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        Newsletter                         $2000.
                          Secret Pal Art Expo                   120.
                          Programs                                   280.
                          Directory                                  200.
                          Southwest Calligraphy               800.
                          Conference  Operations            1000.
                                                         TOTAL  $4400.

Saturday Specials

 Our Saturday Specials are a relatively recent addition to the host of learning opportunities available through the Guild.  So this is a friendly reminder of the policies relating to this activity.

 Saturday Specials will be held up to four times per Guild year, depending on available space and the general Guild activity schedule.  Classes will be held in the usual meeting room at the Church, unless otherwise announced.  A minimum of 10 students is required by 2 weeks prior to the scheduled class date or the class will be cancelled.  If there are more than 10 signed up , registration will continue until 1 week prior to class date.  Later registration than that will be only by permission of the instructor. 

 The $20 fee is to be paid at the time of registration and is not refundable unless you arrange for someone to take your place.  Classes are from 9 AM to 4 PM.  Sign up with Keith Cheshire or Pauline Sager. 

 Thank you.

How I spent my summer vacation

By Gayle Venticinque

 Preparing for the Calligraphy Connection Conference wasn't too bad, but required some talent on my part with the packing. Packing for any trip can be a chore, but this was a challenge. Not only did I have to pack clothes (what kind of weather will we have? It gets cool up there!) but art supplies, too! Of course I packed too much and my suit cases were at risk of exploding with the least little bump! As I suspected, I packed too much stuff, and would scale it down next time. People are always willing to share and of course, you can always purchase almost anything you could need at Paper and Ink Books!

 Bonnie and I flew together and went to our hotel in Minneapolis.  We met up with BJ Nichol, Maggie, Leslie, Shirley, Fritzi Harry, Dolores Schultz, and Gerry Hornstein.  The next morning we all set out in the rain for the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts. No one told me there was a gift shop there! Hence, my shopping spree started early!  We saw beautiful books and artwork by many talented people. One was my first calligraphy teacher!  Would she be at the conference? We then spent time at the Minneapolis Institute for the Arts, and then went to a book maker friend of Maggie’s named Jodie Williams. What a full day.  I won't go into the details of leaving my purse at Jodie's house and losing my camera.   Maggie rescued  me and lent me a spare one she had.

 The next day, it was off to the conference. After a 90 minute bus ride, we arrived, unloaded our luggage, checked in, got our room keys and goodie bags. Oh, my gosh! I was about to burst with excitement!  Having never gone away to college, I looked forward to the whole dorm experience. Boy, was I about to get it - the community showers/bathrooms, mediocre food, no air conditioning and beds that were slept on by monks in the middle ages!

 Early the first evening, there was a blessing of the tools ceremony in the church followed by a mass. To see them read from two pages of the St. John's Bible during mass was very spiritual. Hearing the monks sing reminded me of the artistic gifts that we have all been given.  

  Being surrounded by about 450 people that have the same passion for calligraphy and related arts was indescribable! There was an automatic atmosphere of such comradely- such a bond. Everyone was so friendly! While waiting in line to eat, or while shopping at the vendors, or just taking a break, we would all just talk to anyone and everyone. "Where are you from? How many conferences is this for you?" It was so much fun to finally put faces to the names of people whose work I had admired over the years or who I had heard of on cyberscribes. People were  greeting old friends and renewing old friendships from past conferences. As I had hoped, my first calligraphy teacher DID come and it was so nice to see her after 14 years. We San Antonio folks and lots of others wore Bill's beautiful T-shirt on Tuesday and we got loads of compliments.

 Having Paper and Ink Books and John Neal and the Scribe Store (where anyone could sell almost anything) was almost painful (to my bank account). To see all the supplies and papers and books and works and be able to touch them and page through them and even to be able to try some things out was a calligrapher's heaven. I went by the vendors at least 3 times a day, if not more. There always seemed to be something new I hadn't noticed the last time and it seemed less traumatic to buy small amounts of things at a time. Twice during the week, there were serendipity  demos, where new tools, media or techniques were demonstrated.

