Peter Thornton Workshop

The Versal Letter with Peter Thornton Class dates: Saturday, March 10 and Sunday, March 11 Class Times: 10:00 am – 5:00 pm (we will brown bag it for lunch) Class Fees: NOLAA member $150; non-member $175 ($50 non-refundable deposit required to reserve your spot) Location: Carlo Ditta Meeting Room, 1445 Mac Arthur Avenue, Harvey, Louisiana Register by mail: Workshop Registration Form | NOLAA Membership Registration Form Register by PayPal: www.neworleanscalligraphy.org Peter Thornton, Professional Calligrapher for over 50 years and teacher for over 40 years. “Yep, I’ve been around the calligraphic block!” This is a 2 day workshop. It will be a gentle introduction to the (12th/13th century) decorative Versal capital letter and modern variants. Day 1 We shall be working with the ‘normal’ and conventional Versal letter. First in pencil before moving on to pen and ink or gouache. There will be many short and helpful exercises and projects throughout to show why this major capital and colorful letter lasted for over 500 years. It was first used as a functional and beautiful ‘signpost to the reader’ before being used in important words and opening sentences and paragraphs. Day 2 We shall now focus on producing a more contemporary Versal letter that better suits our current needs and desire for inventiveness. Making small and quiet changes to the basic strokes (and serifs!) we shall immediately alter the ‘flavor’ and charm from the conventional decorative capital to one that both delights the eye and mind by simply breaking the pattern of our expectation. A feature of the workshop will be to show many exercises in class (and at home) that clarifies and simplifies, how to practice more effectively. Throughout will be many short talks and demonstrations and much sensitive personal tuition. Materials List: • Pencils, HB and, if possible, 4B or 8B Derwent Wash • Sharpening sand paper block • Borden and Riley Layout pad #37 (highly recommended) or similar            (11″ X 8.5″ or 11″ X 14″ or 11″ X 17″) • Any better quality paper, e.g. Arches Text Wove, Arches MBM,                     Fabriano Ingres, Rives BFK or similar. • Small nibs, Rexel size 4, Brause or Tape 1.5mm, 1mm and/or smaller. • Gouache AND watercolours of your choice. • Mixing palette and water pots • Fine pointed brushes, size 2 and/or size 4 • Old brushes to load your nibs

Sorry to Have Been Out of Touch

We have unfortunately had no success in securing venues for the upcoming meetings this year.  So it is with great regret that we find it necessary to suspend our meetings in April and May.  We continue to explore new meeting sites and if anyone has any suggestions for the future please pass them on.

Do to the infrequency of our meetings this year, we have decided to extend the current membership period through 2018. Therefore, if you joined NOLAA for the 2016-2017 year your membership will be in effect until May 2018.

On a happier note, congratulations to Amy Morvant who is this year’s recipient of IAMPETH’s Tate Grant. Amy will use her scholarship to attend the Spencerian Saga and we can’t think of a more talented or deserving candidate.

January 2017 Meeting

We have hit a snag in scheduling our January meeting.  Our usual venue, the Jefferson Parish East Bank Regional Library, is updating its meeting rooms.  This is good news and bad.  It means that our future meetings there will have updated more user friendly equipment, however, the facility will be closed to us for January.  

Regretfully, we have been forced to cancel our January meeting.

      The bright spot on our horizon is the year long course with Reggie Ezell which begins in February.  There is still room in the class and those of us who have signed up to take it can’t wait to begin.  If you haven’t already given it full consideration, please do so.  It is a once in a life time opportunity to study with a most generous and talented calligrapher and teacher.

Reggie_Ezell_26_Seeds_Registration_Form

October 2016 Meeting

Saturday, October 8, 2016

10:00 am to 1:00 pm

East Bank Regional Library

4747 West Napoleon Ave., Metairie

In September we began our study of Copperplate with the basic strokes and the lowercase letters.  We will continue our exploration of this elegant hand by focusing on the capital letters.  Copperplate capitals can be ornate and filled with flourishes or they can express the simple beauty of the oval and the compound curve.  Since you need a firm foundation on which to build, we will concentrate on the unadorned letters.  You have to walk before you can run.

Materials List

Oblique Pen Holder

Your favorite pointed nib (such as Hunt 101 or Nikko G)

Smooth practice paper  (such as Canson Pro Layout Marker or Borden & Riley Marker Paper)

Moon Palace Sumi Ink

Dinky Dips or Dappen Dish

Ruler

Eraser

Pencil

Scratch Paper

Small Water Container

Paper Towels

To register for the October Meeting email  debra.fleming25@gmail.com

September Meeting

Saturday, September 10, 2016

10:00 am to 1:00 pm

East Bank Regional Library

4747 West Napoleon Ave., Metairie

Welcome back to another year with the New Orleans Lettering Arts Association.  We have some wonderful events planned for a year that includes a not to be missed opportunity to study with Reggie Ezell.  If you have not already registered for this extraordinary year long course, there is still time.  You can even take advantage of the installment plan by using PayPal.

Copperplate calligraphy has become wildly popular.  So this year we will focus our general meetings on demonstrating this beautiful hand.  The September meeting will be an introduction to Copperplate.  It will include the very basics of using the pointed pen, the pressure and release technique and the lowercase letters.  This is a wonderful opportunity for beginners who have always wanted to learn to write in Copperplate script.  It also offers more advanced calligraphers the chance to hone their skills.

Materials List

Oblique Pen Holder

Your favorite pointed nib (such as Hunt 101 or Nikko G)

Smooth practice paper  (such as Canson Pro Layout Marker or Borden & Riley Marker Paper)

Moon Palace Sumi Ink

Dinky Dips or Dappen Dish

Ruler

Eraser

Pencil

Small water containerPaper towels

Scratch Paper

Please don’t forget to register for the meeting:  http://www.neworleanscalligraphy.org/events/5/september-meeting/

 Reggie_Ezell_26_Seeds_Registration_Form

Membership Form 2016-2017 website version