Calligraphy demonstrated during Artists’ Open Houses in Ditchling

Two of Britain’s foremost calligraphers will be demonstrating their skills in Ditchling in a series of much anticipated public workshops.
Hand drawn map of East SussexHand drawn map of East Sussex
Hand drawn map of East Sussex

Patricia Gidney and Gerald Fleuss are co-founders of the Edward Johnston Foundation dedicated to the promotion and awareness of calligraphy.

Johnston, by his teaching and practice almost single-handedly revived the art of formal penmanship.

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He designed the sans-serif alphabet for the London Underground and two of the most popular types of our day, ‘Perpetua’ and ‘Gill Sans’, were by his pupil Eric Gill (1882-1940)

Patricia Gidney and Gerald Fleuss are following in Johnston’s illustrious footsteps, taking calligraphy and design to new levels of intricacy and achievement.

They established the partnership ‘Calligraphy and Design’ over thirty years ago and specialize in calligraphy and lettering together with associated skills such as heraldry, book design, illustration and glass engraving.

They will be demonstrating their work between 2pm and 4pm at The White Horse in West Street, Ditchling during every weekend in May as part of the Ditchling Artists’ Open Houses event, which is running during the Brighton Festival.

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The annual event in the village is billed as an inspirational trail encompassing a rich artistic heritage including Eric Gill, Sir Frank Brangwyn and The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic.

Exhibitions are in studios, workshops, galleries, public houses and restaurants and show a diverse range of high quality art and craft skills, courses, poetry readings and music.

Patricia Gidney studied calligraphy at Roehampton Institute and has been working to commission and teaching the craft since 1984.

She has completed a series of 44 botanical illustrations for greeting card and bookmark designs and her many commissions include producing hand drawn maps for a book on the history of the Royal Navy and work for The College of Arms and St Paul’s Cathedral.

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Gerald Fleuss studied calligraphy and book-binding at the Roehampton Institute and co-authored ‘Practical Calligraphy’.

Some of his finest work is included in public collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Harvard University and the Houghton Library.

Gerald is a senior research fellow in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Brighton.

For further details of opening times and all the artists, craftsmen and venues in the open houses’ trail in Ditchling visit artinditchling.wordpress.com

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