A Weekend of Calligraphy

Our spring season in the Studio for the Imagination begins tomorrow with Bill Kemp's Calligraphic Flourishing and Introduction to Spencerian classes. Bill arrived from Albuquerque this morning to prepare everything for the weekend, and we couldn't help but notice the gorgeous turned wood oblique pen holders he'd laid out on the table. Our students this weekend will get first crack at these beauties, which he picked up from a maker in Colorado, and we plan to carry them in the store soon.

March On!

March is here, and so is our new trade card calendar featuring our young French chef (we call him Gaston) and his culinary capers.

With March comes the first of our spring classes, beginning with three days of calligraphy with Bill Kemp. Bill's classes mark an auspicious start to this season in the Studio for the Imagination, as he will return in April to help Michael Sull teach the week-long Advanced Spencerian Saga.

There are only a few weeks left to see our current gallery show, "Prints, Charming," so do come by if you haven't been yet. We'll be taking the show down March 18 in preparation for our next exhibit -- stay tuned for details!

And finally, we're all breathing a sigh of relief because Easter is not until the first weekend in April this year. That means we have all of March for crafting and painting eggs.

Advanced Spencerian Saga

When I took my first look at the classes our teachers had assembled for this spring, I knew it would be the most fantastic season Castle in the Air's classroom had ever seen. We've got gypsies, marionettes, hedgehogs, Pysanky eggs, enchanted teapots, an octopus, and more.

At the heart of all our springtime classes, though, one course in particular stands out and is already getting quite a bit of attention. We're proud to announce that this April 18-23, master penman Michael Sull will bring his world-renowned Advanced Spencerian Saga to Castle in the Air. Six days in length, and accommodating 24 students, the Saga is the most ambitious class we've ever hosted. Sull will be joined by longtime Castle in the Air calligraphy teacher Bill Kemp, and will go beyond the basics in Spencerian script, flourishing, and accents. Color, composition, and alphabetic combinations will also be explored.

Visit our Advanced Spencerian Saga page for more information, and to sign up just click over to the Online Shoppe.

A Testimonial

This weekend Castle in the Air is welcoming back master calligrapher Bill Kemp, who flies in from Albuquerque a few times a year to teach classes in the studio. Bill will be teaching copperplate script this time, and when he returns the weekend of July into August he'll teach Spencerian script and flourishes.

Spencerian script was developed by the American calligrapher Platt Rogers Spencer in 1840 as a writing hand appropriate for business and social correspondence. It was the standard into the 20th century, when it was edged out by the Palmer Method (which most of us remember from school days) and the rise of the typewriter.

As we were preparing the summer class mailer (which is on press as I write this), we came across a fun old "testimonial" from a Spencerian student back in the script's heyday. You can click on the picture to get a closer look. Mr. Morgan's had quite good success with just five weeks of practice!