Dedicated to the memory of Donald M. Anderson, renowned calligrapher, artist, author and educator.

Author of CALLIGRAPHY The Art of The Written Forms. Donald Anderson was Meryl Meisler's major professor, collaborator and friend.

Donald Anderson

Dear students,

Although I never studied calligraphy formally, I did study drawing and illustration at the University of Wisconsin at Madison with a great authority on illustration, Donald M. Anderson. Donald was my "major professor" in graduate art school and taught me many things: write the way you speak, draw what you see, use the right tools for the job, good art tools can last a lifetime if you take care of them, and of most importance- teachers and students can be great friends.

Honestly, I learned calligraphy on my own, following step-by-step books. "Believe you me", you don't need a good handwriting to do calligraphy. You will need some basic tools, they can be traditional (a flattened edge of a marker or pencil, pen and ink or brush and ink) or done with digital tools (Macromedia Flash and a Wacom drawing tablet tablet was used to the animated title on top of this page)

The most important thing you will need is space, physically and mentally. You will need to clear a small space on your desk or table, and a quiet space in your mind to calmly practice your hand at calligraphy. Together, we can make that time and space in class, just follow these step-by-step instructions. As you will see by the work of the 6th graders at The Institute for Collaboration in NYC, after a few short sessions you too can be creating beautiful calligraphy to express yourself.

Relax and have fun!

Sincerely,

Meryl

1. Check out some examples of calligraphy on the WWW.

Images  http://images.google.com/images?q=calligraphy&hl=en&lr=&client=safari&rls=en&sa=X&oi=images&ct=title

Hebrew Calligraphy http://borshevsky.com/index.htm and http://impwriter.com/

Japanese Calligraphy http://takase.com/JapaneseCalligraphy/Traditional.htm

Persian Calligraphy http://caroun.com/Calligraphy/Calligraphy.htm

Arabic Calligraphy http://islamicart.com/main/calligraphy/index.html

Medieval Calligraphy http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~humae105/fall97/twest/index.htm

2. Look at examples of graffiti at http://graffiti.org/

Do you think graffiti is another form of calligraphy?

Write a paragraph stating why or why not you think graffiti is another form of calligraphy,

6. Print out the following files:
Speedball Calligraphy Glossary Sheet and Letter Chart.  http://speedballart.com/lessonsdlcp.asp
Printable worksheets for doing Uncial style font. http://studioarts.net/calligraphy/lesson.htm

7. Bind two pencils together to try the "Double Pencil Calligraphy" technique. http://suite101.com/article.cfm/5864/54724

8. Use the flat edge of a marker to make calligraphic strokes. Your local art supply store might sell calligraphy markers.

9. Now you are ready to try using a pen point (nib), pen holder and ink on paper.
Here are a few tips: http://ehow.com/how_7727_learn-calligraphy.html . You can practice using lined notebook paper.

10. Get ready to write with calligraphy style.
Think of an inspirational saying, some words of advice or wisdom. Choose a phrase that you think would motivate you and/or your classmates to strive and reach their goals. Here are some examples: http://goal-setting-guide.com/quote-success.html You can choose a saying you have heard from a family member, friend, clergy person, favorite actor, author, politician. You can make up your own saying.