Tuesday 27 March 2012

Foundation Degree in Calligraphy / Term 3 week #1

The first session with Italics. Our tutor is Gaynor Goffe, an absolute master of this and many other hands. What a privilege we all feel....five of us getting almost individual attention from one of the world's leading exponents....truly awesome! Here are some of my stumbling first steps....When asked by Gaynor if any of us had done any italics before, I rather foolishly replied that I had done a little bit. Whereupon she asked me to write out some lines in 'my italic'. Later on in the day, after some intense teaching and lots of practice, I was able to compare what I had done with my earlier attempts....what a laugh!

Nathalie gets some one to one from the maestro....Monoline letters before getting into some continuous writing in different nib sizes.Preparation sheets for a historical script analysis.Four different lines from four different students...!

3 comments:

  1. Hi Tim nice to read your blog again. You were lucky to have gaynor for the whole term I think. Good luck with the final year. I will be very interested to see all your group's final projects.

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  2. Hello Tim. I'm considering the course at the Palace starting soon. As a complete novice in calligraphy i'd love your advise on what to expect.Is it something one can do with no artistic background and am i likely to be the weak link in the class and if so how does that affect the other students etc...
    Would love your advise have really enjoyed your blog

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  3. Hi Lisa. Thanks for dropping in! My understanding is that the actual Foundation Degree will not be continuing next year with a new intake, but will finish with us second years next June. However, perhaps you mean the seperate courses that take the place of the FD? These are presented as single course elements of ten(?) weeks in various subjects....Roman Lettering, Italics etc. If you live in London it may be worth enquiring (with Sundeland University) about these course. However, if you have no previous calligraphy or art experience you might prefer to start with a local calligraphy workshop, which will get you started without so much pressure! There are a number of these around, so just do a search for your local calligraphy group and see what you come up with. Get back to me if you need any further help. All the best - Tim

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