration used for 2018 Christmas card lino print on gold paper in black ink




Printmaking

I've recently gone back to printmaking. This time I have decided to learn about collagraph having previously worked mostly with screenprinting.

These early pieces are working out an idea to use the quote 'O time thou must untangle this not I, 'tis too hard a knot for me to untie' from Twelfth Night, that I had chosen to use for my piece for the Oxford Scribes annual exhibition.


initial sketchbook idea


scratching into the surface of a piece of mountboard and peeling off the surface in places


using parcel tape to create shiny areas that will print clear


drawing with wood glue


the second idea concentrated on the rope knot and using the surface of the mountboard and parcel tape for the chain


first proofs


I added some texture into the background with silver foil and
the lettering was printed last using a poly photogravure plate

























This was the first time I had made monotypes by working on a thin sheet of plastic and running them through the press! I'd always worked on a piece of glass and made do with rubbing the back of the paper with a roller before...

I experimented with different techniques, using the chickens for inspiration and working from photos.





I've now got my own small press!!



my first quick print using water-soluble inks and the lino from a commission




more collagraphs using lettering as inspiration:


this (above)  is a poly-photogravure print blind embossed - the original writing was done with a pipette from an old acrylic ink bottle


collagraph prints on rice paper then collaged and cut out with a bit of gold leaf too





cut and woven collagraph prints


lino print commission for an Oxford College