A ROOM FULL OF MAGIC

 

Cup designed by Janet Takahashi

Walking by the classrooms at the Cal Poly Pomona Kellogg West Conference Center reminded me of my own teaching days but with a difference. Here I saw adults working quietly on calligraphy projects. When I taught middle school, my students boisterously moved around the room filling cups too full of paint, carelessly bumping into each other, or huddling around me as close as possible as we went over the methods we needed to practice for a project. Unlike the scribes at this recent conference who worked with focus and purpose, my students were not quietly working, but often bouncing around as only middle school students could.

For the first time since the pandemic, the Society for Calligraphy, based in the Los Angeles area, held its Letters: California Style conference. Each class of scribers was full of eager learners and the results displayed by the students on the third day made me awe-struck.

I arrived early at the center on Friday morning, checked in, picked up materials for the class I was taking, and wandered through the aisle of the pop-up Paper and Ink Arts store with a home base in Tennessee. As I walked by their tables, I once again proved there is always something to buy at an art store. I found some washi tape that had been cut into two-inch lengths and Japanese light-weight masking tape to attach drawings I had made to my new journal.

Page for the letter "P" made in Janet Takahashi's workshop

I came for Janet Takahashi's Letters of Whimsey and the Art of Finding Creativity workshop, a subject that I respond to with enthusiasm. During the class, we filled an unlined journal with letters from A to Z and then added words and ideas that emerged in response to the question, "What creative words begin with...?" Some words came quickly to mind: Brushes for B, Lines for L, but what about Z? Janet offered Zen moments, a good reminder, as she said, to Pause, Breathe, and Let Go. While we all worked hard,  those words were important and gave us a chance to play and have fun. That's really where creativity begins.

Pages drawn for letters "G" and "K"
during Janet Takahashi's class at Letters conference.

In three days, Janet gave us an explosion of art techniques and theories that previously took me many years to learn when I was in school. What she showed us was a good reminder and review of the work that goes into being an artist. We explored perspective and drawing techniques, dimension, shape and form, gradation, layering, and texture. We also got some good ideas to remind us how to be an artist.

Janet started the class with this thought, 

"Mistakes are lessons, not mistakes."

She also said, "Just get it out of your system. Edit it later."

Good advice for all of us.

Janet not only teaches but is in the process of creating an illustrated book based on this art journaling workshop. She plans to produce diagrams and illustrations about a multitude of topics. Look for it in the coming year on her website here:

https://janettakahashi.com

Check out the Society for Calligraphy. The website shows photos of work done at the recent Letters conference:

https://societyforcalligraphy.org

Paper and Ink Arts online store:

https://www.paperinkarts.com

March is full of celebrations: in just the first week, we can celebrate National Minnesota Day on March 1, World Book Day on March 2, National Anthem Day on March 3, and National Grammar Day on March Fourth. Oh, and my sister Linda's birthday is on March 2, which, since she is a voracious reader and grammar nerd, is an appropriate day for her.

Check out the other national days here:    https://nationaldaycalendar.com