July 2013 Scribnote
COMMENTS FROM OUR CHAIRPERSONFor months I would tell myself that I needed to put up a table in the basement, bring my paints, tools, paper, etc., down two floors and do some paste paper. It didn’t happen, but, I can’t tell you what enjoyment it is to have 12 friends come together to make paste paper together. Members bringing their own supplies and sharing tools is a bonus which is exactly what we did on Saturday, April 6. For some, this was the first time making paste paper and for others, they have done so many times. We all came out of the all day- play day with lots of papers blowing in the wind on their way to the car in the spring breeze. We also had a demo from Lauren Matacio showing us what she learned from Lisa Englebrecht a few years back, as well as bringing some supplies for us to try picture transfers. Thanks Lauren for the great demo! It was a jam packed day on April 6 as we ate our lunch and held our meeting as well as have our usual show and tell.
We want to welcome Kerry Conroy and Laurie Henley who recently participated in our April and June meetings.
On April 13, Maureen, Ginny, Angie, Connie and Lauren, who met us in Chicago, took the South Shore from South Bend to Chicago for the juried calligraphy exhibit. We especially wanted to see the piece by Scribes Six, the calligraphers from the Pen Dragons guild in Kalamazoo. Our 2 ½ hour ride to Chicago went by quickly as we chatted on the train. At one of the stations, our friend from Kalamazoo, Tina Cronkite, got on the train and somehow got in our train car. We got to see her beautiful work from the Laurie Doctor workshop a few months ago as we rode along. Arriving in Chicago, the five of us crammed into a taxi and headed down to the Newberry Library. The snowflakes were flying and the wind was blowing, so a cab ride seemed prudent and got us there a bit quicker. The exhibit was wonderful with beautiful work from the likes of Timothy Botts, Mike Kecsec, Rosie Kelly, Julie Wildman and, of course, Reggie Ezzel among many others. What eye candy!!! I think we looked through that exhibit room three times. We also were treated to demonstrations and had our names done in a couple of lettering styles, one being Middle Eastern, which was very cool to see our names written this way. The last part of the day at the library was to see two slide presentations. The first was by Jane Farr of the Kalamazoo guild who talked about traditional calligraphy and modern calligraphy. The work was stunning. The second presentation was about the piece done by Scribes Six from Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids and how they put together their monumental piece. It was daunting to see it in person. A beautiful piece that will hold up for a long time to come. Our trip would not have been complete without having visited Dick Blick and Utrecht as well as Paper Source for art supplies. We all wish we would have had more time to spend in the stores, but we had a 4:43 train to catch and we had to keep moving. If you have the time next year to see the calligraphy exhibit in Chicago, I urge you to go and see the wonderful work produced by calligraphers in our neck of the woods. They are awe inspiring!! I’ve got my reservation for next year to go again to enjoy beautiful letters.
On April 20 and 21, Rosie Kelly was our instructor for a two-day workshop in South Bend. Rosie brought some new designs for us to create and also gave us some direction on whether or not to write on a particular piece we did. Rosie is the sweetest and kindest instructor and we love her dearly for coming to South Bend to inspire us! (See Maureen’s thoughts on the workshop below)
Sharon Esmont was our demonstrator for the May 4 meeting and helped bind the recipe pages we made last year. Sharon copied the smaller pieces we made for a collaged cover and those sheets were used to make the front and back covers. Thank you Sharon for helping to bind our calligraphed recipes and for all your organization in supplying all the necessary tools to complete our cookbooks. My cookbook will be on my coffee table for all to see.
Our June 1 meeting was jam-packed with fun. First we had our regular meeting including lots of show and tell. The best show and tell for June was Amber Schindler announcing a new little calligrapher will be arriving in November. Congratulations Amber and we wish you lots of love and prayers. After show and tell, I demonstrated a Louise Grunewald exercise and some brush lettering. Brush isn’t the easiest to grasp at first after using the nib, but it is one of my favorites since Reggie presented it in 2000. Practice makes perfect and I hope that you continue to use the brush to letter. It’s a good carry-with-you tool that you can use to write on just about anything. Also, we raffled off a Letter Arts Review magazine to anyone who does not currently have a subscription. John Neal Books generously offered a free year’s subscription to LAR to anyone who already was a subscriber. The winner of the first of four magazines was Connie Wendt.
