The Next Generation - Kids And Fountain Pens

[amk]

I've been really inspired by a week-long course I recently attended on Gothic calligraphy and illumination.

 

Since it was in the school holidays it split about fifty-fifty between adult calligraphers and children plus parents, the children aged from (I'm guessing) about eight to fourteen.

 

Day one: some of the children found it hard to settle, particularly three boys who had come together and were pretty noisy and distracted from time to time. One or two of the children knew quite a lot about the topic, others knew nothing. (I think all the adults had already worked with the tutor before.)

 

Day two: a couple of the girls were already producing some very nice work.

 

Day three: suddenly I became aware that there was complete silence in the room. The three little boys who had been quite disruptive on day one were completely absorbed in their work, two writing alphabets with the dip pen and one copying a foliage design.

 

Day five: At the end of the course I was really impressed by some of the work they had turned out. One little girl had produced quite fine Gothic textura, and went off with a newly purchased dip pen and nibs as well as a book on calligraphy.

 

There is something in the process of writing these old scripts that really seems to appeal. I hadn't expected the little boys to get so 'into' it - but they really did. And they enjoyed the birds and beasts in the margins - one or two idiosyncratic additions to the menagerie also appeared later on (though I didn't manage to find room for the bagpipe-playing pig I wanted to add. Next time...)

 

I think the future of the fountain pen is in safe hands!

 

Has anyone else got good stories of how to introduce kids to FPs and calligraphy?

[dms525]

I have heard many similar stories - most of them from regular classroom teachers who have introduced calligraphy to their pupils.

 

I think the majority of young children are natural artists, and calligraphy can play into this. I think the introduction of printing and then the abrupt switch to cursive has been damaging. Maybe handwriting should be taught as art right from the start.

 

Italic calligraphy is being introduced into Portland, Oregon elementary schools again, after a lapse of 30 years or so. I'm sure the teachers who are participating have lots of stories like yours.

 

David

[amk]

The nice thing about both textura and italic, I think, is the slowness and concentration. A single Gothic letter might take four or five separate strokes, each one joining on to another. The concentration on getting the pen at the right angle is another fascination, isn't it - being able to make thick or thin strokes, and spiky or swoopy shapes. Whereas cursive usually gets taught as a way to speed up, calligraphy is a way to slow down.

 

I love what you say about young children being natural artists. What a pity so much of our education systems seem geared to stopping them expressing that natural creativity.