COMMENTS FROM OUR
CHAIRPERSON
Soon after our
Christmas get together, my husband and I left for Ft. Myers, Florida and just
missed the extreme cold you all had to endure.
We had a great two months in the warmth of the sun where the weather was
very cooperative compared to 11 inches of rain in January 2016. Calligraphy was non-existent for me since I
can’t bring all those wonderful tools I have here in Elkhart into a car that is
already pretty full with things my husband thinks we have to have at our
condo. But, I do have a small sewing
machine and somehow, even though I had bronchitis, fever, body aches, managed
to sew four tote bags with a friend of mine who joined me for a couple of
weeks. Since returning though, I have
had a small wedding addressing job and have played with different lettering
styles. I do miss my calligraphy tools,
but I know that with the good weather I was experiencing, I would rather be
sitting outside by the pool with a good book or going to see the sunset on
Sanibel Island.
The day after I
returned from Florida, we had our February meeting. The weather has been cooperative and we didn’t have any snow to
thwart our getting together to talk about calligraphy. Thank you to Angie West for her
demonstration of her wonderful Versal letters along with sharing information on
how other instructors were able to help her “get it”. Thanks Angie for your time and patience.
Eliza Schulte
Holliday: In lieu of a March meeting, we had an instructor come for two days of
nothing but calligraphy. Pat West and I
picked up Eliza at the train station in South Bend on Thursday evening, March 2
and on Friday morning, after waking up to snow covering the ground, Eliza and I
drove to the church for our workshop.
Eliza took 12 of us through warming up exercises, pointed brush italic,
Italic majuscules, Eliza Verticals, and some brush animals like ducks, cranes
and flamingoes. At the end of the
second day, she had us making a monogram and a short quote using the different
letters we learned during the two days. I took Eliza back to the train station
on Sunday morning with a stop at the church at 8 am to see if the computer cord
she had forgotten was still there, and thankfully it was. We had a great workshop and will enjoy sharing
our show and tell with everyone at the April meeting. Eliza was a great
houseguest and on Saturday evening Pat West joined us for dinner. Afterwards, Eliza taught Pat, my husband Don
and I a card game called “Nine Hole Golf”.
Then she showed Pat and I how to make a couple of no glue or binding
books. I sincerely hope she can return
to do another workshop for us in the future.
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| Eliza's work |
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| Eliza's work |
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| warm up exercises |
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| Examples of our work |
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| Eliza's work |
As usual, we have
lined up a year of demos, workshops and fun for our guild. See you at the meetings with all of the
wonderful work you have created every month.
Venue: We are
currently trying to find a new venue to hold our two-day workshops that won’t
cost us an arm and a leg so that we don’t have to increase the cost of our
workshops which we try to keep at an affordable price. If you know of somewhere we can use once or
twice a year, please let one of the board members know that information. Ginny
and Pat have looked at the Christiana Creek Country Club and the Havilah
Beardsley House in Elkhart. Both seem a
bit small for our purposes.
Chicago
Calligraphy Collective – The opening reception for the Chicago Calligraphy
Exhibit will be on Saturday, April 8 from 11 till 3. If you have never attended this exhibit, you are missing some
great art and inspiration. Several of the
artists like Julie Wildman, Luce Zolna, Reggie Ezzell, Valerie Weilmunster,
etc., have been here in South Bend giving workshops for the Michiana
Calligraphy Guild. There is usually a short talk and time to peruse the art and
have some snacks too! Some of us will be getting on the 9 am South Shore at the
South Bend Airport for the trip to Chicago and the Newberry Library. We will return on the 5 pm train (6 pm South
Bend time) to return home by about 8:15.
If you are interested in going to Chicago on that day, please email
Ginny, gvanderhey@hotmail.com so that we know to look for you
before the train leaves the station.
Last year we ran into a band of snow and Angie almost didn’t make the
train. I had to tell the conductor that
she was in the parking lot and on her way!
So, consider making this trip with us for a fun day of art and maybe
even a bit of shopping at Dick Blick for those much needed art supplies!
Upcoming workshops:
We have booked
Jacqueline Sullivan for our next workshop in the fall of 2017, September 30 and
October 1. If you have seen the work that Renee, Anna, Pat and Ginny brought
for show and tell, which will give you an idea of what we will be doing in that
workshop. There will be a maximum of 20
participants. More information and a
supply list will be forthcoming as well as cost and where we will be having the
workshop.
