“A Sharp Pencil and a Keen Eye” by Amity Parks

On Saturday, August 17, Maggie Gillikin and Leslie Winakur presented a class on making paste paper, inspired by Rosie Kelly’s books.  Guild members not only created elegant, vibrantly colored paste papers, but had a great time doing it.

 

Life Lines Workshop with Pamela Paulsrud

Pamela Paulsrud arrived in San Antonio in time for our General Meeting on May 2.  She presented a program centered on her two trips to the Middle East to share her Tree Whispers Installation in an amazing calligraphy event there.  We were treated to images of an incredible variety of calligraphic art in many languages, as well as excerpts from several interviews with calligraphic artists from all over the world.  We all came away ready to make art!

And then on Saturday and Sunday, those who were in the Life Lines workshop had an equally inspiring experience. We began with a full sheet of Arches text wove paper, roughly drew lines to divide it tic-tac-toe style into 9 spaces, and then filled the spaces with various exercises.  Some were freehand writing exercises done with both dominant and non dominant hand, some were geometric images, made with a compass and then also a straight edge.  Eventually, we tore the papers down in accordance with the golden rectangle proportions, and then continued to work on them, adding more circles, lines, and color, with a variety of tools and media.  The end results will give us lots to work on for many creative days ahead.

Pamela was a wonderful teacher. She teaches a process, not a specific lettering type or project.  Using the inspiration of the geometry of the universe, we were encouraged to see the world through new eyes, and to create art using what we had learned to see.  We will continue to learn from this class for years to come.

March’s Saturday Special was an accordion style tunnel book using Alcohol Inks!

Natalie taught us different techniques to create art with Alcohol inks on Yupo and Dural-Lar. Each student got a chance to practice before creating their book. Each book was made up of 4 framed ink pieces done on Dura-Lar assembled as an accordion. The books can be enjoyed opened or closed. The entire class seemed to really enjoy creating their new books and learning the new art medium.

Taking a broadside from start to finish with Leslie Winakur and Maggie Gillikin.

A broadside is a piece that is meant to be hung on a wall. Students learned that a good composition looks good, no matter if it is right side up, upside-down, or sideways!They learned tips about matting & framing as well. Students worked with a variety of materials: watercolor, gouache, acrylic ink, sumi & walnut inks.

Note from photographer: not all of these may be right-side-up.
But we learned a good composition looks good from any side.