Colorado Calligraphers' Guild

November 12 Program - By Hand presented by Tim Brookes
2025-11-12 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Denver)
By Hand: The Art of Writing and the Future of the Written Word
Presented by Tim Brookes
Wednesday, November 12, 2025
6:30pm MST on Zoom

Above
1. Calligraphy in the Kulitan script for the Kapampangan language of the Philippines, originally incised in bamboo.
2. That’s me, holding up a carving I’ve just finished in classical Mongolian script. It translates as “Mongolia my heart.”
3. Esther Mahlangu, an artist in the southern African Litema style, whose designs have been commissioned for a BMW concept car and a British Airways jumbo jet. This style of artwork was the inspiration for a new script for Bantu languages.
4. This says “Laan tulis” or “Write!” In Balinese (and the wood, for those who tried guessing, is goncalo alves).
5. An extraordinary thing, almost unthinkable yet fascinating: a newspaper written by hand, in Urdu, in the Nastaliq script.

Members: free, Non-members: $10
Members need not register. Non-members please register on our website below. A zoom link will be sent to current members and program registrants a few days before the program. This program will be recorded for future viewing. Please contact Jenny Allen with questions at ccgprograms@coloradocalligraphers.com.
Program Description
Late in 2024, writer/woodcarver/former NPR essayist Tim Brookes, author of the new book By Hand, made a strange and dismaying discovery. As the founder of the Endangered Alphabets Project, he was well aware that some cultures around the world are reviving their traditional forms of writing, and thereby supporting their sense of culture and identity, by teaching calligraphy. But at the same time, in the United States in particular, the so-called First World is abandoning handwriting in favor of the keyboard—but at what cost? And is this connected to the fact that a startling number of people are now ashamed of their own handwriting?
Consulting neuroscientists, graffiti and tattoo artists, calligraphers, even ink specialists, he took a deeper dive into the nature and value of handwriting than any other writer, even to the point of writing most of the book by hand in violet-blackberry-colored ink in a series of journals with his new calligraphy pen—and in the process discovered astonishing evidence of the value of keeping a journal. His talk will address some of the discoveries he made while writing By Hand by hand, and will ask the question “What is the calligrapher’s place in this time of change and turmoil?”
About Tim
Tim Brookes has absolutely no background in calligraphy. Nor, for that matter, in art or woodwork or linguistics. He is living proof that it is never too late to discover your life’s work.
He was educated at Oxford and has lived in the US since 1980, during which time he has been a writer, editor, guitarist, soccer coach and, most recently, wood carver and founder of the Endangered Alphabets Project. His work advocating for minority scripts from around the world has led to appearances at the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, and colleges and universities around the world.
His latest book, By Hand (due out in November) promotes the role of calligraphy as a means of uniting a culture with its history, traditions and identity, and argues for the importance of handwriting in the Age of AI.
Check out his new books An Atlas of Endangered Alphabets and Writing Beyond Writing on Amazon: The Endangered Alphabets Project www.endangeredalphabets.com and The Atlas of Endangered Alphabets at www.endangeredalphabets.net
Twitter: @EAlphabets
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1190077011746159
Instagram: @EndangeredAlphas

Winter Tea - December 6
2025-12-06 14:00 - 16:00
Colorado Calligraphers’ Guild Members
We hope you can join us for our annual Winter Tea from 2-4pm on Saturday, December 6, 2025 at Grace United Methodist Church, 4905 E. Yale Ave., Denver, CO 80222 (just west of I-25 at the Yale exit, north side of the street). Please use the entrance facing Eudora Street. We will provide a variety of teas and hot spiced apple cider to drink. Feel free to bring your significant other and some holiday goodies to share.
We will be making a Danish Paper Heart, exchanging holiday cards (optional), having a swap table and of course door prizes!
If you want to participate in the card exchange, bring a handmade holiday card and in its envelope please include a separate sheet of paper that has information on how you made the card – materials, paper, where your idea came from, etc. Only those who bring cards will be in on the exchange. We will also have the usual swap table for supplies you want to pass along.
Supplies to bring for making the Danish Heart are: pencil, tracing paper, ruler, scissors, x-acto knife, bone folder, cutting board and double stick tape. The pattern and paper will be supplied or you can bring your own. Sturdy holiday wrapping paper works well.
Please RSVP by Sunday, November 30 to Jenny Allen at jennytallen@gmail.com so we can prepare enough materials. Click this link for directions to Grace United Methodist Church, 4905 E. Yale Ave., Denver 80222. The church shares a parking lot with the Yale Light Rail Station.
We look forward to seeing you all!

