‘So romantic’: Calligraphy guild hosting exhibition at Calgary’s Fish Creek Library

The Bow Valley Calligraphy Guild has 200 or so members and this year is celebrating 45 years of what it calls 'lettering excellence'. The group will be holding workshops, exhibits and other activities all through the rest of the month at the Fish Creek Library.

The Bow Valley Calligraphy Guild is hosting an exhibition of their art at the Fish Creek Library for the month of September.

It’s members use a variety of techniques that are on display and on select days, some of the calligraphers are on site to talk about their work and host demonstrations.

“It’s to showcase our work and to really show the public that calligraphy is alive and well and growing, there’s just such variety to jump into, it’s a good community of artists and community is something that everybody really craves,” said Kerri Forster, long time member.

“When people see the variety, they’re shocked, it’s a great skill, art and craft.”

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The guild has about 200 members and is celebrating 45 years of what it calls ‘lettering excellence’.

Maxie Pena joined in 2024 and has always been passionate about cursive writing.

With calligraphy, she says she can take it to a whole new level by using an oblique pen holder known as a ‘dip pen’.

“So what we do is we dip it in ink and then when you write on the page and you press on it, it creates swells,” she said. “But if you don’t press, it creates thin lines so I just immediately fell in love with that, it feels so romantic when you see it, at least for me.”

Pena says the public she’s hearing from say they have a connection with handmade arts that’s not the same with computer generated images. She says it’s also a way for her to unwind after a challenging day.

“You just focus on what’s in front of you, you can tune out the world and just stay at your desk for hours,” she said. “Focusing on how the nib reacts to the page, how the ink flows from the nib to the paper, it just tunes out everything and it relaxes you.”

Valerie Louis has turned her love of the art form into a business where she connects with companies to personalize their brand with clients.

“The coordinator of the brand will usually have something in mind, a gift to take home, something that they’re promoting,” she said. “They’ll ask how I can make it special for their clients.

Louis says she’s lettered all kinds of surfaces, large and small for customers.

“Leather products, glass, metal, ceramic, plastic, walls, pretty much anything goes,” she said. “They hand me something and say figure out what you can do with it.”

Her favorite is working with glass and uses a tool to etch right onto it and then fills in the engraving with colored paint.

“There’s something about seeing your name written really pretty on something,” she said. “Especially, I would say like your perfume, it’s part of you getting ready, you see your name written pretty - you feel pretty, it really is this personal touch.”

The guild is hosting a few workshops as part of it’s library exhibition. Learn more about it online.