Minutes, Knots and Wallace and Gromit

Our meeting in June doubles as the Society's AGM so the day started with the formal business of minutes, accounts and the election of officers.
The afternoon activity was with Susan Moor and she showed us how to create Celtic knots using a drawn grid and painting in the elements of the design. She let us use some of the red pigment she was given as part of her recent Time Team filming experience and with it she mixed egg tempera paint. The egg yolk used gives the paint a rich, glossy look and it is smooth to apply. Some tests for paint coverage made during the Time Team filming are shown below.
After we had all got ourselves knotted over this we then moved on to the highlight of the afternoon; a talk from Professor Richard Gameson on the origins and influences on the creation of the Lindisfarne Gospels. The main questions that Professor Gameson addressed were why these gospels were made, why they look as they do, and what were they for?
He explained that the Lindisfarne monastery was an Irish foundation and when the Synod of Whitby of 664 AD decided to sideline the Irish tradition the blow to the power and prestige of the religious establishment there was deep. The Lindisfarne Gospels may have been a response to this.

He described how the vibrant design of the Gospels was the result of borrowings and adaptations from some very different sources: the spaces between the words and graphic symbols such as capitals and punctuation were from the Irish Insular tradition; the canon tables were based on Italian designs to which Eadfrith added Celtic knotwork and Germanic ornament; only Greek gospels then had portraits in them so this idea was copied, as were the Greek titles; Irish books had carpet pages so these were used incorporating crosses and other Christian symbols and these pages can be 'read' too. The text integrated Latin, Greek and runic style letterforms with the designs and this harmony of text and ornament points strongly one artist, probably Eadfrith, being the creator. A 10th century colophon states that the book was created by him.
In combining so many elements the book seemed to make a statement about Irish-Columban traditions in a Roman world. And did it succeed? Professor Gameson said that Alcuin wrote subsequently that nowhere is holier than Lindisfarne, so it seems to have.

Where do Wallace and Gromit fit in? Professor Gameson talked about the travels of Benedict Biscop and Ceolfrith and likened the pair to the plasticine characters - although he didn't say who he thought was which.

Workshop Programme July - December 2011

The programme of workshops for the second part of the year is shown above. If you would like to try your hand at calligraphy you are very welcome to come along - we meet on the third Saturday of each month at Bede's World in Jarrow and meetings start at 10.30.

Also announced are the dates for our annual exhibition, also at Bede's World. This will be in the exhibition space in the entrance to the museum, is free of charge, and runs from 15 September to 31 October.

June Meeting - AGM of the Society of Northumbrian Scribes

Saturday 18 June is the AGM of Northumbrian Scribes. The meeting is at Bede's World and will start at the usual time of 10.30. After lunch there will be an activity for which you will need to bring a pencil, eraser, 12 inch ruler and fineliner. After the activity there will be a talk by Richard Gameson of Durham University on the Lindisfarne Gospels. If you recall his talk to Scribes last year then you will appreciate that we are in for a treat. See you all there.

The end of the world is nigh ... oh, no it isn't!

I suppose it was tempting fate to have a workshop on the day that Mr Harold Camping, the US evangelist, had declared to be the day the world was to end, but as that event was not due to happen until 6pm we decided to go ahead anyway and enjoy the day.

David Price showed us how to make the elegant and fluid Sanvito capitals created by Bartolomeo Sanvito in the fifteenth century. Partly written, partly drawn, most of the letters are written at a 30 degree angle with a broad-edge pen and the serifs drawn in afterward with the edge of the pen.
David demonstrating that the accomplished scribe can write sideways too
One Northumbrian Scribe chose to work on the floor

Provided with some Latin quotations scribes were encouraged to add a second script with the translation into English

A number of scribes rose to the spirit of the day with their selection of quotations and the above seems to sum up pretty well. (For those who made it past 6pm unscathed apparently Mr Camping's new prediction is that the world will now end on 21st October - fortunately not a workshop day for Northumbrian Scribes)

Pauline Allan 1954 -2011

Pauline was one of the founder members of Northumbrian Scribes back in 1988. She was a very active and enthusiastic member, and contributed greatly to the early development of the group. Long-standing Scribes will remember that in those days she often brought her son Matthew along to the meetings. The above photograph shows Pauline with her son at his graduation.

With the help of visiting Canadian calligrapher Suzanne Cannon, Pauline started the newsletter which soon became an essential way for us to keep in touch, as well as being informative and entertaining. She was also a committee member, and hosted meetings at her Wallsend home. For a number of years Pauline came to the Monday classes for Scribes. I recall a fellow class-member, an ardent recent convert, asking Pauline if she was a born-again Christian, and Pauline replying drily, "No, I'm an original Christian."

Pauline's spirituality was very important in her life, and I'll always be grateful to her for persuading me to go on a calligraphy retreat with Robert Cooper and Ewan Clayton in 1992. I remember her huge enthusiasm for Lindisfarne: she could hardly wait to show me the island. We both enjoyed returning for many other retreats.

Pauline contributed to The Book of Escomb in the mid Nineties, and it was after the freezing weekend spent in Escomb Church that her serious health problems began to appear.

She eventually had to retire from her job with the police force, but determinedly kept active in her church and worked for charity, including the Samaritans. Sadly, Pauline's health problems also meant that she was able to be less and less active in the Scribes, and attended less regularly. She was pleased to be able to contribute to Building Bridges, even though it was a considerable effort for her. When she was no longer able to do calligraphy, she continued her creativity with card-making and planning her church's flower festival.

Susan Moor