     We had a lecture every evening followed by a social and usually some sort of display. When the first few pages of the St. John's Bible were shown, you could feel the excitement.  The lectures were always wonderful, entertaining, or inspiring.  There was a student display for those who wanted to show their work. The walls quickly filled with some very breathtaking pieces. Also, beautifully decorated envelopes that were sent with fees and class choices were on display later in the week. The instructors also had a separate display.  So much to see, so little time. All this beautiful work was intoxicating!

 Each night we would trudge back to our rooms, newly purchased treasures in hand, with the solemn vow on our lips that "I'm going to bed early tonight!" HA! Upon returning to our rooms, the evening chit- chat, and room visiting would begin. We'd all show each other our newest acquisitions and swap stories of the day's adventures and experiences. Finally, well after midnight, the lights would go out and we'd drift off to sleep.

 The classes were just awesome! I took Lisa Engelbrecht's Experimental Lettering where we wrote with everything from sticks and balsa wood and everything but banana peels! We learned different ways to be expressive and I actually liked the book cover I made. My second class was Annie Cicale's Developing the Calligraphic Painting. She was as sweet and talented as I had heard. We learned different water color techniques to develop expressive pages with calligraphic components. All my classmates in both classes  were so free with their sharing of tools, ideas, and support. We all hated for the classes to end because they had been so much fun!! At the end of each class, we had a few hours to go from class to class to see works "in progress". Most of us felt it would have been much easier to have everything in one place as they've done in the past. I know I didn't see half of the works on display and I hope they abandon this walk-around practice.

 The focus on Friday afternoon quickly changed to buying all the last minute things you couldn't live without. And of course after having purchased much more than you planned, a bit of panic set in as you thought about how in the world you were going to be able to pack up all this stuff in the two little suit cases you brought with you. Maggie and Leslie helped out by graciously taking on some of our overflow and some people had to pack up a box and mail it home. We had a closing ceremony Friday evening followed by a social complete with dancing. We said some good-byes with promises of seeing each other next year at the conference. We "retired" early to try and get our stuff packed.

 The next morning we had our last delicious breakfast in the cafeteria. We saw as many people as we could and said more good-byes. It was with a lot of sadness that I boarded the bus. As we drove away, I felt such a contentment at having spent one of the most wonderful weeks of my life at this sacred place with these wonderful people. My body sank into my seat in relief, as it didn't think it could have gone another day at that pace.  Needless to say, I slept for two days after I got home!

CALLIGRAPHY CONNECTION 2002 CONFERENCE

The annual international calligraphy conference was in Minnesota this summer, June 22-29, on the St. John’s College campus. Several of our members went this year, including Maggie Gillikin, Shirley Ginn, Fritzi Harry, Bonnie Houser, BJ Nichol, Dolores Schultz, Francene Smith, Angie Vangalis, and Gayle Venticinque. Frank and April Rippel also were there and made a web site:

http://www.axs4u.net/home/inksmith/2002conf

Mini workshop

Angie Murray’s Art Dolls ~ September 19

 On September 19, from 7-9 PM at the usual Church meeting place, Angie Murray will teach us to make art dolls.  Angie is one of our members who travels from Austin to join us.  She is a very talented artist, and we’re looking forward to learning some of her secrets. 

Supply list: A TIN of some sort: Altoid, tea bag tin, starbuck gum tin, etc. Prepare tin and head piece before you come.  I gessoed mine and painted it with ceramcoat paint.  Head Piece: I used a round tin from the craft store.  The Container Store carries all sizes of these tins. E6000 Glue (comes in tube),22 or 24 gauge wire, waxed linen thread (bead store) or heavy carpet thread, awl (punch), small long nosed pliers, a collection of beads (large and small), thin fibers, threads for hair, and scissors.

Saturday Special

Bill Waddington ~ Gothic in a Circle ~ September 19 

We’ve all admired Bill’s pieces that display gothic lettering arranged in a circle.  This is our chance to learn how to do that without going all the way back to geometry class.  Bill will teach from 9-4, Saturday, September 21, at the Church. 

 Supply List: Compass - simple compass as used by school students in art or geometry classes

   Pencils - 2 or 3 sharp no. 2 pencils and hand-held sharpener

   Helix/Protractor - device to measure off the degrees in a circle

   Ruler - 12 or 16 inch

   ZIG markers, 5 mm chisel nib, best to have at least 2 new and sharp nibs for crisp letters

   Plain bond paper, several sheets, i.e., 5-6

   Patience, as much as possible

NOTE:  You may want to practice computing the circumference of a circle using the formula C=pr².  (We will NOT be doing CROP CIRCLES, so you will not need boards and ropes!)

