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
