Calligraphy, the art of designing letters, can be traced back as far as the 10th century and the inherently artistic Ottoman Turks. With today's technology and available theme font selection at our fingertips, it is easy to forget that these artistic interpretations of the alphabet have been designed by someone.
Burbank's Creative Arts Center Gallery hosts an exhibition titled "Expressions — Images from Our Pens," a showcasing of the best work, from all skill levels, of the members of the Society for Calligraphy. The society's letter designers have designed and applied their art in a variety of forms — words of wisdom artfully framed, embroidered quilts with commemorative messages and cleverly engineered origami books, all serve as a ground for the creative lettering. The Society for Calligraphy is actively regenerating calligraphy as a fine art, by providing an environment for study, discussion and exhibition for its members.
Society member Yukimi Annand studied in Japan as a communications designer and worked as a graphic designer for 10 years. Her love for nature and letters combined with her design experience results in a wonderful piece titled "The Wall." The ground for the mixed-media piece is Rives paper, which has been stained and fan folded. The poetic content of the fan-folded pages is communicated in Annand's own letter design then complemented with color and texture, both visual and tactile. The artist has achieved the sense of an ancient document loaded with secrets to reveal. It is luxurious, antique and seductive. It has a professional quality.
