Automatic Pen Expressive Calligraphy with Kirsten Burke

A rare and exclusive chance to spend a full day learning directly from this inspiring, world renowned calligrapher.

We have a very special event for a handful of lucky calligraphy-lovers!

By the end of your time with Kirsten, not only will you feel fantastically inspired and empowered to continue creating expressive, confident lettering, you'll also have your very own signed, original Kirsten Burke artwork to take home (usually commissioned for £100).

Master Calligrapher and creative trailblazer Kirsten Burke is taking time out of her schedule to offer this truly unique opportunity. 

Together with Kirsten, you'll look at how to use various techniques to form expressive lettering, unique to you. Kirsten is known for her gestural, mark-making aesthetic - a style that lends itself perfectly to the speed and energy involved in automatic pen lettering. She will show you how the creativity and gestures of the scribe, along with the splashes and splatters of the pen, come together to form a one-of-a-kind, spectacular work of art.

This special workshop explores the sensory reactions we have to hand-lettering, throwing a light on the exciting balance between happy accidents and pen control. With the right amount of force, an automatic pen lifts on its edge to create a hairline that can become a flourish, and if you work quickly, splashes of ink will fire from it when the corner of the blade catches on the surface of your paper and create an eye-catching spray of colour! 

You will also look at how to form an alphabet using fast, frantic marks, layers of colour and a dynamic lettering - you'll focus on the small 'caps' alphabet, which you can create with a brush or nib to compliment the artwork you complete. 

We encourage you to consider the names you'd like to include on your artwork - these are often family members, but can be whoever you'd like to honour! Aim to use a maximum of 5-6 names, although if you have a larger family, we can accomodate additional names.

All the materials you’ll need are provided, and delicious refreshments will be available throughout.

We have a small shop at our studio, stocking some of our favourite calligraphy supplies, including the items you will have used during your workshop so that you can continue your calligraphy journey at home! 

When booking your workshop please give us a mobile telephone contact number so that if we need to cancel for safety reasons at short notice we will be able to contact you!

We are pleased to say that as a COVID secure venue, we are able to continue hosting workshops in our studios. We hope that being able to attend our workshops will give our students a much-needed opportunity to learn and relax in safety when so many other options are unavailable.

We take safety at our workshops seriously and we will do everything necessary to keep you safe and have a great workshop. We have a rigorous workshop hygiene procedure, socially distanced workstations, and practice no-touch teaching.

We ask that you please do not attend if you are feeling ill, or think that you may have been exposed to the virus. You are really welcome to attend a workshop with someone from your bubble but we cannot accept bookings of groups over six. Bubble members will be seated together,  socially distanced from other bubbles and individuals. Please wear a  mask to enter and move around the studio, but you are free to remove your mask if you want when you are seated.

We  are continually reviewing our measures as new government guidelines are released, and the latest version of our safety procedures can always be found on our website, including what to expect when you attend a  workshop.

For our up to date health and safety procedures please visit our Keeping You Safe page: https://www.themoderncalligraphyco.com/keeping-you-safe