ROMAN HOLIDAY 2024 - Carl Rohrs - The Circle Keeps Expanding: Influences & Inspirateurs in Iowa

The Circle Keeps Expanding: Influences & Inspirateurs in Iowa by Carl Rohrs – Level: (I/A) Intermediate/Advanced

Influences come from all corners of the writing universe and work that crosses disciplines, styles, and mediums. Everything we see is a source of inspiration to be mixed with the movement of our own hands to create new ways of working. This class will be about the ever-expanding discoveries of unusual, individual, and sublime artists all making incredible communication markings and letting their lines influence ours.

From ancient Rome to Victorian-era Japan to 1920s Germany to midcentury New York, (among many other surprises) and the many eccentric artists working in those times and places, we will have their help in building each of our new signatures of style. Inspiration in your fat workbooks, taken from the wonderland of traditional and eccentric lettering from throughout the history of the Latin alphabet (and more!), will introduce you to new avenues for your own exploration. From Catich to Cusick, Griffo to Griffin, Koch to Korger to Killian, Hoyer to Hokusai, Menhart to Mouse, Masami Teraoka to Madeleine Dinkel, Spurius Ruga to Rudo Spemann. your connections to the surprising innovators of the ancient and recent past will be strengthened, and bridges to that past and your own wild future will be built by the hands-on experience in modern calligraphy techniques with flat pens and flat and pointed brushes. The class workbook will be the biggest yet. Don't know some of these names? I know you will be delighted to be introduced.

Put simply, this class wants to expose you to lots of different scribes’ work—or give you a deeper look at those you already know—and teach concrete pen & brush handling techniques with which to both emulate and interpret their work, plus strategies for creating your own new styles by mining in the work of any combination of the artists involved. The workbooks are enormous and beautiful, giving each student a myriad of choices from which to work & combine so all participants' results will be different and surprising. Given the depth of the material included it will be a source of inspiration for years to come, and the exercises given during class will supply procedure for self-exploration long after the class is over.

Class Supplies

• A large-ish pen: Horizon (folded brass flat pen) 5/16" or 3/8" or similar (Coits or Hiros), OR Automatic, size 3A, 4, or 4A, OR Pilot Parallel pen, 6 mm size (blue cap)
• Favorite pens you already have
• Flat brush, 1/2" Winsor & Newton 995, plus any other brushes you
• Non-waterproof ink
• 1 or 2 tubes of gouache (Winsor & Newton indigo or Prussian blue have the greatest power)
• Pentel Color Brush, plus any other brushes you want to try or already have (Winsor & Newton Series 7 or similar, Asian, Lebenzon, etc.)
• Large paper with a bit of texture; I like Strathmore Charcoal pad 300 series, yellow cover (Canson Charcoal is NOT good for pen work; it bleeds. Strathmore doesn't. Diploma Parchment is great.)
• Pencil and/or a colored pencil or two (Prismacolors are the best)
• Ruler
• Optional: Graphic white-out (Pro–White) and/or light or bright colors of gouache and colored paper, IF you wish to write in reverse
• Optional: Ruling pen
• Optional: Any additional materials & grander paper you like to work with, perhaps with an eye towards a more spectacular finished piece or two.

Supply Fee: $40–$45 for 250+ pp. spiral-bound workbook (price will be finalized before class)