Today was an exciting day when The Forum published the article on my art and grant from the Arts Partnership (as well as one from the Colleagues of Calligraphy) that have allowed me to study this year with Reggie Ezell in his “26 Seeds Program” of intensive calligraphic and artistic studies.
It is always interesting to see or read what people take away when they talk to me. This writer did a lovely job of capturing my enthusiasm for the accessibility of art if people have access to teachers and mentors who think outside the box and find way to engage your artistic self and being. Not all art is about a brush or pen or lump of clay. Read this article to learn more about my thinking and willingness – or wantingness – to engage people in more of finding a way to express themselves or have a fulfilling time.
My love of the history of manuscripts started in 1983 when my English teacher challenged me to read some Chaucer. Back in these dark days when Noah was still a baby, there was no Google and so I trudged off to the school library where Sr Benedict happened to have a poor reproduction – but oh so wonderful – of some of the Chaucerian writings done in magic script with funky borders and images. As a still new calligrapher and a teenager, the fact that someone could do “That!” to a page was amazing to me.
It still amazes me. I study ancient manuscripts with glee and abandon and love finding that they had lazy artists like I can be some days, or artists into immense details, which I can do too! Pick the day, pick the magic!
As I teach – besides the workshops mentioned in the article, I have also taught 9 4-week classes of watercolor and calligraphy on Zoom, at Moorhead Community Education and at the Rourke Art Museum – I realise that very few of us want to paint a Sistine Chapel ceiling or produce a master piece. We want to journey, discover, explore and dare I say it, have some fun too! And that is my jam! You want a picky teacher who has hours of lectures on theories and principles, there are plenty of them. They are wonderful. That is not me. Will you learn history and theory from me? You betcha. I love a good PowerPoint and I have a library of books that I want to share. And share I will on a journey, a pathway, a lane of discovery of tools, techniques and transformation. What gets transformed? I never know and I do not plan that way. People take away what they need from my teaching and feedback and come back. And that makes all the difference.
So enjoy this writeup and check out what is happening in the studio and classroom. And do journey with me… It is never boring. For you, or me.