September Birthdays

01 Betty Lou Jordan               11 Shawn Behrens

01 Nancy McHugh                  13 Karen Veni

02 Joanne Pacelli                   21 Rosemarie Siebenhausen

03 Keith Cheshire                   22 Carol Patterson

05 Sylvia Stanley                   25 Amy Gillikin

07 Pam Braha                       26 Loni Carlson

09 Willana Bristow                  27 Kaye Yarbrough

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Thank you from all of us to Juliet Bickley and Angie Chaus-Peters for providing refreshments at our August Exchange and agreeing to serve as Hospitality Chairs for the new year.  We appreciate having new members who are brave and energetic enough to volunteer for such an important job.

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Our very best wishes to those who were ailing over the summer:  Riad Anabtawi, Virginia Harrison, Rosemarie Siebenhausen, Pauline Sager, and Thea’s husband Gordon Moore.  At this writing, Priscilla Earl is in the hospital.  We hope to see her back soon.

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 The very long awaited SACG Library Inventory is complete, and as promised, a copy of the listing of all Library holdings will be provided to each member with your new Directory.  The inventory list will be updated annually, so we can all keep up with new acquisitions.

  In order to make it easy to locate the books listed, the books have been alphabetized by author.  There will be an empty box in which to place returned books.  Please be certain to check out your books by signing the current page with the date, your full name, and the name of the book and its author.  Also, please be sure that you initial that entry and date it when you return the book.  If you have any books that have been out for “a while” and are not listed on the inventory, please return them and let the librarian know that you have done so, so that we can add those books to our inventory list. 

 The Library Committee encourages all members to take a fresh look at our Library holdings.  Now that everything is in such good order, our Library is even more impressive than it seemed in the past.  We have some lovely books, many of which are out of print and available only in a library.  Some of our books have become worn and are quite fragile.  We know you will care for all of our books as if they were your own, but please pay special attention to the ones we cannot replace.  If you happen to find an extra copy of something on your own shelves (we don’t know how anyone could possibly accidentally buy two of something!), the Library would love to accept a donation.  Try to remember to preserve alphabetical order as you browse and replace books in the boxes.  This makes it so much easier to find the books, and, after all, it shouldn’t be too hard for us, since the alphabet is our business!

  Finally, please try to make time for yourself to look at our newest additions.  In memory of Millie Hosford, the Awards and Memorials Committee purchased a copy of the signed, limited edition of a Rilke essay, calligraphed in German, in a beautiful monoline uncial by Friedrich Neugebauer.  It is printed on Fabriano Roma paper and signed by Neugebauer himself.  Just holding this classy little volume is a treat!  Maggie Gillikin and Bonnie Houser purchased Denise Adler’s copy of Jackie Svaren’s Written Letters, a beautiful instructional book and a very special bit of Denise for us to share, and generously donated it to our Library.  Shirley Ginn found an extra copy of The Illuminated Page, by Janet Backhouse, another excellent book, on her bookshelf, and she also generously donated it to us.  And the Library purchased the gorgeous The Illuminated Page, by Timothy Noad, during the past year. 

 The Library Committee thanks all who have assisted with the accumulation of our books, and with the inventory.  We look forward to continuing to build our collection.

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 A Friendly reminder from your resident physician: OK, I’m a retired pediatrician, but I would still like to remind the members of the following facts.  We are 100+ members strong.  About 90% of us are middle aged women.  And about 90% of us women recently had our hormones taken away!  Needless to say, we are now fussy, tired, quite teary eyed over things like poorly formed letters, let alone the big stuff, and we can hardly even remember the alphabet.  Our days of better living through chemistry are a lovely dream of the past.  So, if we find ourselves being short with each other, feeling hurt by each other, or even wanting to hurt each other, let’s try to remember that we’re all in the same boat and we need to be as kind and understanding as possible.  (As for you male members, tread softly!)  The once wild but now middle aged rock singer Warren Zevon says it best:

 Don’t let us get sick,

Don’t let us get old,

Don’t let us get stupid, alright?

Just make us be brave,

And make us play nice,

And let us be together tonight.

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