Above left: Book cover for my year of COVID project, “Textures of the Heart” | Above right: A slow stitched meditation scroll, “Seascape” that incorporates calligraphy, embroidery, and found objects from the beach I walk almost daily | © Kay Johnson
What did you enjoy about your experience in “Writing Images” in Umbria, Italy?
Ciao! I’ve been a calligraphic artist for over 40 years, and it’s revitalizing to keep learning and renewing my practice. In Italy I immersed myself into a new and intriguing culture, experiencing the small villages, endearing people, and even amazing vegan food. I appreciated cherished time to sit in a cafe and sketch with Laurie’s tender guidance. How wonderful to see the Etruscan writing that is thousands of years old. My senses were stunningly overloaded!
In preparation for the trip, I researched Italian poets and wrote quotes and poems in my journal from Dante and Ovid to Nobel Prize winning Salvatore Quasimodo to contemporary women, Patrizia Cavalli and Alda Merini.
What did you find difficult at the Umbria workshop?
I am so influenced by Laurie’s making and I’m constantly learning from her, that I struggle to find my own voice in the art that doesn’t look like I’m copying her. I gained so many new ideas in Italy that I wanted to include them all in my book and longed for more time.
Above left: I always love writing the words of my fellow Kentuckian and favorite poet, Wendell Berry | Above right: Handmade Journal Cover, Italian Marbled Paper | © Kay Johnson
What is the strangest object in your studio?
Perhaps the most unique object in my studio with sweet sentimental significance is a page from a Tibetan prayer book that was given to me in Nepal. When I look at it, I can still hear echoes of the chants from hundreds of monks together, sending prayers into the universe and feel a peace settle over my heart.
Page of a Tibetan Prayer Book from Nepal
Tell us a little bit about your practice as a maker. Where do you thrive? Where do you struggle?
I thrive in the pure joy of creating every day and seeing myself change and develop as I experiment and follow my curiosity. I love researching a topic and then putting the newly found ideas into a bound theme book. For example, during COVID I tried to keep myself uplifted and found “heart” quotes from more than 400 people – authors, poets, musicians, philosophers, artists. I scripted approximately 100 quotes, one per page, and bound them in my book, Textures of the Heart.
I want to make sure that I’m able to take new ideas that I learn from teachers and incorporate them into my own style, so that I’m a creator and not a copyist.
I have recently combined calligraphic and fiber art as I have shifted into some slow stitching projects. I create meditation scrolls and small linen books with scripted quotes sewn and embellished. It’s unhurried and peaceful and I can do this while I visit with others, whereas calligraphy takes total concentration and isolation.
What is one intention you have as a maker this year?
I’m quite excited about a year-long study group of eight women, Associ-8, who meet monthly, sometimes at a three-day retreat. We are each writing our own story with the end result a hand-made calligraphed book that tells of an experience that has impacted our lives. Mine is The Music of Friendship: 4 Hands, 2 Hearts, about my weekly piano duets with a dear friend over the past three years and our transformation in many ways.
I’m profoundly grateful to all the instructors and fellow calligraphers who support, inspire, nurture, guide and sustain us, especially you, Laurie, who has mentored me for over 20 years. How lucky are we to have art in our lives to keep us heartened and make waking up every morning a joy.