Script – The Classical Roots
with
Ewan Clayton
Ancient romans not only painted and carved letters, they wrote them. But compared to Republican and Imperial capitals these common cursive scripts have received little attention from the calligrapher and type designer. In this three day, practise based workshop we examine the cursive development of the written roman letter – in Roman times – first as a capital script and then as lower-case forms; our cut-off point is around 600 CE. With pencils and pens in hand we trace this development – our aim is both to understand their constructive dynamics as well as to initiate a personal calligraphic response.
About Ewan Clayton
Ewan is a calligrapher and part-time Professor in Design at The University of Sunderland where he co directs the International Calligraphy Research Centre. He grew up associated with a community of craftsmen at Ditchling in Sussex founded by Eric Gill. Ewan has enjoyed a varied professional career working as both a calligraphy teacher and a consultant to Xerox PARC, and he is currently a core faculty member at the Royal Drawing School in London. In 2013 he was awarded the first Karl-Georg Hoefer prize by The Schreibwerkstatt Klingspor for his work in calligraphy and education. His book on the history of calligraphy and typography The Golden Thread is out in paperback in the USA and has been released in Spanish and Italian translations.