January 14 Program - Modified Neuland presented by Carrie Imai
2026-01-14 18:30 - 20:00
Modified Neuland
Presented by Carrie Imai
Wednesday, January 14, 2026
6:30pm MT on Zoom

Members: free, Non-members: $10
Members need not register. Non-members please register below. A zoom link will be sent to current members and program registrants a few days before the program. This program will be recorded for future viewing. Please contact Jenny Allen with questions at ccgprograms@coloradocalligraphers.com.
Program Description
This modified Neuland alphabet, based on Rudolf Koch’s designed typeface, is a wonderful addition to your calligraphic repertoire. It is an easy-to-learn, remarkably useable and adaptable modern hand which is a great start for newbies to calligraphy and the manipulated Neuland will be a challenge for those more experienced. Besides learning two styles of Neuland and the Cuneiform alphabets, we will be experimenting with many new tools for writing, including wood veneer, cardboard and dental tools, which will free us up and allow us to create magical results from gossamer, transparent letters to bold, powerful ones. As this alphabet consists of only majuscule letters, it can be learned quickly, which will leave lots of time for discovering its many variations and applications and learning my sweet “Carrioka” hand, which will introduce you to pen manipulation.
About Carrie
Carrie has been teaching calligraphy and related subjects for over 35 years. Following completion of a certificate program in graphic art and design she started a free-lance calligraphy and graphic arts business, and has worked as a calligrapher for the County of Los Angeles. She has taught at many international calligraphy conferences, UCLA Extension, Brandes Art Institute, Hughes Aircraft, RAND Corporation, and guilds across the US, Canada and in Finland. She is past President of the Society for Calligraphy, Los Angeles and has been the Director of the Letters California Style conference for 15 years. She has published a book entitled “Dancin’ Pen” which is in libraries across the world.
All these ventures have brought her joy. But in her words, “What really turns me on is seeing the light go on in a student’s eyes. Life is good.”
You can view Carrie’s website at www.carriedesigns.com.

March 11 Program - Pysanky Eggs presented by Annie Lawrence
2026-03-11 18:30 - 20:00
March 2026 Program
Pysanky Eggs
Presented by Annie Lawrence
Wednesday, March 11, 2026
6:30pm MT on Zoom

Members: free, Non-members: $10
Members need not register. Non-members please register below. A zoom link will be sent to current members and program registrants a few days before the program. This program will be recorded for future viewing. Please contact Jenny Allen with questions at ccgprograms@coloradocalligraphers.com.
About Annie
Annie Lawrence has been studying Calligraphy and the related arts since 1980. She has taken classes from some of the best calligraphers in the world and considers Marsha Brady her mentor.
Annie’s work has appeared in the Society for Calligraphy, Los Angeles Journal Calligraph, Somerset Studio Magazine, the Artful Book of Days, and The Calligrapher’s Engagement Calendar. Her work has also appeared in many Society for Calligraphy exhibits. In 1998 she was on the Faculty of the 19th International Calligraphy/Lettering Arts Conference in San Diego. Beginning in 2010, for three consecutive years she taught a week long rubber stamp carving class at Yosemite Art Center. She has also been on the Letters California Style Mini Conference faculty for two years teaching bookbinding.
Working from her home studio through the years, she has offered classes and workshops in her community in Calligraphy, Bookbinding, Paste papers, Marbling, Watercolor techniques, Rubber stamp carving, Pysanky and Origami.
While living in Cambria, CA, Annie and her sister Judy, self published a book that is still popular there. “12 Great Walks in Cambria, exploring Paradise on Foot.” In Santa Maria where she is currently residing, Annie did the map “Historical Walk of Santa Maria”. Its proceeds help support the oldest park in Santa Maria, and has been made into a puzzle by the Minerva Club of Santa Maria.

