Beth Lee &mdash Calligraphy & Book Arts &mdash About

I have been making letters since I can remember, and my fascination with them has grown each year. In 1982, I bought a very bad calligraphy set and began in earnest my study of letters and the spaces that surround them. Now, 42 years and umpteen tools and materials later, I understand how much more there is still to learn.

Whence did the wondrous mystic art arise, of painting speech and speaking to the eyes?
That we by tracing magic lines are taught how to embody and to colour thought.
William Massey

I love words. I love the way they stack tidily or pile loosely together to form the architecture of ideas. Writing stands at the beginning of history and connects mankind across the ages. When I copy an illuminated initial, I better understand the perspective of a 7th century Irish monk. When I write out the poem by Rumi, I connect to the joy he experienced 750 years ago.

The act of writing also connects the unseen world with the physical world. It crystallizes thoughts and allows them to be turned over and examined, tasted and built upon. For me, calligraphy is the physical revelation of the structure of ideas. It is a reflection of the shape, texture and color of the phrases. And it is the integration of words' texture and color with their meanings.

Beth Lee | September 2000 | Bozeman, Montana