Welcome to Write On Calligraphers 

Write On Calligraphers (WOC) is a nonprofit organization of Pacific Northwest artists who share a love of letters and many things paper. WOC meetings offer special presentations of calligraphy and paper arts. The general meetings are open to the public at no charge.

FACEBOOK:

WOC is active on Facebook and would love your likes, comments and shares as we continue to grow our fans.  Please follow our Facebook page and share your letter love with all your friends: https://www.facebook.com/WriteOnCalligraphers/

BOARD MEMBERS:

Board Member Needed: The success of WOC depends on the generosity of those members who volunteer their time to make it all happen.  Thank you to our newest board members for deciding to help our guild flourish! We still have a need for:

Vice President – The Vice President plans the General Meetings, obtains speakers/presenters, sends out notices of the programs and arranges for the meeting space. The Vice President also assists the President, and may be called on the act in the place of the President as needed.

LOJ Chair – Our next Letters of Joy will be held the first weekend in May, 2019. Our past LOJ Chair, Katy Huston, will be happy to pass on her wealth of knowledge to help one thrive in this needed position. The Letters of Joy Chair is responsible for coordinating all aspects of the WOC annual conference, usually held the first weekend of May. The LOJ Chair manages volunteer activity, monitors finances, assists with publicity and communicates with the keynote speaker.

GENERAL MEETINGS:

General Meeting: Join us for our next General Meeting, the second Tuesday in September. We gather at Artworks.  Please bring your projects from Seattletters to share! Have an Artful summer!

Location: Our meetings take place at ArtWorks in Edmonds, WA, on the second Tuesday of January, March, May, September and November at 7 PM.

Prior Meetings:

May 2018:  These Are a Few of My Favorite Things
March 2018: Sally Penley – Japanese Art of Etegami
January 2018: Sharing Correspondence: Writing & Receiving Letters
November 2017:  Kellie Moeller, Jocelyn Curry, Katherine Malmsten, Marita Sheeran – Marching to a Different Drummer
September 2017: Kathy Barker – Pointed Pen Flourishing Fun (Hoang Dao)
May 2017: Annual potluck and election of board members
March 2017: Highlights from  ~Letters California Style~
Kathy Barker – The Art of Certificates & Scrolls: Robbie Saslow
Sue Gruhn – Blackletter to Contemporary Fraktur: Yukimi Annand     
Carol Sauter – Spencerian: Bill Kemp
Elizabeth Walsh – Cool & In-Vogue Pointed Pen Script: Jane Shibata
January 2017: Jim Ballard – Laying Down the Ink—The Power of the Brush
November 2016: Christy Schroeder – The Development of a Calligrapher
September 2016: Brad Neary – The Saint John’s Bible
May 2016:  Annual potluck, LOJ recap, and election of board members
March 2016:  Meredith Arnold – Photographing Your Work
January 12, 2016: Nan Robkin – Ribbon Writing
November 10, 2015: Timothy Botts – demonstration of his artwork

LETTERS OF JOY:

Every spring, WOC sponsors Letters of Joy; a popular one-and-a-half-day mini conference that regularly attracts more than 250 participants and vendors. The conference and accompanying exhibit are dedicated to the memory of Kathleen Joy O’Brien, whose passion for letters helped to establish the dedicated calligraphic community that now flourishes in Edmonds and its surrounding areas. 

Letters of Joy was not be held in the year 2018 freeing up Board Members to concentrate on Seattletters! Letters of Joy will return – with joy – during the first weekend of May in the year 2019. Please join us for this anticipated event once again! LOJ is held at Shoreline Community College in Shoreline, Washington.

Gemma Black will be our keynote speaker.

WORKSHOPS:

Throughout the year, Write On Calligraphers sponsors workshops conducted by renowned calligraphers and paper artists and lists resources for local calligraphy classes.

Upcoming Workshops:
October 20-21, 2018: Peter Thornton – Adolph Bernd Letters
October 22-23, 2018: Peter Thornton – Gilding 1 – (limited participants)
October 25-26, 2018: Peter Thornton – Gilding 2 – Repeat of Session 1
February 9-10, 2019: Amity Parks
October 19-20, 2019: Cora Pearl

Past Workshops:
May 6-7, 2018: Sally Penley – Let’s Make Books
February 10-11, 2018: Christy Schroeder
October 14-15, 2017: Rebecca Wild – Layering Arts and Letters
May 7th & 8th: Louis Lemoine – Magic of the Ruling Pen, Folded Pen & Cola Pen
February 2017: Marina Soria – Calligraphy In Blossom
October 2016:  Janet Takahashi – Artful Sketchbook Journaling
May 2016: Barry Morentz – Gothicized Italic – Artworks in Edmonds
January 2016: Gerogia Angelopoulos – Ancient Palettes, New Ways, Colour & Gold
October 2015: Cari Ferraro – Batard

At the August 9^th board meeting of Write on Calligraphers in 2016, it was unanimously voted to sponsor the International Calligraphy Conference in the summer of 2018. This event was held on July 14-21, 2018 at Western Washington University in Bellingham, north of Seattle. Participants enjoyed renewed calligraphic friendships, meeting other calligraphic artists, shopping at John Neal and the 2-day vendors, presentations by Donald Jackson and Mike Gold, demonstrations by faculty, exploring Bellingham, the Dancing Letters auction and a variety of classes each day with talented instructors. Well done …. and looking forward to next year’s international calligraphy conference in Canada!

OTHER NOTES OF INTEREST:

Many WOC members may remember Richard Sindel who attended our meetings, workshops and LOJ. He passed away on June 16, 2018. Richard had a vast amount of calligraphic supplies and was exuberant in sharing and giving them to fellow calligraphers. Obiturary.

Susan Russell passed away on Mother’s Day of 2017. She was an acclaimed artist, longtime high school art teacher, wife, mother, and mentor. She often wore hats or other hair apparel all positioned on her distinctive red hair. Susan Jane Russell, 71, died May 14 at the Portland, Oregon, home she shared with Falken Forshaw, her husband of 49 years. Since the 1980s, she had battled cancer several times.

Our dear friend and calligrapher, Pamela Pincha-Wagener, passed away on January 10, 2017. She graciously shared her many talents and gifts with us for many years. She will be missed tremendously.

Please visit her member gallery page from our sister guild, The Society of Calligraphy and Handwriting, to view her artwork and read more about her.

RESOURCES:

WOC members enjoy many benefits as well as access to an extensive library. We hope you will join us in our exploration of calligraphy and the paper arts.

Would you like to read a book on calligraphy or a related subject? A benefit of membership to WOC is access to our extensive library collection. View our Library page for more information

Are you interested in art exhibits showcasing calligraphy? View our Exhibits page for information on exhibits with calligraphy or related art forms.

Are you interested in reading tips for learning calligraphy? View our Tips & Tricks page for tips and tricks submitted by WOC members.

Looking for a unique tool for calligraphy? View our WOC Products page for items sold exclusively by WOC