A new Calligraphy course will be starting in October 2009. The Calligraphy and Design Foundation Degree will be run by The University of Sunderland in Kensington Palace.Aims: The programme provides a specialist skills-based training in Calligraphy and Design, blending traditional craft letter-making skills with knowledge of the latest tools for digital communication.Content: The programme includes an introduction to formal calligraphy using Roman upper and lowercase letterforms; visual studies (museum and studio based); book production in manuscript and typographic form (including training in the use of digital media); the development of rhythm and flow in writing; Italic letters and other historical manuscript studies; an introduction to traditional skills using quills, gold and vellum. The course has a strong emphasis on work-orientated learning in the final two terms.Assessment is carried out at the end of each term. Practical work is assessed by coursework and course notebooks, you will be expected to write one 2000 word report in your second year.Programme length: 2 years full time, 3-9 years part-time.Programme runs: September to June. There are three terms of ten weeks each. You will spend two days in the studio each week working with a tutor. Much of the work is project based – you will be expected to work on course assignments during the rest of the week.Tutors: All the staff are experienced teachers at a Higher Educational level; each of them combine teaching with running their own calligraphy and design businesses.Entrance onto the programme is by interview and examination of a student’s portfolio. Normal University regulations apply.Venue: The studio is located in Kensington Palace, West London, in a part of the Palace not normally open to the public. The Palace is a working Royal Residence with strict security procedures. Students must complete a security clearance form before acceptance onto the course can be confirmed.Download Information sheet

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A running cursive derived from Italic was developed, referred to as ’roundhand’.   The engraver’s tool could better reproduce writing made with a pointed rather than an edged pen. From this engraving method the ’roundhand’ became termed ‘copperplate’.  Although Copperplate appears as a cursive script, it is in fact built up from a series of pen strokes.  Gaynor Goffe has added Copperplate Minuscules (lower case letters) to her range of short courses. The Copperplate Minuscules course will teach you how to write the lower-case (minuscule) letters. You will start with learning the letterforms and pressure and release technique in pencil, followed by 3 lessons using the pen.  With the pen you start with the basic letter strokes learning how to control the pointed nib. You will then combine these strokes to build up the letters of the alphabet. The letters of the alphabet are studied in groups based upon their characteristics.  The course consists of 4 lesson, each lesson building up the skills necessary to write Copperplate Minuscules.Marking by Gaynor is detailed with individual guidance, corrections demonstrated and prompt return of work.Copperplate Minuscules Course

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Roehampton University is recognised internationally as a unique centre of calligraphy education and many of Britain’s leading calligraphers, and a substantial number of those practising elsewhere in the world, are graduates of the Diploma course. All tutors are experienced practitioners, exhibiting and carrying out commissioned work of their own as well teaching calligraphy and related disciplines in the UK and abroad.Subject to approval, starting in September 2008, Roehampton will be offereing a new calligraphy course Diploma of Higher Education in Calligraphy.Beautiful hand-written letters, printed and digital lettering, as well as painted and carved letters are all possible with the knowledge and practical understanding of how letters are written with a wide nib.The Calligraphy Diploma is a two-year course concentrating on the technical skills of calligraphy, starting from a historical perspective and then addressing their application and development for contemporary use.Elements of the diploma include:

• Bookbinding helps students learn to use tools and materials and to discover techniques of presentation. In the second year those skills are developed to be used in context with calligraphy, providing valuable experience for carrying out commissioned work.
• The relevance of art to calligraphy is explored through colour studies, drawing, museum studies and art history.
• Traditional skills, with practical studies in gilding and illumination, use of vellum and quills. Also, at the other end of the historical timescale, the value of the computer as a tool for calligraphers is investigated.
• Much time is devoted to drawn lettering, how it springs from an understanding of calligraphy and how it can be applied to painted, carved and digital lettering.
• In the second year in particular, emphasis is placed upon what happens after training: workshop practice, exhibiting and selling work, working to commission.

Visit Roehampton University for more information.

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The following are some comments I have recently received on the calligraphy correspondence courses from participants….’I recommend anyone with an interest in calligraphy to try your courses which are interesting, enjoyable and inspiring – great value both for beginners and improvers’.Dorothy B, Blackpool, UK

‘Thanks to Scribblers’ correspondence calligraphy courses with Gaynor Goffe I have the opportunity to learn calligraphy at home with help of a professional. Lessons are well prepared with lots of diagrams and clear explanations. Highly recommended’.Izabela P, Iceland‘

As an almost beginner, I have now completed two 4-lesson courses with Gaynor as well as working for a Calligraphy & Lettering Arts Society certificate and am currently wording for a CLAS Foundation Diploma. Gaynor is a wonderful tutor – she works at your pace, is entirely positive and encouraging and her courses are fantastic value for money and I highly recommend her.’Elisabeth O. Scotland

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Nowadays there are fewer classes in calligraphy. Not so long a go there would be a good chance that a school or college local to you offered Adult Ed calligraphy classes. But with changes in funding, calligraphy classes are fewer.We now offer a range of calligraphy correspondence lessons in association with Gaynor Goffe who is a professional calligrapher and has taught calligraphy for almost 30 years.All courses have been written by Gaynor and can be taken in any order. Each 4 lesson course allows you study a different style of lettering at your own pace.Marking by Gaynor is detailed, with individual guidance and corrections demonstrated and a prompt return of work.Nine courses are available:

• Foundational Hand
• Roman Capitals
• Italics
• Italic Capitals
• Versals
• Sharpened Italic and Variations
• Cursive Italic Variations
• Flourish Design
• Uncial and Variations

Calligraphy Lessons

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