It seems
that instructors are booking their workshops way, way out in the future and we
have secured two really good calligraphers for our future workshops. Please mark your calendars for May 22 and
23, 2018 (a Tuesday and Wednesday) when Yukimi Annand will be in South Bend for
a workshop for the MCG and also Heather Victoria Held for the weekend of April
6, 2019. Both of these ladies are
booked solid and these were their first available dates. Save the dates and save your pennies because
these workshops will cost a bit more since we have to fly them here from Canada
and California. Luckily for us, we will
piggy back onto the Chicago Guild’s dates for Yukimi Annand so we won’t have to
pay the whole airline fee. Another
guild will be looking at Heather Held’s dates to see if they can piggy back
onto ours and we can again share that cost.
I have said many times that we try to keep our fees as low as possible,
but when an instructor comes from a distance away, they charge us more for
travel and baggage and we pass that on to you.
You won’t want to miss either of these workshops!
LETTER WORKS 2017 – The 36th International Calligraphy Conference will be held in Ogden, Utah from June 24 – July 1, 2017. If you are interested in this wonderful learning experience, please go to www.letterworks.org for more information. Imagine all your favorite calligraphy instructors all in one area and you get to choose which one you would like to glean from.
Jacqueline Sullivan – Jacqueline Sullivan, who will be coming to South Bend in late September, 2017, has a website that she posts art tips and upcoming workshops she will be conducting. If you are interested, send in a request to Jacqueline. Go to http://blog.jacquelinesullivan.com/workshops/ and click on mailing list.
Policy for MCG Our workshops seem to have people sign up and then decide not to attend.
We have been very generous in returning monies paid for the workshop if someone
decides not to attend at the last minute, but we are going to have a change in
this policy. There will be a nominal
fee if you drop out of the workshop. If
there would be an emergency, for instance, a birth of a child or grandchild,
illness, etc., then the board will take this under advisement to decide on a
course of action regarding a refund. Also, if the workshop is filled and there is someone to take your
place, that would also quality for a refund. So please, if you want to sign up
for the workshop, make sure that you put that date on your calendar as a
commitment. We have a small calligraphy
group and we struggle to fill workshops at times. We need all of you to attend as many as possible so that we can
continue to have quality instructors.
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, Yukimi Annand, etc. There
is a lot of beautiful calligraphy on these pages that will get your
inspired. Also look at Joanne Fink and
Barbara Lever’s Facebook Page. And then,
there is always Pinterest. Oh my, so
many places to be inspired!
PO Box in South
Bend – Due to a lack of much mail at our Post
Office box in South Bend, we have suspended any mail sent to that address. If you have anything to send to the MCG,
please send to Laurie Heyden, 18292 Courtland Drive, South Bend, IN 46637 or
Ginny VanderHey, 51854 Stoney Creek Drive, Elkhart, IN 46514. When monies are
due for a workshop or dues, they will now go to one of these addresses.
American Frame – Just a reminder that
if you order from American Frame, please mention MCG, and they will give us a
small stipend.
MCG
Meetings for 2017
April 1 – Barbara
Walsh Watercolor Demonstration
May 6 – Monica
Makielski – Book Folding
June 3 – Laurie
Heyden – Subject TBA
July 1– Pat West and Ginny VanderHey – Nature
Printing
August –
Annual Picnic at Ginny VanderHey’s
house. Our exchange will be a
handmade book of your choosing
September 2 – Renee Tuveson - Zentangles
October 7 – Sharon
Esmont – Celtic Knots
November 4 – Calligraphy
Fair – (Calligraphy tool sale)
December 2 –
Annual Christmas party at Christ the King Church
ANNUAL
MEMBERSHIP
Annual dues of $15 are due at the July meeting. 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 bring your dues to the July meeting or send it to Maureen Trubac, our treasurer.
Annual dues of $15 are due at the July meeting. 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 bring your dues to the July meeting or send it to Maureen Trubac, our treasurer.
OFFICERS
Ginny VanderHey, President 574/262-1345 gvanderhey@hotmail.com
Sharon Esmont, Vice President 574/272-5481 Sesmont@aol.com
Laurie Heyden, Treasurer, silverbird323@yahoo.com
Pat West, Secretary 574-612-9328 pwpatwest@gmail.com
Ginny VanderHey, President 574/262-1345 gvanderhey@hotmail.com
Sharon Esmont, Vice President 574/272-5481 Sesmont@aol.com
Laurie Heyden, Treasurer, silverbird323@yahoo.com
Pat West, Secretary 574-612-9328 pwpatwest@gmail.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.
