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Mike Gold
North Royalton, OH

B18 — Over and Over
Four-Day Class, Monday, July 27 – Friday, July 31
Intermediate
Design, Lettering, Painting

Perdido
Stop-the-words
Line-of-Questioning_copy
The prolific author Ray Bradbury said that the best way to generate great work is to generate lots of work. To that end, this four-day class is designed as a calligraphy marathon, where you will compose the same text over and over, but in many different ways.

You will be helped along by a series of exercises that will involve different media, tools and techniques. There will be opportunities to treat the text literally and more abstractly. Some of the exercises will involve color, others black and white.

As in a marathon, I will provide you with 26 exercises designed to lead you to 26 different versions of your text. No guarantee we get through all 26, but you will come away from the class with lots of info on how to compose many variations of a text and with a pile of work.

Some of the guided exercises will involve different art and lettering approaches, some will be purely compositional variations, and some will involve interpreting the text in different ways. We will experiment with work on canvas, paper and wood. And we will be inspired by the work of some amazing artists and calligraphers.

So, if you are ready to experiment with new ways to create your work in a friendly, supportive environment, put your running shoes on and bring a pen.

Supply List

  • Your basic calligraphy supplies plus:
  • 2 – 4 full sheets Arches text wove and/or Bugra (white & color)
  • 10” x 14” Mi-Tientes Pastel/charcoal paper (soft colors)
  • 2 sheets black or dark color paper (9″ x 12″ to 11″ x 14″)
  • Strathmore drawing paper pad, 11” x 14” (or equivalent)
  • 1 – 2 sheets rough & cold press watercolor paper
  • Papers and paper pieces for collage
  • Palette paper pad
  • Other various favorite papers
    Note: We will be using lots of paper. So bring as much as you can carry. I will also have extra.
  • Speedball C1 through C5 nib pens
  • An assortment of your favorite broad-edge pens
  • Automatic pens, 3/8″ to 1″ widths
  • Favorite pointed and flat brushes (I will have extras)
  • Foam brushes for use with glue (2 – 3)
  • Ruling pen(s)
  • Pointed pens (flexible and stiff)
  • Other favorite writing tools, such as cola pen
  • Higgins Eternal ink
  • Sumi ink
  • Higgins waterproof black ink or Black Magic waterproof ink
  • Winsor & Newton white calligraphy ink (or Dr. Martin’s bleedproof white)
  • Walnut ink
  • Assortment of gouache colors, plus black & white
  • Various color inks including Antelope (recommend either Dr. Martin’s Bombay waterproof India or Tech drawing inks, not the acrylic ones)
  • Acrylic (white, black & a few colors)
  • Elmer’s Art Paste
  • Mod Podge Matte or Perfect Paper Adhesive Matte
  • Old piece of fabric to cover desk when gluing
  • Mixing brushes
  • Apron

Optional:

  • 2 – 4” house paint brush (I will have extras)
  • Dry pastels and/or Prismacolor pencils (I will have some)
  • Print making rollers (I will have extras)
  • White gesso

Supply fee: TBD; will cover the cost of boards and canvas

mike_goldMike Gold is a senior lettering designer at American Greetings in Cleveland, OH, where he has worked for over twenty years. As part of his freelance business, abbeygold design (www.abbeygolddesign.com), he has done lettering design work for clients around the country. Mike has an M.A. in Visual Communications and over 30 years experience as a commercial artist.

He has taught around the country and at several international calligraphy conferences. Collaboration has been a feature of much of his personal work and he especially cherishes the 20-year involvement with Scribes 8, a collaborative group based in New Mexico, and the work and teaching he’s done with Judy Melvin. Mike’s work has been included in numerous Letter Arts Review annuals since 1991. The Autumn 2011 issue of LAR (25:4) includes a lengthy article featuring the work he did with Judy, along with his own work and describes their working process.

Mike’s work is calligraphically inspired and covers a range from abstract to representational, but is certainly not traditional calligraphy. He is influenced by the Asian art traditions and takes a Buddhist approach to his work, where process is as important as product, spontaneity and working in the moment are key, and there is not an attachment to words, even when they are readable. He sees letters as design elements with which to play with form and line and shape on a page. His intent is to make calligraphic art that will be experienced and seen before it is read. This does not mean words are insignificant. As in Buddhist practice, words are often the finger that points the way.

Go to Mike Gold’s One-Day Class

Go to Next Four-Day Class