South Africa - a reflection
SOUTH AFRICA – a reflection
South Africa, what can I say. As I reach
the time in my life where I have more memories behind me than I may have ahead
of me, I can say I am extremely grateful to have visited South Africa. From day
one, 31 July 2019 to the last, 28th August, I was treated and
welcomed with such generous hospitality. I consider myself very fortunate to
have been invited to teach calligraphy in SA and for the workshops to have gone
so well. One thing I can say with certainty is that calligraphers the world
over are connected by the craft of letterforms, a spirit and camaraderie like
no other. The trip would not have been possible without the huge effort of one
woman Dirmu Gouws. To Dirmu, I offer my humble thanks.
After one night spent in Johannesburg with
Anne Marie & David Moore and a day out with Paddy Balsdon, I started my
teaching tour in Port Elizabeth. Sue & David Patton kindly dropped everything,
even packing boxes & moving, to entertain and welcome me. The Cnut Charter
Hand was our workshop theme, and my eager participants had a weekend of delving
into a letterform from the 10th century. They engaged with analyzing
early manuscripts, decorative capitals … and very fine food catered by the
group for everyone to enjoy. Erin’s corn & chili soup was to die for!
A real highlight of my PE time was the
visit to Addo Elephant Park. An amazing adventure all of it’s own. To be right
in the middle of up to 35 elephants at any given time was in the true sense of
the word, awesome. But I digress. Thanks to Sue and Erin for giving me an
experience of a lifetime. And to top it all off, many of the class participants
joined me for an impromptu lunch on my day off after the workshop.
From PE to Cape Town and into the warm
& sharing arms of Bev & Colin Gillespie was a treat like no other. To
find such likeminded people to talk books, words, people, mysteries &
politics was stimulating in itself. Provided with material on people, arts
& crafts in SA I had my own little apartment aside from their home where I
could hide away at times and read, or join the conversation at other times.
Through their eyes I was able to see a side of South Africa I have been longing
to know about.
There were two workshops in CT. The first,
an amazing group of very talented people created backgrounds for calligraphy,
collage & mixed media, with lettering taking it’s place as the backgrounds
demanded. Oh the lunches … again the lunches were a delight with Con Meyer
creating delicious bobotie, lasagna and salads etc. for all to share. It was my
first, but certainly not last, bobotie. I have the recipe!
Our second CT workshop was an evening
workshop over two nights where the participants wove Italic letters with
delight. Again the importance of history was a focus in the learning and the
group was keen to know more about this aspect of our preparation.
A highlight for me in CT was a visit to
Robben Island where many South African political freedom fighters including
Nelson Mandela were held as prisoners. I went by myself and enjoyed the
knowledge gained, the thinking time it allowed me, and the treacherous water
crossing to get there … and back. The barren and bare nature of the island was
a harsh enlightening for me, of the wretchedness and hardship of any person who
had been incarcerated there.
Bloemfontein was an unknown place to me
before going to SA. An Afrikaans town which was full of languages and sounds
new to me. I picked up a lot of new words and again enjoyed the company of very
talented people. Everyone was determined to learn more and more about our
craft. We studied the Trajan inscription, with a great deal of fascination. We
drew, painted and wrote solidly for three days with the participants producing
amazing works. The workshop was held in the private studio and home of
Willemien & François
Kruger who treated all of us with a fine welcome and
generous hospitality. Our lunches every day catered for, so no demands were
upon any of us apart from being busy with our craft.
I didn’t see much of the town itself except
a fabulous art shop, a sweet café and … of all things … a beauty salon. It was
a wonderful opportunity for me to stay with a young Afrikaans family in
SA.
Back to Johannesburg, wow! Again I was
greeted with warmth and generous hospitality. Pearl & Paul de Chalain were
perfect hosts who made sure I had everything I needed and a whole lot more.
Pearl has a highly equipped studio and classroom where we spent three days
considering the early art deco movement with a little history thrown in. One of
the great things about calligraphy travel is that you see how particular
lettering and art/craft movements in time impacted on various places. It is the
art deco period that I find the most diverse around the world. We looked at a
whole variety of deco lettering styles and work with painted, penciled and
penned the essence of Art Deco into our work. All participants excelled in
their outcomes.
Pearl & Paul continued their
hospitality by continuing to host me over the duration of the next
workshop. We drove back and forth to Pretoria,
another mostly Afrikaans town so close to Johannesburg that they will surely
meld one day. For each of two days I taught a workshop called Alphabeats:
rhythmic letterforms. Again we started
with analyzing the skeleton roman capital but diverged here by using this
skeleton as a basis for adding weight and changing the forms to create letters
that play off one another. Again, it was a workshop with outcomes that exceeded
the participant’s expectations.
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