Calligraphy & Cathedral Bells
Blind contour writing of capital letter (left) Roman Y (right)
Demo: L Doctor
The temple bell stops
but I still hear the sound
coming out of the flowers
–Basho
I have just returned from teaching calligraphy at the St Meinrad Abbey. I am not Catholic, but the sound of the bells every quarter hour– with different patterns for compline, vespers and morning prayer– brought back memories of being stopped by these ancient notes in the small villages in Europe. It is still the tradition at the Abby for the novice to be in charge of holding the rope and ringing the bell for special offices.
At the library we saw old manuscripts, many of them brought to the abbey in the 1800’s from Europe, and a much earlier time. There is something spellbinding about seeing a beautiful, ancient and handwritten text:
Greek manuscript at the Abbey library
Most of the students were beginners. Each one chose a letter of the alphabet which we worked with as a traditional Roman, then blind contour drawing, and adding text:
L Doctor demo in clas
I made this entry in my pocket sketchbook, after our trip to the library:
Sketchbook entry at St Meinrad Abbey/ L Doctor
At one point Brother Martin arrived in our classroom with a bucket full of lilacs in bloom- filling the air with their fragrance. The sound of the bells and the announcement of spring joined:
The temple bell stops
but I still hear the sound
coming out of the flowers
–Basho
Do you have some stories about bells, calligraphy or spring? I'd love to hear from you.