The Force Behind the Forms: Written Lower-case Romans
with
Ewan Clayton
In recent years research has been undertaken on the first Venetian roman types that point to earlier calligraphic precedents. In this workshop we will become a living laboratory tracing this story with our pens and discovering for ourselves the connections between the first printed type faces and hand written lower-case roman forms. This comparison offers a unique insight into the work of creating written and printed alphabets. But far from dying out with the development of printing the tradition of written romans lived on for at least a further 200 years, we will recreate some of these scripts, pen in hand, for they offer interesting models to twenty-first century calligraphers.
About Ewan Clayton
Ewan is a calligrapher and part-time Professor in Design at The University of Sunderland where he co directs the International Calligraphy Research Centre. He grew up associated with a community of craftsmen at Ditchling in Sussex founded by Eric Gill. Ewan has enjoyed a varied professional career working as both a calligraphy teacher and a consultant to Xerox PARC, and he is currently a core faculty member at the Royal Drawing School in London. In 2013 he was awarded the first Karl-Georg Hoefer prize by The Schreibwerkstatt Klingspor for his work in calligraphy and education. His book on the history of calligraphy and typography The Golden Thread is out in paperback in the USA and has been released in Spanish and Italian translations.