(The actual program begins at 1:00, but you are invited to join us at 12:30 for a social time during which you can visit the library table, the demo corner, the Show and Share table, and have refreshments.)
Our final meeting of the year will feature presentations by recent Jo White Scholarship Award recipients, The Practice Project Show and Share, and voting on open board of director positions.
Jo White Scholarship Recipients
Here are summaries of what the JWSA recipients learned. Attend the meeting to find out so much more and what they created during their year of scholarship study!
Brenna Jordan
Brenna Jordan was in junior high when she was gifted with a calligraphy kit for Christmas. Mostly self-taught from books, she first did calligraphy for herself, friends and family. Three years ago, she joined Colleagues and began to attend IAMPETH conferences. Brenna says, “I have a calligraphy business in my home now, and serve clients with their project needs. My goals for the future are to continue to improve and create, to expand my services to clients, and remain active in the Colleagues guild.” Brenna lives and works in Duluth, MN.
Brenna Jordan
Brenna Jordan
In 2017, Brenna studied letterforms, color, design and more with noted calligrapher/teacher, Tim Botts. This took the form of two one-on-one mentoring sessions at Tim’s studio in Glen Ellyn, IL near Chicago. Homework was assigned, completed and critiqued. Later she attended a weekend workshop with Tim, entitled “Word Pictures”. While there, Brenna and other students learned how to portray the meanings of words through the artistic expression of calligraphy.
Kris MacDonald
Kris MacDonald
Calligraphy caught up with Kris MacDonald in her high school art class. Later, as an elementary school teacher, she coached her second and fourth grade students in handwriting. She went on to study with Colleagues member, Sharlene Jacobson in community education settings. Kris is a long-time member of Colleagues. For 22 years she co-directed the Hall of Scribes at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. Kris has attended 10 international calligraphy conferences, now teaching calligraphy at Minnesota Center for Book Arts in Minneapolis, Minnetonka Center for Arts, and Hopkins community education. Currently she is our Colleagues librarian.
Kris MacDonald
In 2016, Kris signed up for a summer arts retreat class where she hoped to learn a step-by-step process of acrylic painting along with specific techniques. The class description promised the elements and principles of design, color theory, line application and composition. Kris says: “Sometimes classes are a disappointment and this one was a big dud. I was hoping to learn about painting with acrylics and useful acrylic techniques, because so far, I had been self-taught. The class seemed to have a narrow focus of “this is what I do”. It was not helpful. I tried to keep an open mind, only to be disappointed. This was my scholarship class and from it, I needed to develop my scholarship presentation.” That was not the end of the story for Kris. Ever inventive, and tenacious, she looks forward to presenting her “instead”; a self-created course of study brimming with techniques, letter styles and other calligraphy topics she had always wanted to explore. “I realized that there is no magic class that will get you to where you want to go. You have to dig in and do the hard work. Art is hard.”
Rebekah Anderson
Rebekah Anderson
Rebekah chose to study graphic design in college because she had always been drawn to how design combines type, illustration and other elements to communicate messages. Five years ago she was thrilled to discover a wonderful group of calligraphers and artists who make up the Colleagues, and through them, to be exposed to the teaching of professional calligraphers. When she sees what other members are creating, what skills they are honing and what tools they are using, she gets excited to try new things and keep on learning.
In 2016, Rebekah was fortunate to find two opportunities that fit perfectly into her Jo White Scholarship learning objectives. The first was the one-day program Writing Fluids and Fine Art Paper Choices: how to keep from drowning, feathering, and buckling! with Brenda Broadbent that gave her a much-needed structured approach for learning and documenting the specific qualities of a variety of well-known and not-so-well-known art papers and the way that various inks and gouaches interact with them. She was looking for a foundation on which to build solid paper and ink choices for her future projects and the workshop definitely delivered. In August of 2016, she took Amity Parks's Be Fearless 4-day workshop at the Midwest Art and Lettering Retreat. This class proved to be the keystone to her year of scholarship study because it was a launching point to creating one-of-a-kind works that combine photography, art and hand lettering and encouraged experimentation without fear.