[SCA-AE] Re: professional calligraphers...

[Ann Kopchik]

On Friday, March 02, 2007, at 04:11PM, <Etain1263 at aol.com> wrote:
>I have a friend who was sent to "calligrapher school" by his church  so that 
>he could hand letter things like marraige certificates, baptism  certificates, 
>and the like.   They pay him by the letter and he knows  only the one hand.  
>But it's sufficient for their needs.  Perhaps the  "professionals" you have 
>encountered are in a similar situation.

I was going to say something similar. There really are two levels of professional calligraphers: those who really are, and those who took a class or two and thought that they could make some money doing wedding envelopes.

I know a woman who has a BFA  from CMU and studied calligraphy under Arnold Banks. She spent a lot of time and energy up-keeping her hands, learning new ones, going on tours to see extant works... and she got disgusted with the whole thing after a while, since all people ever wanted from her was cheep wedding envelope addressing or for her to fill out names on mass-produced certificates. Because that's what most people want.

And, honestly, most people can't tell the difference between work by a (mundane) master calligrapher and someone who learned off the back of a speedwell pack. They don't have a trained eye for art, so it all looks vaguely old-fashioned and pretty. 

And that's why you'll find a lot of "professionals" who don't measure up. And the real professionals get irked about them too.

-Ann
Anna Malakina