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Workshops

Since 1983 I have been teaching workshops for calligraphy guilds and at retreats and conferences throughout the United States and Canada. I have developed a wide variety of topics that I have presented to groups ranging from beginners to professionals.

A workshop is a chance to leave all your mundane concerns behind you—whether for a few hours or a few days—to rediscover yourself through your relationship to your own creative process. I try to recreate the kind of atmosphere in which I have learned the most: a relaxed environment, a reasonable pace, a high standard of quality and a little humor. Students of calligraphy usually excel in many areas of their lives; I find it invigorating to trigger the same kind of response to calligraphy by activating a desire for excellence and then showing ways to achieve it.

In my classes I work with calligraphers, book artists and painters, as well as those working in other medi who are interested in expanding their skills and vision. I have been a visual artist most of my life (even in the engineering days) and letterforms are only one part of my life. Word and image work together in much of my work, but I separate them in order to master the idiosyncracies of each and then show the many ways to bring them together.

Schedule:

Please contact the listed organization to register or for more information.You can also contact me for more detailed information about these workshops. As these are sponsored by various organizations, I will be glad to help you connect with them, so you can register and join the class.

E-mail: alphaannie@att.net

Workshop offerings:

I am currently offering the following workshops. These descriptions are fairly general, and subject matter can be tailored to fit the needs of individual groups. Sometimes parts of one workshop can be combined with another, but this will dilute the content. The length of the workshop usually determines the amount of hands on time the students will have, and I recommend that you schedule 7-9 hours per day.

I am also asked to give lectures to guilds or to other audiences, and have included a few at the end of this list. These change frequently, however, as I research more areas to present.

Although many of the workshops listed here are sponsored by calligraphic organizations, I have also worked with colleges and retreat centers, teaching classes that are geared to visual artists in general. Please inquire about your special interests. The classes listed below are workshops that I have actually taught, and they may be modified to suit the needs of your group.

Alphabet Workshops

• Monoline Magic
• Roman Caps: Function & Beauty
• Trajan Romans for the 21st Century
• Proportion, Structure and Rhythm: Fundamentals of Alphabet Design
• Modernizing Historical Hands, options include Rustic, Uncial, Insular Scripts, Carolingian and Humanist Bookhands, Black Letter Variations, Copperplate, Johnston's Gothicized Italic, Neuland, Versals: Historical and Modern, Art Nouveau and Art Deco hands of the 20th century. (Workshop will cover one of these topics.)
• Intense Italic
• Carolingian, Then and Now
• Alternate tools: Pointed pen, pointed brush, ruling pen and flat brush. In a weekend workshop one of these tools can be introduced, with ground work for further experimentation.

Layout and Design

• Basic Techniques (reviewed in all classes)
• Design: Intuition and Analysis
• The Handwritten Book
• Calligraphy for Reproduction, including computer applicatiions for calligraphy
• Typography for the Calligrapher
• Drawing for the Cowardly Calligrapher
• Logo Design

Color & Painting

• Value Contrast: Exploring the Grey Areas
• Color: Reason & Sense
• Watercolor Techniques for Calligraphers
• Developing the Calligraphic Painting
• A Nature Journal (can be either painted or drawn)
• Relief Printmaking and More
• Painter's Books (with Carol Pallesen)

Book Arts

• Artist's Book: Vessel for Word and Image
• Watercolor and Journaling
• Printmaking: Relief Printing and More

Lectures

• The Calligraphic Journal
• Word Paintings: Visible Phonetics
• The Face of Humanity: An Installation Regarding the Population Explosion of the Human Race
• Looking at Manuscripts: Souvenirs of My European Travels.
• Roman Inscriptions: Inventing a Tradition
• Word & Image: Inspiration from a photograph by Shellburne Thurber, presented at Odyssey, the international calligraphy conference, 2001.

Setting up a workshop

Please contact me for more detailed information about these classes. I will gladly send you further information about my availability and rates.

E-mail: alphaannie@att.net

Contact: Annie Cicale
828-628-3116

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