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CALLIGRAPHY EDUCATION IN BIRMINGHAM

The Birmingham Calligraphy Guild offers a variety of educational opportunities throughout the year in the form of classes, workshops and other training events.


WORKSHOPS

There are currently no workshops scheduled. For online learning experiences, check with John Neal Books, Paper Ink Arts, and Kalli Camp Academy.

 


LEARN ENGROSSER'S SCRIPT FROM WILLIAM (BILL) LILLY

 


EXAMPLES OF PAST CLASSES:

FLOURISHING: THE ART OF THE OVAL - Suzanne Cunningham presented a class on flourishing with the pointed pen. Suzanne is an excellent instructor and we are grateful to have her.

LEARNING UNCIAL - Barbara Mitchell taught the UNCIAL hand in this in-person class.

DUC DE BERRY (A Gothic style of broad hand) - Member Dexter Stone taught this unique hand for guild members.

USING COLORFIN PAN PASTELS TO CREATE BACKGROUNDS with member Jean Masters. She will taught how to use these pastels AND some colored pencils to create lovely backdrops for your calligraphy.

colorfin pastelscolored pencils

NEULAND HAND with Elsa Penso, member of BCG


Sample of Neuland Hand (Credit - unknown)

Layout and Composition with Melissa Baker (member)

sample

Round Robin Tables with Four Fun Mini-Programs
1. Making hand-made vellum butterflies with Jim Davis
2. Tricks of the Trade with Susan Holmes
3. Tips, Techniques and Troubleshooting with Pointed Pen with Marsha Lassiter
4. Chinese Bamboo Brush Flower Painting to add your calligraphy to with Marie Lewis

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SOME PAST COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Bill Kemp - Spencerian Script Class and Flourishing - This workshop starts from the beginner level. It is also a good class for the person who has some experience with Spencerian. Bill Kemp likes to teach a class that allows him to have one-on-one time with students because he is able to see the level one may be at and provide a more in-depth critique to that student. The first day of the class focuses on learning the basic strokes of this alphabet, then going into the lowercase letters. The second day focuses on the capital letters but also has students integrate the lowercase letters with the capitals.
Flourishing Class - This is a one-day class, which has as its focus the basics of flourishing. We will learn a few basic types of flourishing that we can incorporate with the Spencerian Script.

Marina Soria - The Empty Space, Womb of Shape - The Taoist painters treat the empty space as a positive matter, not as something to be filled in or to spare, but as the origin of form.
Considering these rules, we will find new ways to work with space, to see the empty space! The balance between the use of positive and negative spaces is key to aesthetic compositions. This workshop will start from an experimental alphabet or a formal one with a personal twist and will work the space issues, trying to accomplish new compositions where space is not the blank portion of the paper.

Heather Held - One Enchanted Weekend - The weekend begins with The Enchanted Letter. Participants will explore the design and decoration of a Victorian illuminated letter. The letters are based on a rounded script alphabet and transformed into meandering ribbons or graceful leaves. The weekend ends with The Enchanted Meadow. If you enjoy the fairytale qualities of illumination, you will love this class! Students will learn how to design a painted acanthus leaf foliate spray to surround a delightful meadow creature. Inspired by the unique and surprising miniature paintings in historic illuminated manuscripts, the student will be guided through painting techniques to create these whimsical miniatures. Guides will be provided for the meadow creatures while the student creates their unique foliate spray.

Amity Parks - Bold and Blended: Chunky Roman Caps - This class will be spent learning a broad-edged pen version of a chunky Roman capital alphabet. This fun and bold hand has a more casual and contemporary look than its more formal cousins. We’ll practice the pen manipulation that allows for dynamic stroke transitions. The boldness of this lettering style creates lovely textures and white spaces. Once we’ve learned the alphabet, we’ll add some color. This hand lends itself to fun color blending when spaced tightly as the bold stokes stay wet and allow for bleeding from one letter to another. We’ll play with a couple types of powdered watercolors/inks to get some gorgeous and transparent color effects with our lettering. If there is time, we’ll get out our pencils and add some graphite effects to our lettering to really make it pop.

 

 

 

 

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