Download the Class Notes (3.0mb PDF)

Introduction: Modes of Perception

The Right Brain or R-mode provides the 'negative' space against which thought (Left Brain or L-mode) marks time,  sequence and order. This is the quiet space, the empty vessel which holds the mind, yet is the mind. It is the complementary, the ground on which the figure plays, yet is also primary, for without it, thought itself could not exist, nor could we perceive form without its context.
We can think of L-mode as Logical and Linear,  while R-mode is Reflective, Receptive — spacial and immediate.
Meditation, Music, Art, Sex, Exhaustion, Trauma, 'Psychoactives' — all are paths to R-mode awareness, yet it's fleeting.
Betty Edwards, as with all good Zen teachers, developed practices designed to quiet – really to bore or stun – the chattering, 'rational,' sequential, symbolic mind, allowing the intuitive perceptual mind to come forward. The conscious recognition of entering R-mode is as a light turning on!
In fact, enlightenment is a term used for the attainment of that continuous conscious state, when both R & L modes are fully engaged! Drawing (letterforms) is as good a practice as any!
Our approach will be to inform the 'rational' mind, but to prefer the pattern-recognizing, synthesizing, relationship-appreciating mode of the 'empty' mind, which takes what the eye offers without judgement, in order to see 'negative' space as something real and substantial. To perceive the substance of emptiness.

Day One — Drawing on Emptiness

What do you see?

Practicum : Day One

Drawing as a physical activity, making deliberate marks and expressive marks

Paper Bag Studies :The haptic sense — feeling our way to spatial relationships,

haptic : of or relating to the sense of touch, in particular relating to the perception and manipulation of objects using the senses of touch and proprioception (awareness of the position of the body and its parts)

Viewfinder studies with the Oak Leaf; of a Wood Type Letter
Heuristic Studies of rules and patterns in letterform construction

heuristic : enabling a person to discover or learn something for themselves : a “hands-on” or interactive heuristic approach to learning.

Jonathon Hoefler's exercise in 'tweening' forms between the 'known' letters

Sketching and refinement, iterative process in the "Letters Mingle Souls" design

Mac demo?

Finish Day One with a review of progress and perspectives.

Betty Edwards: Strategies for Perception, Saturation

Perceive the Edges

Perceive the Negative Spaces

Perceive the Relationships and Proportions

Perceive the Lights and Shadows

Perceive the Gestalt – The Thingness of the Thing.

Edge is a shared boundary - Liminal Study of edges, boundaries - Scribble / string studies

Pure Contour Drawing, five minutes of the wrinkles in the hand. Toning the paper w/graphite

Sighting has to do with constants: Reason, Ratios and Relationships

St. Thomas Aquinas:

The requirements for Beauty – Integritas, Consonantia, Quidditas

(Wholeness, Harmony & Essense)

Seeing and drawing

What is the hardest letter to draw? To see?
Which is harder, drawing or seeing?
Haptic (touch, fasten) perception of negative space. [Wood Type Exercise Large – Small ]
Heuristic (self-discovered) perception of shape & space [Non-Alphabetic Symbols (Jon. Hoefler’s exercises)]
Drawing for Design – Progressive Refinement, Iterative Process [pin-marks for registration, overlay]
Using the computer for refinement – Hidden sources of problems, kinks in curves, vector entrance & exit

Day 2 — Applied Perceptions of Space

Practicum : Day Two

Putting “flesh on the bones” or “wrapping the stone”?

Watercolor Postcards

Calligraphic Writing

Letterform Design

Ann Hechle’s Aspects of Language : Sound panel, etc.

Platonic Ideals enter the Material World

The Eye, the Mind, the Hand, the Heart.

Bibliography

The best bet for finding these books is online. Try searching for the ISBN number at abe.com or amazon.com

Books

Betty Edwards
    Drawing on the Artist Within: A Guide to Innovation, Invention, Imagination and Creativity
        (Simon & Schuster ISBN: 0671493868 / 0-671-49386-8)
    Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (ISBN: 0874770882 / 0-87477-088-2)
    Color by Betty Edwards: A Course in Mastering the Art of Mixing Colors
        (ISBN: 1585422193 / 1-58542-219-3)
Nicolette Grey
    Lettering as Drawing ISBN 0800847296
Micheal Harvey
    Creative Lettering : Drawing and Design ISBN 0-8008-1997-7 (Taplinger)