Amber Schindler has chosen to resign from the position of Secretary in light of her new responsibility of becoming a mother for the first time. She will be available to help anyone interested in serving through this wonderful volunteer opportunity as long as she is able until later this year. Thank you very much, Renee, for graciously accepting the role of Blog Coordinator for our guild. We appreciate your time and effort. Amber’s duties include taking notes at the guild meetings and being part of the support group to make decisions on upcoming instructors, meetings, etc. Please consider being a part of the guild board and email gvanderhey@hotmail.com if you are interested.
 |
| Rosie Kelly Workshop |
Rosie Kelly’s workshop was an inspiring adventure into designing with letterforms. We loosened up by scribbling in sections of a sheet of Arches Text Wove using overlapping textures in pencil, sumi and walnut ink and a variety of pencils, leaving room for text and embossing. Gesso was randomly placed on an additional four sheets of paper, left to dry to be used later to add words, color and/or texture.
Next we were introduced to making marks on paper using sumi and/or walnut ink from a squeeze bottle with a very small nozzle allowing the ink to practically dry. The next step was to wash some of the ink off with water creating a background of muted color and dark marks which were allowed to dry completely. We then added color, connecting marks and textures.
This workshop provided us with a wonderful collection of new methods to create new art. At the end of the workshop we displayed our pieces and with Rosie’s and our participants insights, we knew where and how to continue to grow. Maureen Trubac
 |
| Rosie guiding us |
And more from Linda Bravata
How do I begin to write just a couple paragraphs about the “Design Workshop” with Rosie Kelly! We learned a plethora of ideas to incorporate into our art. Probably one of the most fun and unusual techniques we did was using small squeeze bottles with stainless steel tips in .5 mm, .7 mm or .9 mm to write with or use to make designs. Because it was a tool very different from a pen in that you couldn’t be precise, it gave one the freedom of “going with the flow”. My set of three squeeze bottles with tops was by Jacquard…yup one of those things you buy and don’t really know what to do with and there it sits. NOW I am using it and having fun.
At one point, I was overwhelmed with all the information and techniques she gave us. I was sitting there with a blank stare on my face and Rosie suggested that I use the Afrikan Alphabet of which she had given us a copy. I started writing The Introduction to Poetry poem by Billy Collins that we also received from her and, after each word; I inserted one of the alphabet symbols. As I printed out the letters, I ran them all together forming a square of words. I added a little “Rosie” embossing and a piece cut from the “Do-not-take-your-squeeze-bottle-off-the-paper” design with spaces filled in with paint, squiggly lines or dirty water (loved the subtle color of the dirty water and from the splatters made with it),. Actually, this was my practice paper and when cut up in small pieces gave a nice accent to the little piece of art.
 |
|
We were shown how to use gesso…many ways. Put it down first, scraping it around the paper with an old credit card then paint with watercolors over that. Put it down second…scraping it over watercolor to block out a spot for some writing or to “hide” an unwanted area. Put gesso on your paper with the edge of a credit card to make some textured lines. Another idea was to put gesso on colored tissue paper or rice paper and then etch into it when the gesso is still wet.
 Also from Rosie |
Finally, Rosie’s workshops are ALWAYS fun and you go away with so many ideas and information that is very easy to incorporate into your artwork. If you missed this workshop…I’m sorry. If you get a chance to go to another one of her workshops, seize the day and sign up right away. Rosie will awaken your soul and art and breathe magic into your creativity.
Thank you, Michiana, for hosting her Design Workshop!
Linda Bravata
August Guild Meeting – We have had the August meeting at Ginny’s house for so many years, she can’t remember when we started. We used to be able to sit around the small table in the screen porch when there were maybe 8 people. Last year, when it so very hot and muggy, we crowded into the family room in the air-conditioned house which was much more comfortable. Hopefully, we can be outside again enjoying the fresh air and more elbow room. At the August meeting we start at our usual time of 10 am, have our business meeting, raffle off a book or, as we did last year, a certificate to an upcoming workshop, have a handmade book exchange and then eat lunch together. It is always a fun day and hope you will put it on your calendar for this year which will be Saturday, August 3, 2013.
