Darla Gerlach,EdD,Barringer Fellow-2013

Jefferson’s Gardens: A Landscape of Opportunitiesc Section 4: The Art of Calligraphy c

Photo by D. Gerlach

Darla Gerlach,EdD,Barringer Fellow-2013

c The Art of Calligraphy c

Procedures for the Lesson

• Define Calligraphy: beautiful handwriting

• Review penmanship in our nation’s history• Perception of others’ handwriting• What your handwriting says about your social status

• The “tools” of calligraphy• Artifacts – how artifacts help us understand the past• Quill pens, wax, seals and stamps

• See attached video for demonstration of calligraphy writing and how to create a “pen” from a feather

(Students could use calligraphy for their projects described in Section 3 of this unit.)

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Darla Gerlach,EdD,Barringer Fellow-2013

c The Art of Calligraphy c

Communication in Thomas Jefferson’s era included finely handwritten notations and correspondence. Stylish handwriting is exemplified in primary documents throughout our nation’s history. A beautifully scribed note makes a positive impression, and it tends to say something about you—a reflection of your personality.

Thorton (1996) contends, “Seventeenth-and eighteeenth-century men and women regarded handwriting as a form of self-presentation but not self-expression” (p. 41). Self-presentation--how you would like to portray yourself to others-- is reflected in “the nonchalant manner of the aristocrat, gained by exposure to the most refined courts and salons at home and abroad.” (Thorton, p. 39).

Students should discuss the following passage with regards to aristocracy and handwriting: “Thomas Jefferson had something of this courtier ideal in mind when he commented that George Washington ‘wrote readily, rather diffusely, in an easy, correct style. This he had acquired by conversation with the world, for his education was merely reading, writing, and common arithmetic, to which he added surveying at a later day.’” (Thorton, p. 39).

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Darla Gerlach,EdD,Barringer Fellow-2013

c The Art of Calligraphy c

Thorton (1996) affirms that handwriting typifies a certain time period and is important in history since “it mattered to people in the past, in ways deeply embedded in their cultures” and further, “it embodied, regulated, and generated notions of the self” (p. x). Also, “because handwriting revealed the self, what made handwriting important was the impression of self it left with readers, and what made it good was the degree to which it faithfully represented the writer” (Thorton, p. 35).

Photo by D. Gerlach, August, 2013, University of Virginia

The “tools” of calligraphy: Use of Artifacts

Artifacts have significance since they represent tools that have been used over a period of time.

An artifact can be defined as something created by humans usually for a practical purpose; especially : an object remaining from a particular period (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/artifact).

Artifacts provide historical tangibles that show the link between an individual and a particular organization and community and the significance of that connection to the individual in a specific time period. In this way, artifacts are essentially comparable to the manipulatives found in other academic discipline curricula such as math or science.

Lave and Wenger (1991) contend that artifacts, as a window to the past, help learners understand how individuals used the tools in the past; it facilitates their understanding of the culture in which the tools were used (p. 103).

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The Art of Calligraphy

Darla Gerlach,EdD,Barringer Fellow-2013

Darla Gerlach,EdD,Barringer Fellow-2013

The Art of CalligraphyUse of Artifacts

Photo by D. GerlachWax and seal is applied to correspondence for various purposes: to assure confidentiality of the contents; the seal may be a symbol representing the sender of the correspondence; and/or it adds a distinctive presentation to the correspondence.

Darla Gerlach,EdD,Barringer Fellow-2013

The Art of CalligraphyUse of Artifacts

Wax and seal on primary document at Special Collections, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.

Darla Gerlach,EdD,Barringer Fellow-2013

The Art of Calligraphy

Refer to attached video which demonstrates calligraphy techniques. Copperplate, Italic and Script are suggested writing styles for students.

Darla Gerlach,EdD,Barringer Fellow-2013

Bibliography

Thornton, T. P. (1996). Handwriting in America: A cultural history. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.