April 7 Program - Vellum presented by Cheryl Jacobsen
2026-04-07 18:30 - 20:00
April 2026 Program
Vellum & A Chance-made Book: Always an Adventure
Presented by Cheryl Jacobsen
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
6:30pm MT on Zoom

Members: free, Non-members: $10
Members need not register. Non-members please register below. A zoom link will be sent to current members and program registrants a few days before the program. This program will be recorded for future viewing until May 9, 2026. Please contact Jenny Allen with questions at ccgprograms@coloradocalligraphers.com.
Program Description
Vellum & A Chance-made Book: Always an Adventure
Join Cheryl as she talks about her experiences with Vellum, the substrate made from animal skins. After an initial 55-page book commission, vellum went from being an intimidating writing surface to a versatile, forgiving, enjoyable and sometimes challenging one. She will talk about some of the books she’s created with it, how she’s experienced the messy making of it, and how she now uses a book creation method that taps into the creativity of chance producing exciting unplanned for results.
About Cheryl
Cheryl Jacobsen has been a working calligrapher and teacher of calligraphy for over thirty years. She is Adjunct Professor of Lettering at the University of Iowa Center for the Book where she leads several semester-long calligraphy classes as well as a hands-on history class analyzing medieval manuscripts. Her freelance work varies widely from design and lettering to assemblage & one-of-a kind books both modern and historical. With Madison Bennett, a vellum scholar and maker, she taught a class focusing on Vellum at the Roman Holiday Conference inn 2024. She is the author of “A Modern Scribe Views Scribes of the Past” in Scraped, Stroked, and Bound: Materially Engaged Readings of Medieval Manuscripts, Brepols 2013. Her work has been seen internationally in shows, lectures and publications including Letter Arts Review, Alphabet and Bound & Lettered.

Program - Greeting Card Designs by Margaret Stookesberry
2026-08-15 14:00 - 17:00
Be ready for any occasion with a mid-summer program for calligraphers.
Saturday, August 15, 2 – 4 p.m.
Patio at 2743 South Milwaukee Street, Denver
Facilitated by Margaret Stookesberry
Make four different cards based on one basic folded form with minimal measuring*. A materials kit with pre-cut, pre-scored cardstock plus some embellishments and 4 A2 envelopes will be provided for $5 payable to Margaret.
Questions? Class limited to 10 people. RSVP required to reserve a kit. info@coloradocalligraphers.com
Supplies you should bring:

X-acto knife and scissors
A cutting surface
Bone folder
Glue stick (Uhu is preferred if you can find it)
Decorative paper scraps
Ruler
Pencil & eraser

Nice to have:

Small T-square or triangle
Double stick tape
Stickers or small paper decorations
Metallic pens
Calligraphic felt tip pens

*Basic construction inspired by Einat Kessler e-book and modified to fit an A2 envelope.

September 9 Program - Gothic Cursive Demonstration by Cheryl Jacobsen
2026-09-09 18:30 - 20:00
September 2026 Program
Gothic Cursive Demonstration
Presented by Cheryl Jacobsen
Wednesday, September 9, 2026
6:30pm MDT on Zoom

Members: free, Non-members: $10
Members need not register. Non-members please register below. A zoom link will be sent to current members and program registrants a few days before the program. This program will be recorded for future viewing.
Program Description
Join us as Cheryl talks about the development of and demonstrates her flowing Gothic Cursive. This non traditional hand looks fairly simple but goes against the forward leaning calligraphic methods most of us are used to. She will demonstrate the pattern the hand is based on as well as the letters themselves. Her Gothic Cursive lends itself to flourishing and meandering lines and is quite fun once you get the hang of it!
About Cheryl
Cheryl Jacobsen has been a working calligrapher and teacher of calligraphy for over thirty years. She is Adjunct Professor of Lettering at the University of Iowa Center for the Book where she leads several semester-long calligraphy classes as well as a hands-on history class analyzing medieval manuscripts. Her freelance work varies widely from design and lettering to assemblage & one-of-a kind books both modern and historical. With Madison Bennett, a vellum scholar and maker, she taught a class focusing on Vellum at the Roman Holiday Conference inn 2024. She is the author of “A Modern Scribe Views Scribes of the Past” in Scraped, Stroked, and Bound: Materially Engaged Readings of Medieval Manuscripts, Brepols 2013. Her work has been seen internationally in shows, lectures and publications including Letter Arts Review, Alphabet and Bound & Lettered.