Websites

Ann Hechle
   http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/learning/csc/hechle/essay.html
Peter Fraterdeus
   http://fraterdeus.com/lettering
   http://semiotx.com/
   This document: http://slowprint.com/dbqba/accentuate/
Ieuan Rees
   http://www.ieuanreeslettering.co.uk/
Lao Tzu – Tao te Ching
    http://www.terebess.hu/english/tao/gia.html
Jonathon Hoefler – Introduction to Typeface Design 110
   http://typophile.com/courses/

Supply List

This is a list of important tools and materials. Most will be in your toolbox already.
Pencils, soft, medium and hard ie: 3B HB 2H 4H
Technical Drawing Pens  size 0 or 00 (.35 or .30 mm) (the higher priced refillable pens can be used with subtle colors...) with appropriate inks. Watercolor inks (light-blue, purple) for refillable pens. Black waterproof fiber pens
    Rapidograph or Mars pens or equivalent high-qualityfiber tipped like Zig Millenium)
    http://www.dickblick.com/products/staedtler-mars-technical-drawing-pen-set/
    http://www.dickblick.com/products/koh-i-noor-rapidosketch-pen-set/
    http://www.dickblick.com/products/artline-drawing-pens/ (fiber)
Long-hair sable 'pencils' (lettering brushes) # 3, #5
    http://www.dickblick.com/products/winsor-and-newton-sceptre-gold-designer-round-series-202/
"one-stroke" flat lettering brush 1/2 inch
    http://www.dickblick.com/products/robert-simmons-white-sable-one-stroke-series-721/
kneaded rubber eraser & white plastic eraser (Mars, etc)
paper: 11x14 (or larger) pad drafting vellum (18x24 can be divided to 12x18 which is fine)
    http://www.dickblick.com/products/bienfang-graphics-360-marker-paper/
    http://www.dickblick.com/products/clearprint-1000h-drafting-vellum/
paper: cold-press watercolor  block 6x9
    http://www.dickblick.com/products/canson-montval-watercolor-blocks/
drafting tape : http://www.dickblick.com/products/drafting-tape/
watercolors,  travel/pan set & small watercolor palette & small squat bottle for rinsing brushes, etc
    http://www.dickblick.com/products/raphael-watercolor-travel-set/
    http://www.dickblick.com/products/winsor-and-newton-cotman-watercolor-pan-sets
magnifier for looking at small stuff up close
Xacto or single-edge razor blades for sharpening pencils (no 'pencil sharpeners' please!)
12" 30-60-90 drafting triangle & small t-square, drafting board, etc
12-18 inches of white packing twine / nylon cord
MacBook (or whatever, ok! :-) with Adobe Illustrator and Wacom drawing tablet
Aviary.com account : this web-based graphics tool application may be VERY useful to those who don't have access to Adobe's professional tools). Sign up for a free account and check it out...
Also, Inkscape, an open-source vector drawing tool. 

Of course, there’s nothing like the real thing. If you’re doing serious or professional work, Adobe Illustrator is de rigueur.

We're postponing the Letterpress Workshop due to space and scheduling issues.

if you're interested and we'll keep you informed!

Volunteer opportunities are available in the meantime!

Help clean up the old presses, and organize the 19th C. woodtype collection.

Hands-on, gritty work, very educational!!

Dates

• Calligraphy Workshop Saturdays 1:30-4:30; May 9, 16 (skip May 23, 30) June 6, 13, 20, 27
• Intro to Letterpress 10-5; Saturday, Sunday, April 18, 19
• Intro to Letterpress 10-5; Saturday, Sunday, May 23, 24

Sign up through Dubuque Art Center!

We are very pleased to be offering our inaugural classes through a special association with the new Dubuque Art Center.

Please see the dubuqueartcenter.org website for registration details!

Calligraphy Workshop

All levels

Six Sessions $180 or $40/session

This ongoing workshop will give beginners a firm step up on the path towards mastering the elements of calligraphy and italic handwriting. More advanced students will have opportunites for design critique on their own projects and lessons  alternating between skill development, and creative playful experiments with letters.

With positive response, the Workshop will continue for ongoing six week sessions. Students are encouraged to return!
Good for calligraphers, book artists, scrapbookers, designers, anyone! Young people over 12 years welcome.

Intro to Letterpress

Saturday/Sunday 10-5 $170 includes materials

limited to six students, 17 and older or by special arrangement.

Learn the basics of printing posters with 19th C wood type in the flat-bed Vandercook Cylinder Proof Press.

