Christine Colasurdo's Piece is Kalligraphia 13 --Mantra

If Kalligraphia 13 has a Mission Statement, Christine Colasurdo "Calligraphy Is At The Center of Everything" is IT!



Christine Colasurdo "Calligraphy is At The Center of Everything"

Christine is right. The history of lettering and calligraphy is also the history of civilization. Since there were no printing presses or computers on those early centuries as human beings evolved to become civilized, imagine if there were no scribes or calligraphers to write down  the contents in manuscripts. The Bible is the most published book in the entire world. Imagine if there were no scribes to write those pages to hand them over to our generation. Christine reminds the Bay Area and the world "Calligraphy is At the Center of Everything". I say Amen to that!

A teacher earns a student's respect when he/she is a skillful teacher but when he/she is kind,warm,wonderful,honorable, the teacher not only earns admiration from the student but also a student's affection. Some teachers earn our admiration but not our affection. Christine Colasurdo earns both my admiration and affection.  The Fort Mason students were brokenhearted when she left  San Francisco to return to Oregon.

At Fort Mason, she taught students Italic, Brush Italic & Uncials. What I remember most from her class was creating Weathergrams originally propelled by Reed's  professor Lloyd Reynolds made from a grocery brown bag. I was inspired to write short poems(10 words or less) on the brown paper and hang weathergrams outside my  garden and tree. Long before it was politically correct to be 'green', Lloyd was already advocating how to be a green activist.

Aside from being an author of the  remarkable book "Return to  Spirit Lake", she's a passionate  endorser for calligraphy.  Wow! According to reviews , she's there up with the best together with my favorite nature writers Edward Abbey, Henry Thoreau, & John Muir. She was at NPR remembering about  Spirit Lake.

You can download her KQED Perspective on Calligraphy  under "Beautiful Writing". She's also a passionate lover of nature not only by writing articles but  also  she volunteers for activities involving nature in her community.

Judy Detrick's Simplicity for the 4th of July



Judy Detrick's piece at Kalligraphia 13 'Simplicity is the Final Achievement'


Judy Detrick's Simplicity exemplifies that 4th July  can be celebrated with simple things such as Timothy Matlack's Handcalligraphed "Declaration of Independence",  a song God Bless America by an immigrant Irving Berlin and Katherine Lee Bates' poem "America the Beautiful".
'

Fort Mason Students & Teachers Exhibit at KALLIGRAPHIA 13

Fort Mason Center Bldg C Room 210 or 205  is like a 'ClubHouse' for learning Calligraphy. It's nice to know that  students & teachers who brought their bodies,minds and souls to Fort Mason calligraphy night classes starting from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm are among the artists  exhibiting their artistry at SFPL Main Library, Skylight Gallery. Though the classes were meant for beginners, others kept  enrolling to advance their craft. You'd be surprised some of the students who kept enrolling have 20 to 40 years of experiences already.

STUDENTS OF FORTMASON ( for the night classes only not the advanced workshops*).

Laura Bernabei - Peace

Loren Bondurant - Revenge

JoAnn Brand - Invisible

David Brookes- Black Sabbath Farewell

Elena Caruthers - Locked in My Heart

Barbara de Maria - Magnificat

Teresa Doane - Things that Make the Heart Beat Faster

Evelyn Eldridge - Calligraphy is a Dance

Jesse Evans - The Difference Between Something And Nothing

Georgette Freeman- A Happy Larder

Helen Fung -Gilded W

Jocelyn Hunter- Yes

Bryan Hyunh - Not in My Heart

Katie Keller- it is the Dream

Meredith Jane Klein- Here in this World and Not Yet Here

Victoria Lee -Johari Window

Jerry Lehman- Life By the Sea
Ilyana Leveque- Sphere of Conditionality

Linnea Lundquist - I'm thinking About This , #1,#2,#3

Linda Mahoney - Don't Call Alligator Long-Mouth

Raoul Martinez- Sleep

Chris McDonald- Me & Mrs Jones
Jody Meese - Grace

Elizabeth Nisperos- October Is in Love with the Impossible

Maurice Palumbo -75th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge

Dean Robino- In Theory

Christina Schneck - Butterflies With Haiku

Dena Sneider - Leaf Letters

Lily Stevenson - From Dawn to Dusk

Akihoo Sugiyama - In the Desert , Inspired by Le Petit Prince(The Little Prince)

Michiko Toyama - Chikara
Joanna Witzel- Love- Dreams-Passion
*advanced workshop is under a different coordinator
Raoul Martinez has a Picasa Album displaying pieces in the exhibition.

TEACHERS (Those who Taught Basic Calligraphy Classes from 1999-2012)

Alan Blackman-  Checkmate-Amen

Patricia Coltrin-  Basho - On Poetry

Christine Colasurdo- Calligraphy Is At the Center of Everything

Judy Detrick - Simplicity,Demonstration Uncial & Rustic

Claude Dieterich - I Speak With My Hands

Ward Dunham- Blackletter, demonstration Blackletter

Monica Dengo - Demonstration Improvised Compositions
Georgianna Greenwood -Improvise, also creator of Kalligraphia logo,demonstration Italic

Thomas Ingmire- Afghanistan: A Visual/Verbal Book by Thomas Ingmire and Robert Shephard

Sherrie Lovler - Launched

Antonia Smith - Forgetfulness, demonstration Foundational script

Melissa Titone -Earrings from A to Z,demonstration Copperplate 

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE TEACHERS FOR PASSING THEIR KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM AND TO THE STUDENTS FOR HAVING THE COURAGE TO SHARE WHAT THEY'D LEARNED TO CONTINUE THE LETTERING TRADITION.