Tag: brodyonline

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Collage workshop with Brody Neuenschwander

Collage art, 11 x 14 inches, with layers of papers, scratched-in letters, old book pages, and more.

This two-month collage workshop with Brody Neuenschwander has come to an end, and I’ve barely scratched the surface (sorry! couldn’t resist … sorry again!). We explored so much that it would have been impossible to even try it all. We dyed, whitewashed, scratched letters, stamped letters, collaged old book pages and monoprints and actual items, and so much more.

The piece shown above has layers of Western and Asian papers, old book pages, tiny lettering, whitewash, and scratched letters. It references carpet pages such as you might see in 6th-century bibles. The scratched letters read (only if you want to read them) a saying my grandfather was fond of repeating. “It’s a great life if you don’t weaken.” And the tiny lettering at top left and curved at top are more literary and verbose version of the same sentiment. However, the platinum gouache in the egg shape at middle right doesn’t photograph well, answers these quotations: “I’m weakening.” Content area 11 x 14 in.

You may remember my posts about the year with Brody in 2021. What an experience!

The collage workshop is dead (not it’s not — I could spend the next 2 years at least on this material). Long live the collage workshop: The Magic of Kozo begins in just two weeks. And I’ve got a big frame to build, and more art (well, hardware-store) supplies to buy. It’s a great life, if you don’t weaken.

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Whole lotta expressive mark-making goin’ on

Fountain pen on Arches Cover
Some final musings at the end of Donna Tartt’s marvelous book, The Goldfinch. Written with a whelk shell and walnut ink with my non-dominant hand on Arches Cover.

Work done in Brody Neuenschwander’s online class, Series 3, “The Expressive Expressive Line – Part 1”. Here are two of a lot of pages of mark-making.

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Once more – with color

Gouache and sumi, Brause Ornamental pen nib and 00 brush, Arches Text Wove, about 10 in x 8 in.

I’ve enjoyed the work so much in Series 2 of Brody Neuenschwander’s online classes that I did another, this time with color in the counters and 3:4 portion of rectangle.  Compare this to the monochrome square figures in my last post.

Actually, I gathered up all the bits and pieces of work/play in this seal-script-inspired vein and was shocked at the height of the pile. I can see a number of applications for this style of working. So much fun!

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Inspired by Chinese seal script in Brody’s online class

#5 Brause Ornament nib and gouache on Rives BFK, about 12 inches square. With a hint of another bit of homework in the corner.
#5 Brause Ornament nib and gouache on Rives BFK, about 12 inches square. With a hint of another bit of homework in the corner.

Series 2 of Brody Neuenschwander’s online classes is inspired by Chinese seal script. I am loving this shift in thinking from fairly uniform letters with discreet spaces between words to separate word bundles. It’s the difference between a grass prairie and tiered landscaping. Or it can be. I’m fascinated with the way the way of working shifts me toward thinking illustratively. For instance, the word “round” is enclosed by the “O”. And in the corner bit, the word “seed” begins to look like a pea pod. And what a change this improvisational construction is from standard formal Western calligraphy, where the letter placement is fore-ordained!

Click on the image for a much larger look.

If you missed my post on the first series, check it out here.

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Brody’s online calligraphy classes are the cat’s pajamas

“Sometimes in summer we let go … sometimes” – Bister ink and cola pen

The first of Brody Neuenschwander’s 8 series of online calligraphy classes has come to a close. It more than met my expectations, and my expectations were high.

A little history

I first met Brody during a week-long workshop at Camp Cheerio in 2000. He and Thomas Ingmire co-taught the workshop, “Textual Reverberations”. A good deal of time has passed, but I still have the book I made in that class. During that week, according to my notes — and perhaps the promotional materials, “we looked at meaning in modern text-based art and worked with more open-ended and suggestive processes. Inventive calligraphic writings were developed based on musical, emotional, rhythmic, visual, linear, and formal themes.”

It was a different workshop than most calligraphy workshops in that it tied calligraphy into the larger art world. Every morning we were treated to a talk about lettering in the contemporary art that included a slideshow of work by Cy Twombly, Jenny Holzer, Bruce Nauman, Barbara Kruger, and many others. During that week we also got see what Brody was doing in that wider world. One evening we watched “The Pillow Book”, directed by Peter Greenaway and including calligraphy by Brody. And we saw another collaboration with Peter Greenaway, “Bologna Towers 2000“, in which his writing was projected the towers of Bologna. For me, at that time, it was an eye-opener.

Edited to add: I wrote a blog post about this 2000 workshop here.

Series 1

The just-completed class series advances this theme of calligraphy in the larger world, taking inspiration from the Kufic form of calligraphy. From copying and then translating elements of those forms into Latin calligraphy, we learned to break the grid that our 26-letter palette and vellum/quill tradition have encouraged.

the text: pheasant sandwiches the Dagwood Sunday-go-to-meeting buns hot cross buns (left side) Mrs. Lovett's meat pies The Host Emilio's ham & cheese Hillel sandwich the best thing since ... since ever
A list of sandwiches and bread in popular Western culture and literature, from Mrs. Lovett’s meat pies to the Hillel sandwich, with hot cross buns down the left side. You can hover over the image for a complete list. Pilot Parallel Pen and ink.

I haven’t begun to describe the class; a full description is beyond me. I’ve shown my homework submission here, but you can enjoy the fantastic work of some of the other students at instagram #brodyonline. Sorry you missed it? You can still take the class as a recording. Series 2 begins in April and looks to Chinese seal script for inspiration. I can’t wait!

Bister inks and cola pen.
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