Animal Scribax

Beethoven

Yves Leterme — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 20:12:57 +0000

Hi there,

This week I filmed pieces of my work, a pianist at work and my own hand at work. It all resulted in a film with Beethovens ‘Pathétique’ as musical score, an absolutely wonderful piece of piano music if you ask me.
I want to share it with you, my trusted followers. Hope you will enjoy it: there’s lot of live writing in it. Of course, you can forward the link to other people if you want. Here it is:

Best
Yves

Finally an update

Yves Leterme — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:40:30 +0000

Hi folks,
I must confess I neglected my blog terribly. Almost forgot I had one. But I suppose you all have better things to do than anxiously waiting for an update. Still, here it is.
What happened since October last year ? Oh, the exhibit in the castle of Poeke went fine. Sold three pieces, all to the same man, I found out later, a teacher in graphic design – which is nice to know.
Eye on Art Gallery, located in the design district of Carmel, Indiana, bought some work and will hopefully become a distributor of my work in the States.
I accepted to participate in a few exhibitions locally. One of the gallery-owners urged me to work larger and on canvas, which I did… for a few days. I may well return to the canvas, but that was hard labour and I still need to find my path there.
I also promised a contribution for a big project with prisoners writing texts and European artists giving shape to their words. More news about that will follow.
I made a series of works, inspired by the ancient myth of Theseus and Ariadne, to accompany the harp music performed by Andrea Voets, an old student of mine. These works resulted into a film which is projected while Andrea plays the harp. You can see a fragment of that collaboration on Youtube

I’m currently taking lessons in Premiere Elements and that movie was the first one I did. I made another one on my exhibit in Antwerp, that I also posted on Youtube

I sent some material (video, pictures and comments) to Denis Brown, who wanted to include me in the ‘guest section’ of his highly reputed Calligraphy TV program. And I am thrilled with the result. People who have subscribed to the series will understand why. To find yourself among calligraphers like Brody Neuenschwander, John Stevens, Thomas Ingmire and Hans Joachim Burgert… it made my day.
I’ve started the coaching of the students who will contribute to a big exhibition in April. In my class I have seasoned calligraphers as well as painters and aquarellists who have never seen a nib at close range. And yet they will all incorporate letters into their work.
I’ve added another teaching topic to my little list. I’ve become quite familiar with the Pentel Point Brush and made a workshop around it, which I’ve tried out a few times already locally.
I haven’t done a lot of teaching lately, but I worked on various commissions ànd I took the time to fill my portfolio again. You can see some of it by visiting my website and clicking on the button ‘new work’ on the welcome page.
In the meantime, nearly all my copies of ‘Thoughtful Gestures’ have left the building. I have about 40 copies left. If you decide that life is definitely worthless without a copy of that book, you’d better be quick.
And finally, I sent notice to a few calligraphy guilds in the States that I would plan one or two tours and that I’m available for bookings. One tour is getting shape and will bring me in the North West (Montana, Washington, possibly Minnesota and Canada) in Spring 2013. Another one is scheduled for Autumn this year. If your guild is interested to be part of that tour, feel free to contact me as soon as possible.

I guess that’s all for now. Thanks for reading this. I’ll be back.
Yves

After the Rush

Yves Leterme — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:24:31 +0000

Hi all,
It’s been a while since I last posted something on my blog. The first half year of 2011 was loaded with workshops, travels, the preparation of my exhibit in Antwerp and the publishing and selling of my book. Halfway August I could finally relax from all the fuss. And in recent weeks I have been able to produce some new work. You can have a look at a selection of it on

https://picasaweb.google.com/kalligraaf.yvesleterme/NieuwWerk?authkey=Gv1sRgCL6StYOB2Mf-SQ#slideshow/5659603959032281586

Please copy and paste the URL into your browser to view the works.

Apart from some local workshops there’s not much planned for the months to come. Time to do some commissions, prepare a few new workshops, produce new work… and there will be again a huge exhibition in April next year with personal work and work of my students. More info and pictures will certainly follow.

In a more distant future, there will be workshops held in Cheerio, Washington, Memphis, Chicago, Santa Fe and Portland. Also two in France: Nancy and Niort.

Last weekend saw the closing of my exhibit in the Antwerp church. A film about the whole project will be made and I’ll post a link to it when it’s ready. Last weekend also saw the opening of another exhibit in which I take part. The venue is the Castle of Poeke: we are 50 artists and I’m represented with 6 works. See for more info: www.biennalepoeke.be

Take care,
Yves.

Out of Africa

Yves Leterme — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 12:23:29 +0000

Hi all,

Just got back from South-Africa, where I spent a wonderful three weeks in the company of my fellow calligraphers. Met nothing but nice people, who guided me around, served me the best food and spoiled me in various ways. I stayed in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Capetown for in total 6 workshops. In the meantime I could fully appreciate the mild climate in midwinter (there’s a good reason for migrating immediately) and the beautiful scenery of Capetown. Nice also to callitalk with colleagues such as Heleen de Haas, Andrew Vandermerwe, Leesette Turner, Hilary Adams, and so many others… Ah, I could go on for some time here. Let me just post a few pictures. Follow this link on picasa for a slideshow of a ridiculously small selection of pics:

https://picasaweb.google.com/kalligraaf.yvesleterme/SouthAfricaJuly2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCOCPw_zrj8GzmwE#

And now, I need to make the last preparations for the next workshop, starting tomorrow evening. Don’t have to travel far this time: Turnhout, Belgium. It is the last one of quite a series. I have nothing scheduled for the rest of this year.

