Summer School in Winter (SSiW) 2007 - Every year in July the Calligraphy Society of Victoria (CSV) hosts a calligraphy conference in Melbourne; the largest of its kind in Australia, inviting tutors from across Australia and overseas.
Over the years, SSiW have been honoured with talented calligraphers and artists such as Olive Bull (Queensland-born) from Tasmania, Denis Brown from Ireland, Deirdre Hassed (New-Zealand born) from Melbourne, Gemma Black from Canberra Australia, Martin Jackson from England, Cathy Daulman (South African-born) from Melbourne,Yves Leterme from Belgian, to name but a few.
The conference takes place over 5 days during July at the St Mary’s Collage at the Melbourne University. Those travelling from interstate and overseas ‘live-in’ at the Melbourne Uni dormitories. And since I now reside in Sydney and am no longer a Melburnian, this was my first ever ‘live-in’experience at any institute in my life.
My first hurdle for this trip turned out to be my baggage. Countless times did I pack and repack both my clothes and ‘art supplies’ bag. Each time, I just couldn’t get it down to the 20kg limit. 11.30pm the night before I’m due to fly, I’m still repacking my bags for the umpteenth time. Somewhere around 2pm I finally stumbled into bed, exhausted yet excited at the same time, and hoping that my fairy god mother would bless me with a pleasant lady behind the check-in counter as I was still overweight.
The poor lady, I could tell, would have liked to just let me slip past, but 14.5 kg’s over is a bit much to overlook. So out comes the credit card. Not funny and my trip has barely even started.
At the check-in, counter, my ‘art supplies’ bag 2kg’s over the limit. I smiled at the lady, she smiled back at me, and she happily tagged my bag and let it through. She’d yet to see that I had another bag to check in. By this time I’m starting to panic (silently of course). A smile still on my face I pop my 2nd bag on the conveyor belt, and I watch in horror as the scale rises, eventually stopping at 15.4kg. OMG…so I do the only thing I can do, I smile and tell her I’m off to a conference…. as if that’s explanation enough.
I call and break the news to Mike. I can tell he’s a little peeved off at my having to pay a ridiculous and unnecessary amount in excess baggage fees, but what can one do. I tell myself I’ve been looking forward to this trip for a whole year, and he goes on several interstate ‘fishing’ weeks away, so I will not feel guilty. I make my way over to Gloria Jeans for a desperate cup of coffee and the chance to relax, read my book and wait to board. Although sadly at the back of my mind, my nasty little devil keeps reminding me that when I come back I’m going to encounter the exact same problem. Yes this was a bit desponding as it meant I could not really make any significant purchases as this would only add to my luggage limit.
Whilst at SSiW a fellow calligrapher, Nicoll Heaslip came up the most brilliant idea of purchasing Express Post envelopes and mailing some supplies back to me. This would of course work out far cheaper than paying the airport baggage fees. Yes, feeling suddenly euphoric, I did just that. On Saturday (my only time off), I made my way into the CBD, purchased x2 3kg Express Post envelopes, hurried back to St Mary’s Collage and stuffed the bags to capacity. Now my dilemma… where to find a scale. After a fruitless search around the dormitories, I made my way into the kitchen and asked the chef if I might use his kitchen scale. Thank goodness Universities make use of heavy duty scales. Satisfied that I was within the 3kg limit, at 7.30pm, went back into the city to pop my ‘presents’ into the mail bin. Yes, that saved 6kg’s of check-in baggage. You gotta love Australia Post.
One of my two chosen workshops for the week were ‘In Praise of Play’ with the most amazing and delightful tutor Olive Bull from Tasmania. A lady with a heart of gold and the most compassionate soul I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet.
The workshop was titled ‘In Praise of Play’ and reflected just that. The opportunity to spend 3 solid days ‘playing’ with a variety of calligraphic and household tools to create different effects on various kinds of paper using a variety of different mediums. Note, this type of workshop was not intended to produce finished pieces of calligraphy, but rather to develop a ‘reference book’ of the different effects of mediums and tools. Some of my ‘cropped’ samples below reflect the effects of the tools that we used:
PARRALEL PEN
Our first tool called the ‘Parallel Pen’ (pictured left) is the most versatile of ‘mobile’ calligraphy pens to be found.
It comes in 4 widths; no worries about dripping ink or ensuring you have an ink bottle handy each time you wish to write. This little gadget comes equipped with an ink cartridge already inserted with a variety of colours to choose from and it allows you to mix colours, by adding ink/gouache from a paint brush onto the end/s of the Parallel Pen. The end result when writing can produce a pattern of 2 or 3 colours, as shown in the ‘Winter’ picture above.
The pen has two sides that you can write with; a broad size (when held flat) or a very fine tip, by turning it on its corner The two different sizes are shown below. 
ROUGH VS SMOOTH PAPER
Our next experiment involved the Parallel Pen again, but testing it out on different kinds of paper. The ‘alphabet’ image (above) was written on cold pressed watercolour paper. This is a rough paper and produces a beautiful textured effect when written on. Whereas 'thing' (above) was written on smooth paper - the effect... smooth.
RULING PEN
Another fantastic tool, originally intended for draughtsmen. Calligraphers are now using this little wonder to create Experimental Calligraphy and the effects, once mastered are amazing.
Pictured left is the ruling pen and the different writing it can produce. It requires a relatively free hand and quick strokes. It can use a lot of ink, but the results are certainly worthwhile. By changing the angle with which you hold the pen can produce thick and think strokes. By adjusting the wheel, you can also alter the size of the broad strokes.
COKE/BEER CAN PEN
This home made pen has become rather popular. A little unusual, but once made and you’ve had a little time to play with it, produces interesting effects. It does tent to use up a rather large amount of ink and creates a few splatters, but then again, that just adds to the effect, as shown left.
It is made by cutting a piece of aluminium from either a coke can or beer can and wrapped around a chopstick, then taped together and used in a sort of ‘scraping’ motion across the page. Messy, but wonderful to experiment with. Again different effects on different kinds of paper.
ICE CREAM STICK
The last tool used was an ice cream stick or in Ausralia, commonly known as a popsicle stick. Either way this little inexpensive piece of wood is filed to a chiselled edge and the broad side of the stick dipped in ink/gouache and used to create broad lettering as shown left. Again the effects came out differently on textured versus smooth paper.
Overall my trip to Melbournefor SSiW 2007 was a wonderful experience… again. And I’m sure I’ll be back again next year. It certainly was great to catch up with fellow calligraphers, not to mention how wonderful it was to be back in Melbourne. I spent Saturday (my time off) roaming the CBD taking photos of the city, the trams, the architecture. Yes I felt just like a tourist, but I figured, hey I’ll never have the pleasure of living in this city again, so I’ll at least take enough photos to provide memories for years to come.
Thanks to the Calligraphy Society of Victoria for organising yet again a vastly successful and thoroughly enjoyable conference.
Ruth
It sounds like a wonderful weekend and the work you produced is inspiring. Might just have to get my pens out again and play.
Hopefully you will come to love Sydney as much as Melbourne with time.
Martina
Posted by: Martina | 14 July 2007 at 15:15
Ruth
I had a lovely time at SSiW too - though having been away from calligraphy for so long, I felt like a complete novice again. Thankfully Olive's class was perfect for all levels. Your work is beautiful and an inspiration. It was such a motivating experience.
I have looked at your blog and in particular your craft entries (kayaking looks like fun too!!) and I am totally envious of your space. Some day I will have that same luxury.
Looking forward to keeping in touch with you and your work through the blogs.
Cheers, Jacinta
Posted by: Jacinta | 17 July 2007 at 08:20