Dalton Zheng teaches an introduction to Chinese ink painting course at Richmond’s Visual Arts Center. (Photo by Jay Paul)
In the days after the fall of Rome, the art of writing — once taught to all citizens — nearly vanished. It wasn’t until the Frankish king Charlemagne, around the year 800, had his scholars devise Carolingian minuscule, a legible common script, that the look of the modern English language took shape. By the 12th century, the script had evolved into blackletter, often called Gothic or Old English today.
When Claire Vendetti took her first calligraphy class at age 7, she learned Old English script. It was the way calligraphy classes had been taught for centuries. But when she began to work through other styles of writing, she found a new way of using her pen. “The Old English calligraphy is what my dad and grandfather used to do. It’s still very admirable and very beautiful,” Vendetti says. “But with modern calligraphy, it can be anything you want it to be.”
Now, Vendetti — founder and owner of Billie Claire Handmade, an illustration studio specializing in “elegantly irreverent” greeting cards, stickers, tote bags and stationery — brings newer techniques to the workshops she teaches.
“Most of the style I do is modern faux-calligraphy and modern hand-lettering,” Vendetti says. Unlike traditional calligraphy, both of these styles call for outlined letters that are later filled in.
Billie Claire Handmade, a Richmond-based illustration studio, specializes in modern forms of hand-lettering. (Photo courtesy Claire Vendetti)
“I did a four-session class last year at Cedarfield Retirement Community. A lot of the students were used to doing the rote practice, and I kind of came in like a tornado,” she says. Leaning into her students’ styles, Vendetti says, produces satisfying results quickly.
Dalton Zheng, a Richmond ink artist originally from China, teaches a very different kind of calligraphy class at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond. In a class based on traditional Chinese techniques, he shows students how to apply ink to paper, not for the creation of letters, but for the representation of forms. “My ink wash class is open to all levels,” Zheng says. “We practice with Chinese ink and paper. Unlike regular watercolor paper, which can be very thick, rice paper is very soft and fragile.”
Zheng stresses a major difference between traditional Chinese art and traditional Western art to his students. “Firstly, I tell them that they need to forget about all their understanding of art. Even if they have no experience, forget everything you saw before, because this is a completely different system,” he says. “Don’t worry about foreshortening, lighting, shading, any of that. Just focus on the mark you are making.”
“If you want a detail to look delicate, you have to treat it delicately,” he notes. “There is no ‘Control Z’ in real life. Don’t try to copy shapes — try to translate them into symbols. Trust the material so that the material will trust you.”
Once you have the basics down, you can explore your creativity, wherever that goes, Vendetti says. “What I love the most when I teach is that we’re all learning the same layout, but once I let people run with it, you can see every single person’s style and interpretation,” she says. “I love watching everyone take it in a completely different direction.”