Take care,
Yves

Workshop in the Dordogne

Yves Leterme — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:41:46 +0000

The reason for not posting anything sooner about the exhibition is that I had to prepare some workshops for France and South Africa. I just returned from a three day workshop in the Dordogne for Atelier Calligraphie, organised by Emmanuel Spaeth, whom you may know from ‘Mail Art Across the World’. Always a delight to stroll around in the old parts of a French city and to taste their bread, wine and cheese. Not to mention the French calligraphers, who are a delight in themselves. Emmanuel threw a big bunch of pictures of the class events on picasa. Here’s the link.

https://picasaweb.google.com/zeshadok/201107StageGestuelleYvesLeterme#

You’ll see lots of quick demo-stuff on the spot, some finished pieces done by me and work done by participants.
And now, I need to get ready for South-Africa.

The Antwerp Exhibition

Yves Leterme — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:05:39 +0000

Sorry this took me so long. On Saturday June 25th the exhibition in the Antwerp church St-Anna opened. Everything went fine, no accidents reported. It is the first time I’m having a solo exhibition, and a rather big one at that. Visitors can watch a movie, a text on the floor of about 14 m long and a huge column of canvases, lighted from within. Next to these monumental things, I’ve made new work on paper, wood and fabric with texts relating to the theme, which is about the scandals in the church and a modern iconoclast. If you can’t make it to Antwerp in the coming three months, you can get an idea by following this link: www.anna3.be, then click on the ‘info’ button below my picture and this will lead you to three series of pictures. Hope you’ll enjoy them.
Yves

Books and exhibitions

Yves Leterme — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:09:31 +0000

Hi,
Had a few busy weeks trying to deal with the orders for my book – signing, packing, bookkeeping, sending… all fairly new to me, and it’s a lot of work, but I love it : it’s great to feel the response so directly. Thanks to all the people who have contacted me in the last weeks and a very special thank you to all those who took it upon them to place a group order and deal with the dispatching. About 850 copies have left my garage now,… and they took some worries with them.
At the same time I’m in the final stage of preparations for a major solo exhibit in Antwerp by the end of this month. It includes some monumental work on fabric, a movie and huge lettering on the floor, along with a separate, more common exhibition showcasing a few gesso-works I did for the occasion and some black and white pieces. Since this is not intended to be a selling opportunity I pushed many borders in these works and I often found myself in unknown territory. I can’t show much pictures for the moment (still a secret to some degree), but I will in due time. So hang on.

Yves

Sending Thoughtful Gestures into the World

Yves Leterme — Tue, 17 May 2011 20:24:33 +0000

Hi there,
I’ve been busy yesterday and today signing books, wrapping them carefully up, writing addresses and writing down orders. A few larger packages have already been picked up. Some individual copies are ready to go out tomorrow. I’ve been informed that at this moment lots of guilds are drawing up a list in order to place a group order. A wise thing to do, since it cuts the shipping costs ànd the cost of the book itself.
If you want to know more about the content of the book, the price and the shipping costs, please go to the welcome page of my website www.yleterme.be and click further.
It is my pleasure to sign and personalize every single book you order by mailing me at yvesleterme@skynet.be
Cheers,
Yves

Another Sabbatical

Yves Leterme — Sun, 08 May 2011 13:12:45 +0000

Yesterday I finally made a decision regarding next schoolyear. Instead of going back to school to teach Latin, I’m going to spend one more year entirely to calligraphy. I’ve enjoyed most of what I did this year: the traveling and teaching part, the making of new work, the commissions, the preparations for the installation/exhibition this coming July, the composing and release of my book ‘Thoughtful Gestures’… well, I’ve been busy.
I have but a few workshops scheduled for next year and I would welcome some more. So if any of you would consider inviting me for a workshop near the place where you live, know that I’m available. I’ll be teaching in the US, most probably on two occasions, so we can add some more to that.
Contact me at yvesleterme@skynet.be for a survey of my workshop topics and further details.

Printing ‘Thoughtful Gestures’

Yves Leterme — Tue, 03 May 2011 12:26:45 +0000

Today my calligraphy book ‘Thoughful Gestures’ gets printed. This morning I was present to see the first sheets rolling out of the press, and it looked just great.
Some time next week I’ll get them all delivered at my doorstep, so very soon I will let you know how to purchase your (signed) copy.
If someone volunteers to get some copies sent to him/her in order to distribute them further among member of your guild, please contact me for further details on yvesleterme@skynet.be, as there will be a discount for larger orders. Thanks.