Majoor
Martin
December
7–11
Year
2020
Working time: 5 days, 6 hours a day on-line × 9 parallel groups of 10–20 participants per group.
Designing a sans in five days
About the workshop
The purpose of this course is for students to learn the basics of Japanese culture, calligraphy, and apply it to their art works. Class type: Lecture + Practice.
Objectives
In the course, students can learn the general history of Japanese calligraphy-from the influence of China to the birth of Japanese characters and the flow to the present day. Also they can see the role of modern calligraphy and what kind of activities it has as art while watching photos and videos of calligraphers.
At the practice students can learn the basics: posture, how to hold and move the brush. Besides, they can know the spiritual way of thinking about making works in calligraphy. The goal is to be able to draw the lines you want with a single brush by practicing what is called a RINSHO and letting the movement of the brush soak into the body. Once they understand how to handle the brush, they have to choose one Japanese kanji character , understand its meaning and create their own form using ink, oil and the tools of their choice to create their own work.
Course content and outcomes
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Introduction presentation of Japanese calligraphy
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Practice + creation
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On the final day, students will present their work
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The results of course – an online exhibition (if possible)
Tools and materials
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Obligatory: ink, various types of brushes, large paper (B1), oil
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Others: Paints, oil crayons, and other painting tools
Workshop description
Schedule
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Monday
Japanese calligraphy, basic calligraphy lecture + practice
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Tuesday
practice + select kanji and sketch the composition (in the morning)
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Wednesday
creating (morning)
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Thursday
finish creating, presentation from students
Martin Majoor
Martin Majoor (*1960) has been active as a free-lance graphic designer since the mid 1980’s. He designed books, covers, stamps and posters, but he is best known for his type designs, like Scala, Telefont, Nexus and Questa (the latter in collaboration with Jos Buivenga). He worked as a teacher at the art schools in Arnhem and Breda, nowadays he conducts type design workshops throughout the world. As a lecturer he likes to show how the old analogue world of metal type can live on in contemporary digital type. Majoor wrote articles for magazines like Items, Page, 2+3D and Eye, as well as contributing to several books on typography.