Calligraphy and the Lost Art of Letter Writing!

This handwritten letter from Howard Glasser was
done with a regular pen in informal italic script.

I'm in the process of moving to a much smaller place, and have been working on down sizing since summer. After living in a home for fifteen years and raising three children we have accumulated so many things that were useful to us at the time, but not are simply not needed now. At times it has seemed like an overwhelming task. But the joy I've found in reconnecting with old items I'd long forgotten, old photos I hadn't looked at in years, has helped me to reconnect with long neglected parts of myself as well.

In clearing out some of my artwork I discovered that I had kept a letter and a poster from one of my teachers at UMass at Dartmouth. I studied Calligraphy with Howard Glasser in the 1970's. He was a wonderful teacher and mentor and is a great artist and calligrapher himself. He was also very involved in the folk music community and organized many large scale folk gatherings called Eisteddfods(a gaelic word meaning gathering) on campus each year. He also made many recordings of various folk artists.

The beautiful letter above is a wonderful example of Calligraphic writing. It was done with a regular pen.

This is a print of poster that was done by hand in Calligraphy. The style is called Uncial.

 An article about Howard's teaching career and art can be found here:
 http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/
To learn more about Howard's collection of Folk recordings and more click here:
http://www.lib.umassd.edu/archives/htga/howard-t-glasser-collection-finding-aids20011019/LIFE/310199942&cid=sitesearch

This is a Calligraphy piece I did over twenty years ago.
It's still hanging on my wall, but is about to be taken down.
I have to decide whether it'll hang in our new place or go into the portfolio!