The Vandercook Cylinder Proof  press is the most widely used for boutique presses, with hundreds or thousands of small presses flourishing in North America since the 1990s in the "Renaissance of Letterpress".  Now highly desired for wedding stationery and other special materials both personal and corporate, letterpress provides relief (literally!) from the flat shiny high-tech printing of copiers and commercial lithography. It's not quick print, it's SlowPrint, and it's "High Touch" not high-tech!

These two day workshops (students are welcome and encouraged to attend both session) will cover the use of the press, printing technique, typography and design strategies using the large collection of 19th Century wood types in the Slow Print Studio collection.

Liability waiver required.

This class is required for anyone interested in using the community press at Peter's "SlowPrint™" Studio.

The studio equipment is available by appointment for projects on a per diem and press rental basis.

More details will be forthcoming!

About Dubuque Book Arts at SlowPrint™ Studio

Dubuque Book Arts is an educational program of Galena Design Center, Inc. in collaboration with Peter Fraterdeus of slowprint.com and Dubuque Art Center.
We hold workshops and classes at Peter's SlowPrint Studio on East 9th Street in Dubuque's Historic Warehouse District.
With seven (or is it eight) antique (1890s) and 'modern' (1930s-1950s) letterpress in the studio, we've got more high-touch printing in one place than anywhere between Madison and Iowa City or the Twin CIties and Chicago!

Peter Fraterdeus, Director, Dubuque Book Arts

Founder and workshop director, Peter has over 30 years of experience with calligraphy and letter design, including two National Endowment for the Arts grants to study calligraphy, letter carving and type design in Europe and the UK.

He's been a letterpress printer since the mid 1960s when he first learned to print at Nichols Junior High in Evanston. He never imagined he would end up forty years later with a warehouse full of beautiful old presses, targeting internet marketing to the entire English speaking world, and printing on some of the very finest paper made on the planet!

Peter taught calligraphy and letterform design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), and in 1986 developed the first Macintosh design lab in Chicago and the first Letterpress Typography Lab both at SAIC. He's also an internet strategy and design consultant, type designer, photographer, author, and a pretty good Irish Fiddle player.

He's currently the owner and operator of Exquisite Letterpress at Slow Print Studio in Dubuque.

We'll try to get more of these photos on the site, but for now, please see the Words in Progress album on Picasa

The prints shown in the exhibition were prepared as a set of PDF documents.

• Horizontal pieces
• Vertical pieces
• Captions
• Banners

We'll be moving across the street to 123 E 9th St in November, and will have our first classes after Thanksgiving, just in time to print some last minute gifts or holiday greetings!

The final schedule has not been determined yet, so please  let us know your interests on the Dubuque Book Arts survey page.

Click here to go to the survey, and we'll put you on our mailing list!

Intro to Letterpress - Holiday Cards

Calligraphy Beginners (all ages) - Materials and Movement

Calligraphic Marks - Texture and Dynamic Contrast

Typographic Workshop - Intermediate Letterpress

Rubberstamp Magic and Scrapbooks

Handmade Books - Pamphlets and folded non-adhesive bindings

Advanced Book and Letter Arts Tutorials

Our classes are workshop format, one or two full days, or two to four evenings and will cost between $75-125 not including materials fees which vary.

We'll start with the basics, and as students complete the introductory levels, we will offer more advanced classes.

Most of the workshops will be taught by Dubuque Letterpress owner Peter Fraterdeus, but we also have some special book-and-paper artists lined up!

Peter also offers personal tutorials by appointment for advanced students in letterpress techniques, calligraphy, type-design and digital processes.

Classes are subject to cancellation if underenrolled. Minimum class size is six, so sign-up with a friend or two!

About Peter Fraterdeus

Awarded two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships in the 1980s in lettering arts
(Calligraphy and Inscriptional Carving Apprenticeship - 1980, Design Arts Fellowship for "Font" Design - 1986).

Taught Calligraphy; Letterform Design; Digital Design Processes from 1983-1991 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Taught Information Design for the WWW at IUAV (Istituto Universitario Archittetura di Venezia) in Treviso, Italy 2001-2002

"Lakeside Design" Letterpress Studio in Evanston, Illinois 1981-1992

Alphabets, Inc., type design and marketing, Evanston, 1987-1997

Semiotx, Inc. information design, web strategy and content management systems, 1999-2008

Exquisite Letterpress, letterpress stationer and printer marketing exclusively online to clients worldwide at slowprint.com since 2007

We're still unpacking the shop and equipment from our move last month, so we're a bit behind getting the events listings done.

However, you can certainly drop us a note if you are interested in Dubuque Book Arts programs, whether printing, calligraphy, book arts, rubberstamping or other related arts!