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. For more information on how these educational
opportunities work, see our workshop
guidelines.
WORKSHOPS
There are currently no workshops
scheduled. For online
learning experiences, check with John Neal Books,
Paper Ink Arts, and Kalli Camp Academy.
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.
 
NEULAND HAND with Elsa Penso, member of BCG
Sample of Neuland Hand (Credit - unknown)
Layout and Composition with Melissa Baker (member)
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
For upcoming meetings/classes please
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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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