Society of Scribes
:: John Downer : No Small Scribbles
The Society of Scribes annual members' meeting will feature John Downer as guest lecturer.
Date and Time :
2:00 pm Saturday 19 February 2005
Open to the public.
Venue :
Trinity Church, 2nd floor Parlor
74 Trinity Place
New York
The Lecture :
Calligraphers who work only on paper might be interested to see how other lettering artists work on different substrates. John Downer will show examples of exterior wall lettering he has produced, plus a number of commercial script styles in common use on walls, grave markers, and delivery vehicles before computer technology. Script lettering, which is closely associated with formal handwriting, takes on new character when it is rendered at extremely large sizes. Bigger is better, if strong impact is desired.
John Downer is a sign painter by trade, with a specialty in gold leaf lettering. He has a B.A. in Fine Art from Washington State University and both an M.A. and an M.F.A. in Painting from The University of Iowa. He began his career as a freelance type designer in 1983. Mr. Downer writes about type, and type history, for Emigre magazine, House magazine, and other publications. He lives in Iowa City, and travels widely in the United States and Europe, always on the lookout for interesting letterforms.
Workshop :
John will also be teaching a workshop on the Sunday February 20th.
Topic: Commercial lettering styles with Speedball "B" nibs.
Details at www.societyofscribes.org.