{"id":96201,"date":"2025-09-10T08:31:51","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T15:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=96201"},"modified":"2025-09-15T11:52:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T18:52:05","slug":"ink-shape-and-shadow-reveal-the-calligraphers-craft-at-uccc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/ink-shape-and-shadow-reveal-the-calligraphers-craft-at-uccc\/","title":{"rendered":"Ink, Shape, and Shadow Reveal The Calligrapher\u2019s Craft at UCCC"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jane Hales curates a visual meditation on Shakespeare\u2019s famous line, with each variation on \u201cTo be or not to be\u201d revealing the range of expressive possibilities in calligraphy.<\/p><\/div>\n

In reference to works of art, \u201ccalligraphy\u201d is often used as an adjective. For example, we say a certain artist\u2019s line quality is \u201ccalligraphic.\u201d But of course fine hand-lettering is a visual art form in itself, one inclusive of language, but also able to function apart from it. That it\u2019s most often used to spice up an otherwise plain text is not the calligrapher\u2019s choice, any more than it\u2019s a photographer\u2019s preference to put your portrait on a driver\u2019s license. It\u2019s a rare opportunity when, as is happening now at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center, we have a chance to see local calligraphers strut their stuff by showing off some of the many unique ways these artists have invented to show off the graphic language in which they excel.<\/h4>\n

There are, of course, countless letter fonts that can be employed to write out a message. One of the huge advances made when computers became commonly available has to do with what\u2019s called \u201ckerning,\u201d which refers to the space between letters. On a typewriter, that space is always the same, no matter whether it\u2019s an I or a W. This looks clumsy at best. A computer uses different distances for the letters it employs. But an expert will explain that it\u2019s not the distance between letters, but the space between them, which is ultimately determined by their shapes. A calligrapher starts there, but goes further. Subtle changes in the shape of a given letter are part of the skill as well.<\/h4>\n

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Then there\u2019s the matter of color. The drama of black versus blue may occupy most lives, and of course there\u2019s always the personal choice that can be made by anyone bringing their own marker to the task. As will quickly become obvious at the UCCC, not only are there an infinite number of hues that can work in a written document, but they can be surrounded and augmented by use of the same or related ones. Sometimes an ornament is drawn using the same style of mark as the letters employ, so that a bird, for example, seems to emerge from the same family of shapes as the written word.<\/h4>\n

Then there is the question of what to write on. Many of the examples here include three-dimensional supports. One of the most exotic techniques is to write and perhaps draw on a piece of card stock, then fold it into an origami form like a crane or other shape. Origami, like calligraphy, has a universe of its own. One example is the folding of paper money into objects that foreground the printed data, such as placing Washington\u2019s face as the gem on a folded finger ring, a great favorite of those who enjoy giving a caf\u00e9 server a special tip. Ah, but that\u2019s a topic for another day.<\/h4>\n