Anne Binder at Moontree…Anne is exhibiting at Moontree with stunning art and calligraphy for the months of May and June. If you can’t get to Plymouth to see it, please look on Anne’s Facebook page. Anne, her husband Bill and son Matthew hung the display where it will be until July 7. Times are 9 – 11:30 and 12:30 – 3. Weekends are by appointment only. Congratulations Anne on a beautiful exhibit.
 |
| Anne Binder's "Book of Mary" Exhibit |
 |
| Pat and Ginny at Anne Binder's exhibit |
FUTURE WORKSHOPS
Barbara Mann will be coming to South Bend to teach a two-day workshop called Paintbox Flowers on October 5 and 6, 2013. Barbara is a member of our guild living in Michigan and gave a workshop several years ago. We are so glad that she will be joining us again. The workshop cost will be $90 which will include the supplies that Barbara will be bringing. We have not yet received a supply list from Barbara, but we will in the near future. The workshop will be limited to 18 people and will again be held at Whispering Pines Apartment Complex.
Julie Wildman – We have scheduled Julie Wildman from Chicago for our 2014 spring workshop. Please put April 26 & 27 on your calendar for next year. Julie exhibits at the Newberry Library every year and that is where we talked to her about coming to South Bend for a workshop. Check out wildmandesigns.com to see her lovely work. More information will follow regarding this workshop in the near future.
Are you on Facebook? If so, look up your favorite calligraphers because they are on Facebook also. I like to look at Barbara Close, Reggie Ezell, Julian Waters, John Stevens, Rachel Yallop, Pendragons, Capital City Scribes, etc. There is a lot of beautiful calligraphy on these pages that will get your inspired.
Calligraphy, like most things that are worth doing, is not easy at first.
WEBSITES TO ENJOY
http://www.youtube.com/user/reggieezell?feature=watch http://www.sdfconline.com/html/akim_cursive.html http://www.calligraphersguild.org/ http://www.rachelyallop.co.uk/lettering.html www.2012calligraphyconference.com/contemporary-scripts https://www.usps.com/send/international-addressing-tips.htm
I enjoy sharing new websites that I have come across in our blog. If you come across something that you think would interest the whole group, please email them to Ginny, Amber, or Renee, and we will get them on the blog for the next quarter.
American Frame – Just a reminder that if you order from American Frame, please mention MCG, and they will give us a small stipend.
July 6 – Pat West – Sharon Zeugin
August 3 – Maureen Trubac – Metals and Annual Picnic – We will be having a handmade book exchange and will be giving something away in a raffle.
September 7 – Maureen Trubac– Barbara Mann
October 5 & 6 – Barbara Mann Workshop
November 2 – Angie West – Versals and Thomas Ingmire
December 7 – Annual Christmas Get Together at the home of Angie West
Cut the schedule of dates in the newsletter out, and put it on your fridge for future reference.
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP Annual dues of $15 are due in July. Our annual dues have not changed in many years and are put to good use for supplies for our make it/take it meetings, annual raffle in August, and, at the end of the year, we give to local charities. Please remember to send your dues to the MCG post office box as soon as possible.
OFFICERS
Ginny VanderHey, President 574/262-1345 gvanderhey@hotmail.com
Sharon Esmont, Vice President 574/272-5481 Sesmont@aol.com
Maureen Trubac, Treasurer 574/272–0733 maureentrubac@hotmail.com
Amber Schindler, Secretary 574/360-9128 ambermschindler@gmail.com
Jo McPherson, Study Group Chairperson, jobakestwo@centurylink.net
Renee Tuveson – Blog Coordinator, rtuveson@hotmail.com
If ever you would like to add to the newsletter/blog, please contact one of the officers, and we will get that information to Renee Tuveson. Something you have done or have seen would be welcomed into our information.
