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Exploration Millennium
The Newberry Library
Chicago Calligraphy Collective Keyboard instruments are always out of tune. Anyone in music knows B flat isn't A sharp and the two are made one --"well-tempered"-- by sheer force. Typographers know that much the same is true of typeface, where compromise -- uniformity -- is the prevailing force. (The typewriter is the extreme.) Which is not to say that print isn't capable of great power and beauty; just that it is a different species. The written letter is altered by the one before and anticipates the one to follow and, like music, it has modulation, nuance, dynamics... a personality... much like the human voice. The Chicago Calligraphy Collaborative's "14th Annual Juried Exhibition-2000," on display at The Newberry Library, Chicago, until March 18, 2000, offers a wide repertoire of calligraphic symphonies and sonatina, harmonies of color, script and image as well as single melodies of scripted line. Much of the work in The Chicago Calligraphy Collaborative's "14th Annual Juried Exhibition-2000" represents the best of the contemporary, and it is exciting. In the late 19th century, masters such as William Morris and Edward Johnston spurred a renewal of the calligraphic art, but the contemporary British master, Ann Camp, has noted the hallmarks of a modern, and different, spirit "playing with the work, extending it in many directions to create visual images and expressive ideas, where mood, colour, texture and dynamic use of space often take precedence over legibility and 'unambiguous communication.'" (In Calligraphy Today by Heather Child: Taplinger: 1988). In this exhibition, rather than strict utility and interpretation of text (which finds, desirably, a supportive market in advertising and publishing), there is much free experiment and expression by the artists. There is fine art, well beyond application. It offers an afternoon well spent.
The Newberry exhibition spans the East and West galleries: fifty current pieces and a number of permanent Newberry acquisitions, supplemented by several well established masters. Much of the current art is available for purchase from the Chicago Calligraphy Collaborative and a free listing gives the viewer full titles, artist, dimensions of the work and media. The works were judged for lettering and composition, but the entries exhibit a trend toward complete books over broadsides or singlets. (Books have predominated somewhat in past Newberry Purchase Prizes, which seems to have influenced, without reason, current artists preferences in format.) The Newberry is an active and judicious collector of calligraphy, and the accompanying selections from its own acquisitions underscore the quality of the CCC members' submissions. The Newberry's own collections offer several excellent items by masters such as Marie Angel and Julian Waters, as well as past Newberry Purchase Prize winners such as Rosie Kelly, Mike Kecseg, Pamela Paulsrud and Anne Binder. Kecseg is particularly adroit in adapting the 'Spencerian' script, which was originally developed in the 1830s and 40s for business application, and grew into a fashionable style. Joyce Irene Whalley noted the twentieth century split between "professional" calligraphy and "mere writing." (The Student's Guide To Western Calligraphy, Shambhala: 1984). Kecseg's accomplishments show the two intents can be reunited. It is solid, but lovely work. Marie Angel is well-renowned for her calligraphy and her own books, frequently integrating letter, decoration and vignette. This noted British calligrapher is a new member of the Chicago Calligraphy Collective, and her PSALM XXXI: Verses 14-14 (9"x4"), a pamphlet book on handmade paper, rendered in watercolor and gouache is a delight. (And it can be purchased.) The showing in the Newberry's Dunlap Hall also includes original and printed work by calligrapher-designer-typographer Julian Waters, who was they keynote speaker for the exhibition. Waters's Alphabet Circle merits particular study. The calligraphy in "Exploration Millennium" does bring to mind visual 'music' and the work of Eliza Schulte Holliday strengthens that resonance. She is represented by The Second Coming (13"x14"), a folding book with clamshell box. The piece is executed in paste paper and gouache and here, the preliminary sketches for the work were used as lining for the box. Holliday is especially adept at what is often termed "Jazz Writing," and if it is difficult to discern the words of that poetic text by William Butler Yeats, Holliday's visual impact is nonetheless engaging. It is contemporary, although, in a vein which Ann Camp had noted critically when warning: "This can unfortunately sometimes lead to an exaggerated emphasis on the appearance or 'look' at the expense of inner content, and runs the risk of becoming an empty display of virtuosity." It documents a trend common to calligraphy and contemporary Jazz.
