At the GKCPC we take great pride in the quality of the programs we offer at our regular meetings. Last Thursday we had our best program ever. I cannot tell you good it was. We had Michael Sull, America's greatest living practitioner of Spencerian Handwriting, give a presentation on his career as a Master Penman. Mike is not a large guy and he is very soft spoken and to get him to talk about himself takes some doing. The 30 or so of us in attendance had to be very quiet in order to hear him. And believe me we were.
Mike went through a brief history of American Handwriting, how he got into the field, and how he received his training. Becoming a Master Penman is not one of these "let's go take a class or two" things. You have to apprentice under someone for years to acquire the necessary skills.
Mike discussed his work with President Reagan. He was Reagan's personal calligrapher from the time he was elected to the White House until his (Reagan's) health began to fail in the second term. He also did the Academy Award nomination letters for at least a dozen years. He brought in tons of examples of his work. He even showed us the pen that he designed that is now the standard for all Spencerian penman to use. He has also written several texts on handwriting including the recently released "The American Handwriting System". His work is absolutely revered in Japan.
The absolute highlight of the meeting was when the progam was over Mike sat down and wrote something for each member who wanted one. I watched him do my note and I guess in the two minutes it took him to write it he must have lifted his a dozen or times. And every time he put the pen right down where he left off.
Mike is a founding member of our club and yet no more than a dozen members were even remotely aware of the incredible level of skill of Mike's work.
The only disappointment about the program was that like a clod I once again had failed to make arrangement to have the program video taped.
I would suggest that anyone interested in Mike's work Google Michael Sull calligrapher or visit his website at www.spencerian.com
Mike went through a brief history of American Handwriting, how he got into the field, and how he received his training. Becoming a Master Penman is not one of these "let's go take a class or two" things. You have to apprentice under someone for years to acquire the necessary skills.
Mike discussed his work with President Reagan. He was Reagan's personal calligrapher from the time he was elected to the White House until his (Reagan's) health began to fail in the second term. He also did the Academy Award nomination letters for at least a dozen years. He brought in tons of examples of his work. He even showed us the pen that he designed that is now the standard for all Spencerian penman to use. He has also written several texts on handwriting including the recently released "The American Handwriting System". His work is absolutely revered in Japan.
The absolute highlight of the meeting was when the progam was over Mike sat down and wrote something for each member who wanted one. I watched him do my note and I guess in the two minutes it took him to write it he must have lifted his a dozen or times. And every time he put the pen right down where he left off.
Mike is a founding member of our club and yet no more than a dozen members were even remotely aware of the incredible level of skill of Mike's work.
The only disappointment about the program was that like a clod I once again had failed to make arrangement to have the program video taped.
I would suggest that anyone interested in Mike's work Google Michael Sull calligrapher or visit his website at www.spencerian.com
:
