Charles Pearce (calligrapher)

Last updated

Charles Pearce, Eureka Springs, AR 2011 CharlesP.jpg
Charles Pearce, Eureka Springs, AR 2011

Charles Pearce (born 1943) is a British calligrapher and painter, known for his exceptional craftsmanship in the art of letterforms. His works are held in collections worldwide, including by members of the British Royal Family. Renowned for the strength and elegance of his calligraphy, Pearce's manuals are widely recommended by calligraphy instructors to students across the globe.

Contents


Early life and education

Born Charles Rothwell Pearce in Aston, Birmingham, he is the eldest son of Charles Kenneth Rothwell Pearce, an English and Drama teacher, later Headmaster, and Winifred Helen Mary Pearce (née Evans), a concert pianist. He has two brothers, Robert and Julian, and a sister, Barbara.

He studied at Tettenhall College (Wolverhampton), and the Leek School of Arts and Crafts (Leek, Staffordshire). At the Central School of Arts and Crafts (London), he studied with Dorothy Mahoney, William Gardner, and Ann Camp. At the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts (London, England), he studied under Donald Jackson and Sidney Bendall, graduating with a National Diploma in Design at Special Level in Writing and Illuminating and Lettering. [1]

Career

After graduation Pearce went to work for Decca Records in their Lambeth studio designing record sleeves and promotional literature, and then on to a small advertising agency in the West End of London. He left there to become an assistant to both Donald Jackson and Sidney Bendall. He worked with Bendall for some four years designing and cutting letters in stone and wood, but remained with Jackson for almost fifteen years, through 1979.

In 1971 he was made a Fellow of the Society of Scribes & Illuminators. Pearce and Jackson worked on many commissions which came into Jackson's studio. One included a huge family tree which measured 8ft by 4ft, and was a large board covered with a cowhide which had been prepared as for vellum. A large amount of his time during this period was involved in the design and signage for Cranks Health Foods until they were taken over by Guinness.

In 1980, Pearce relocated to New York City for work. While living in New York he primarily worked for two major clients: Pentalic Corporation and RKO Century Warner Theaters. It was during this time that he was awarded artist in residence status by the City, which thus allowed him to convert loft space into a working studio.

Pearce relocated again to Cleveland in 1991 and worked in the American Greetings design studios for almost ten years, during which he was trained in the use of computer technology. He finally left to go back to working freelance and was granted a contract by AG for 16 months to give him the opportunity to work his way back into that market.

Freelance work

Pearce began to use brushes on canvas rather than pens and paper which gave him the opportunity to work considerably larger than previously. He has developed a technique which involves the throwing of paint onto raw canvas, to create the start of his paintings. He then stretches the canvas onto frames/stretchers which he has designed specially to take the force of stretching the canvas, which doesn't involve any cross-bracing. His largest single canvas to date measures 5 ft by 9 ft.

It was on a visit back to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where he had taught a workshop back in 1988, that he was suddenly struck by the idea that he no longer needed to live in Cleveland and could, in fact, do something which he had wanted to do for much of his life: live in the country. In late 2000 he bought 12 acres just outside Eureka Springs and began work on designing and constructing a studio in which he could also live. Whiskey Spring Studio was completed in 2003. [2]

While no longer a member of the Eureka Fine Art Gallery, he continues to paint in his studio, constantly expanding the use of calligraphy in abstract paintings. He also works occasionally with John Robert Willer, another fine Arkansas painter, with whom he has been creating a series of Ozark paintings which they call the "Blue Grass Series". He is currently working to have his paintings established in cities around where he lives. he is represented by J. r. Jones and the Two25 Gallery and Wine Bar in Bentonville. He also welcomes people to his studio just south of Eureka Springs

Personal life

In 1966, he married Linda Margaret (née Cook), and lived for three years in Palmers Green, London, before moving to Hertford in 1969 and then to Ware, Hertfordshire. They have three sons. Pearce and his wife were divorced in 1979.

Publications

Exhibitions

One man shows

Group shows

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jackson Pollock</span> American painter (1912–1956)

Paul Jackson Pollock was an American painter. A major figure in the abstract expressionist movement, Pollock was widely noticed for his "drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a horizontal surface, enabling him to view and paint his canvases from all angles. It was called all-over painting and action painting, since he covered the entire canvas and used the force of his whole body to paint, often in a frenetic dancing style. This extreme form of abstraction divided critics: some praised the immediacy of the creation, while others derided the random effects.

Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the immediate aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depression and Mexican muralists. The term was first applied to American art in 1946 by the art critic Robert Coates. Key figures in the New York School, which was the center of this movement, included such artists as Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Mark Rothko, Norman Lewis, Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Clyfford Still, Robert Motherwell and Theodoros Stamos Lee Krasner among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Bierstadt</span> German-American landscape painter (1830–1902)

Albert Bierstadt was a German American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was not the first artist to record the sites, but he was the foremost painter of them for the remainder of the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Tobey</span> American painter

Mark George Tobey was an American painter. His densely structured compositions, inspired by Asian calligraphy, resemble Abstract expressionism, although the motives for his compositions differ philosophically from most Abstract Expressionist painters. His work was widely recognized throughout the United States and Europe. Along with Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan, Morris Graves, and William Cumming, Tobey was a founder of the Northwest School. Senior in age and experience, he had a strong influence on the others; friend and mentor, Tobey shared their interest in philosophy and Eastern religions. Similar to others of the Northwest School, Tobey was mostly self-taught after early studies at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1921, Tobey founded the art department at The Cornish School in Seattle, Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Krasner</span> American abstract expressionist painter (1908–1984)

Lenore "Lee" Krasner was an American painter and visual artist active primarily in New York whose work has been associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement. She received her early academic training at the Women's Art School of Cooper Union, and the National Academy of Design from 1928 to 1932. Krasner's exposure to Post-Impressionism at the newly opened Museum of Modern Art in 1929 led to a sustained interest in modern art. In 1937, she enrolled in classes taught by Hans Hofmann, which led her to integrate influences of Cubism into her paintings. During the Great Depression, Krasner joined the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project, transitioning to war propaganda artworks during the War Services era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julian Stanczak</span> Polish-born American painter

Julian Stanczak was a Polish-born American painter and printmaker who is considered a central figure of the Op art movement in the U.S. during the 1960s and 1970s. Described as an artist whose work "evinced a tremendous geometric inventiveness", Stanczak is primarily known for his large-scale polychromatic abstract compositions made using acrylic paint on canvas in which he explored the perceptual dimensions of color.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western calligraphy</span> Art of writing

Western calligraphy is the art of writing and penmanship as practiced in the Western world, especially using the Latin alphabet.

Paul Jenkins was an American abstract expressionist painter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Brooks (painter)</span> American Abstract Expressionist, muralist, abstract painter, art teacher (1906–1992)

James David Brooks was an American Abstract Expressionist, muralist, abstract painter, art teacher, and winner of the Logan Medal of the Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugène Carrière</span> French painter

Eugène Anatole Carrière was a French Symbolist artist of the fin-de-siècle period. Carrière's paintings are best known for their near-monochrome brown palette and their ethereal, dreamlike quality. He was a close friend of Auguste Rodin and his work likely influenced Pablo Picasso's Blue Period. He was also associated with such writers as Paul Verlaine, Stéphane Mallarmé and Charles Morice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Pousette-Dart</span> American abstract expressionist artist

Richard Warren Pousette-Dart was an American abstract expressionist artist most recognized as a founder of the New York School of painting. His artistic output also includes drawing, sculpture, and fine-art photography.

Jamil Naqsh, was a British Pakistani painter who lived a reclusive life in London from 2012 until his death. He briefly studied at National College of Arts but left before obtaining a degree. His work has been described as idealized and sensual.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Benjamin Graham</span> Australian artist (1925–1987)

Peter Benjamin Graham was an Australian visual artist, printer, and art theorist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Pearce (artist)</span> English painter

Michael Pearce is an English, California-based figurative painter and author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabor Peterdi</span> American-Hungarian artist (1915–2001)

Gabor Peterdi was a Hungarian-American painter and printmaker who immigrated to the United States in 1939. He enlisted in the US Army and fought in Europe during World War II. He lived and worked primarily in New York and Connecticut, teaching at the Brooklyn Museum, Hunter College and Yale University in addition to working at his art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monjett Graham</span>

Monjett Graham is a contemporary American artist and writer.

<i>Autumn Rhythm (Number 30)</i> Painting by Jackson Pollock

Autumn Rhythm is a 1950 abstract expressionist painting by American artist Jackson Pollock in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The work is a distinguished example of Pollock's 1947-52 poured-painting style, and is often considered one of his most notable works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suzanne Jackson (artist)</span> American visual artist

Suzanne Jackson is an American visual artist, gallery owner, poet, dancer, educator, and set designer; with a career spanning five decades. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. Since the late 1960s, Jackson has dedicated her life to studio art with additional participation in theatre, teaching, arts administration, community life, and social activism. Jackson's oeuvre includes poetry, dance, theater, costume design, paintings, prints, and drawings.

<i>Spring Ice</i> Painting by Tom Thomson

Spring Ice is a 1915–16 oil painting by Canadian painter Tom Thomson. The work was inspired by a sketch completed on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park. The completed canvas is large, measuring 72.0 cm × 102.3 cm. Painted over the winter of 1915–16, it was completed in Thomson's shack behind the Studio Building in Toronto. The painting was produced as he was in the peak of his short art career and is considered one of his most notable works. While exhibited in a show put on by the Ontario Society of Artists, the work received mixed to positive reviews. In 1916 it was purchased by the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa and has remained in the collection ever since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Carton</span> American artist and educator


Norman Carton was an American artist and educator known for abstract expressionist art. He was born in the Ukraine region of Imperial Russia and moved to the United States in 1922 where he spent most of his adult life.

References

  1. "Instructor biography". Black and White Conference. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  2. "The Art of Charles Pearce". Eureka Springs Artists Registry. Retrieved 14 December 2011.

Further reading