Spring-Summer 2024 Newsletter
Lonnie Rich
Retired Art Educator and Working Artist
From the Studio
Winter is giving way to the Spring, which is a time of renewal. It's my favorite time of the year. I enjoy being outside working in the yard. But it is a "catch 22," as it does take time away from my studio work. I suppose the yard is my studio too, and I should just take in the fresh air when I can.
I have gone about as far as I can with my study into shaped notations. It was a good learning experience for me, both about music and about honing some of my technical skills. That creative process will be added to some of my next projects.
Teaching calligraphy, italic handwriting and lettering for over 30 years has made its way back around in the studio. In recent months I have focused on doing illuminations of various pages and working them into book form. The subjects of the illuminations have varied, as I have done secular and religious or spiritual writings. I spent the better part of two months working on illuminating The Sermon on the Mount. It ended up being about 17 illuminated pages (I didn't remember it being that long).
My last book of pages revolved around love poems. The book is titled Illuminations about Love. Below are a few selected images from those two books, and you can look at the full body of illuminations on my website in the "Illuminations" section.
Totaled I have done about seven books. I've shown two of them at gallery shows and they have been well received. Perhaps I will arrange with the Public Library to house them for the summer, so that I can share them with the public. Not to check out, but to be viewed in a controlled situation in the library.