Celebratory Estate Map (46"x40") by Carol Kolinski, rendered in watercolor, gouache and gold, on vellum, is in the East display area. It is creatively conceived and executed to strong effect. The vellum is in a deep frame under glass and suspended with a thread mount, which allows the natural skin to expand and contract, breath, as it were, with changes in atmosphere. (This is a technique which is well worth noting). The Celebratory Estate Map was executed for a private client. A number of pieces showcase the current interest in unconventional or even ancient materials. In My Son! (13"x12"x2"), Linda J. Lundy employs stick ink on birch bark, gouache on mat board, and has mounted the work in a shadow box. My Son! centers on Irish poet W. B. Yeats's translation of The Ten Principal Upanishads and employs a background text by the American poet, e. e. cummings. In Days of Our Years (11"x14"), CCC member, Ellen Mott-Jablonski calligraphs a poem by John Frederick Nims in Gouache and Milky Way markers to surprising effect. In such pieces, lyric and calligraphic melody unite in novel success. Often, items in "Exploration Millennium" begin with a centuries-old inspiration, and orchestrate very modern, and even symphonic compositions. Jan Gibbs's MATTHEW 25:31-46 (30"x24") represents a case in point. Here, a large Gothic script serves as Cantum Firmum to a text in a light, modern interpretation of cursive bastarda. In his calligraphy, Gibbs echoes the spirit of a Bach canon. Linda P. Hancock, captures a kindred inspiration in her witty What's Worth Knowing (30"x37"), but does so in a more overt, material manner. Using texts by Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner, Hancock builds boxes within boxes within boxes out of gouache, gold leaf and pastel, much like the familiar 'mirrors mirroring mirrors.' "Exploration Millennium" presents calligraphic fugues of lettering and fugues of concept. There is a lot of fresh, direct creativity in this exhibition.
At times, the familiar Roman alphabet used in English is complemented by the foreign, or even pure calligraphic flourishes with an oriental reverberation. Vivian J. Carter's POETRY (6"x5"), using a text by Pablo Neruda, exemplifies the effect this can achieve. The pen flourishes call to mind an Islamic inspiration but counterpoint a clearly readable script. In mid 19th century, penmen such as John D. Williams and S. S. Packard, or Platt Rogers Spencer reexamined 18th century decorative writing to develop a popular, if not flamboyant, writing style, ornamental and at times elegant: one in which the virtuosity of pen often led to decorative linework without text. POETRY serves as constrast to some contemporary developments: it communicates its content, and yet seems to introduce and develop alien and discordant tones into a lively unity. Carter's work displays a balance between individual novelty and expressive communication, and several others in "Exploration Millennium" reveal a further interest in Chinese and Far Eastern patterns. Anne Camp has noted of the increased experimentalism in books arts that, "In many cases the idea of usefulness hardly comes into consideration any more than it does in so much of contemporary painting, and truth to materials is often bypassed in the interests of individuality and imposed style." It is true that in the past, writing styles have grown with and out of utility; but it is equally true that illustration and decoration have had integral roles for fulfilling a more visual artistry linked with calligraphy. Marie Angel's work, on display in this exhibit, excellently presents that more traditional resolution. Jim Chin, in his FORGIVENESS (5"x13"), offers the viewer a very modernist approach to that legacy, in harmonizing pure calligraphic text with a richly abstracted center painting in which letter elements are suggested and merged toward an emotional coda to the bordering text.
"Exploration Millennium" highlights the observation of calligrapher Joyce Irene Whalley who observed that the advent of the typewriter and telephone (and, today, the computer) also seems to have given new life to the desire for fine writing -- calligraphy. Although type can craft communications of great dignity and beauty, notations, the calligraphic line, like the human voice in song, finds its great strength in disciplined, but spontaneous interpretation. Whether as solo line, or in ensemble, the works in "Exploration Millennium" are a music in line and color, interpretive communications which convey far more than the mere texts. It is difficult to do justice to the work, without a full color display. And a full catalogue would render words superfluous. But this showing calls for attention. It should be seen and enjoyed. "Exploration Millennium" will continue at The Newberry Library until March 18, 2000. And one also has the opportunity to purchase inexpensive calligraphic chapbooks by calligrapher Donald Anderson at the exhibition. Further information or directions may be obtained by phoning the Center for Public Programs at 312/ 255-3700. --G. Jurek Polanski Jurek Polanski has previously written and art edited for Strong Coffee in Chicago. He's also well known and respected among the Chicago museums and galleries. Jurek is currently a Visual Arts Correspondent for ArtScope.net. |
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