Transfigured ("transform into something more beautiful or elevated") will open at Rachel Bebb Contemporary on Saturday 7 October. The exhibition will celebrate letter carving and exhibitors are being encouraged to use offcuts, in the spirit of recycle, reuse and reduce.

Letter carving by hand is an ancient skill, worthy of preservation and promotion. Rachel Bebb Contemporary is an enthusiastic supporter of the work of the Lettering Arts Trust, and the artists who carve beauty and stories into stone and wood, engrave glass, and inscribe on paper.

Exhibitors in Transfigured include Lisi Ashbridge, Nia Bennett, Rachel Butler, Emi Gordon, Pip Hall, Eric Marland, Anna Louise Parker, Tom Perkins, Helen Mary Skelton, Annet Stirling, Louise Tiplady, Zoe Singleton, Will Spankie and Pippa Westoby.

Complementing the display of letter carving will be engravings by Beatrice Forshall, whose printmaking revolves around species and themes central to conservation. Beatrice’s book, ‘The Book of Vanishing Species’, documents threats to 69 species threatened with extinction due to pollution, loss of habitats and trafficking, all caused by apex predators, human beings. “Because they can’t speak for themselves I’d like to tell their story … art can play a role”.

Other works of art - sculpture, ceramics, original prints and engraved glass - by regular exhibitors will also be for sale.

Private View (invitation only) Saturday 7 October, 11 - 4

During the Private View Maya Martin will demonstrate the art and craft of letter carving.

* RSVP to rachel@rachelbebbcontemporary.com essential *

Parking instructions will be sent on receipt of reply

The exhibition will continue until Saturday 4 November on Fridays and Saturdays 11 - 4, and by arrangement.

If you would like to request an invitation to the Private View, please email rachel@rachelbebbcontemporary.com

Read the guest blog from the Chair of Trustees at The Lettering Arts Trust

Gallery address: The Paddock, Rookery Lane, Broughton, Stockbridge, Hampshire, SO20 8AZ

Pictured: Pippa Westoby - Earth (riven green slate offcut, 56 x 26 x 3 cms, Aldo Leopold quote)

Our country wide tour of ‘The Nereids’ continues, and appropriately, this time they will be exhibited swimming in a unique location: Mosely Road Baths, 497 Moseley Road, Balsall Heath, Birmingham. B12 9BX

The Nereids, attendants of Poseidon, were revered by the citizens of Ancient Greece and Rome as the benign goddesses of the sea’s rich bounty and protectors of sailors and fishermen.  Numbering around 50, each Nereid represented a personification of a particular attribute of the sea.  They were renowned for their beauty and were commonly found frolicking amongst the waves of the Mediterranean, and the Aegean Sea. 

This free exhibition, at The Mosely Road Baths, presents our artists’ interpretations of Nereids in carved stone, wood, etching, and letter press print.

Private View from 6pm to 8pm on Monday 20th February. Please let us know if you would like to attend by emailing info@letteringartstrust.org.uk

All works will be for sale from the venue or via our website.

As part of the exhibition programme the Lettering Arts Trust has organised a family workshop during half-term (on Friday 24 February) in which lettering artist Chrissie Nichols will encourage participants to interpret and create their own Nereids, with a focus on lettering.  For more details please see our workshop page.

Pictured in thumbnail: Leagore by Zoe Singleton

We are offering a range of unique hand crafted gifts, prints and original artworks, by the UK’s finest letter-carving artists, perfect for the home or garden. Stock up on Letter press cards, including Christmas cards.

Please join us for drinks on Thursday 8th December.

Thursday 10 November – Wednesday 16 November

Open daily | 11am – 5pm
Quay Gallery, Snape Maltings

We are offering a range of unique hand crafted gifts, prints and original artworks, by the UK’s finest letter-carving artists, perfect for the home or garden. Stock up on Letter press cards, including Christmas cards.

Please join us for drinks on Thursday 10th November, when we will be open late until 8pm.

Following its successful presentation at Snape Maltings in Spring 2022, this important retrospective celebrates the diverse lettering skills and career of Will Carter OBE (1912-2001), who was closely associated with Cambridge. Curated by Eric Marland and John Gray, with additional support from Sebastian Carter (Will’s son), this exhibition clearly demonstrates his position as the comprehensive, consummate lettering artist. He is regarded as amongst the finest lettering artists of his generation and the post-war era. 

Will’s fascination with the letter form is evidenced in his skill as a calligrapher, compositor-printer, lettering artist, typeface designer, and letter carver. 

Alongside publications produced by the Rampant Lions Press, many of which are now collectors’ items, are examples of Will Carter’s skill as a typographer and font designer; hand-cut letters rendered in stone and wood and the well-worn tools he used to create signs, plaques and more personal artefacts.

Gallery opening times Monday to Thursday: 10.00 -12.00 noon and 14.00-16.00. Closed Fridays, but visitors can book by appointment with Magdalene College.

Pictured: Robin by Louise Tiplady. Gilded riven slate

A collection of hand carved pieces, prints and other lettered artworks, perfect gifts for those who love letter carving, hand printing, typography and good design.

The UK is at risk of losing a quarter of its mammal species according to a report authored by 70 British wildlife charities. The Wild Cat, common Dormouse and the Greater Mouse-eared Bat are among those species teetering on the edge of disappearing. In the State of Nature Report 2019, the first of its kind conducted in partnership with the government, confirms what we are already becoming aware of - the undeniable fact that nature and resources are in decline. 41 percent of UK species studied have noticeably fewer numbers than when the rigorous scientific study began in the 1970s. Reading the report should alarm us all. 15 percent of species native to the UK - nearly 1,200 - are threatened with extinction partly because of agriculture management and climate change. Habitats are disappearing as we surge forward with technology and intensive farming. Hedgerows are now becoming rarer in our countryside. Lowland wetlands are threatened by drainage, water pollution, air pollution, peat extraction - the list goes on and on.

This exhibition is a visual call to action - a reminder of what we could possibly lose. Over 30 artists, established and young upcoming students have taken part, working on stone, wood and paper to highlight the plight of some of the resources, habitats and species that we are in danger of losing in the UK.

There is a full colour catalogue to accompany the exhibition available.

All our exhibitions are free to enter

LIMNOREIA by Louise Tiplady

“Simon Lewty & The Nereids” is a collaboration between The Lettering Arts Trust and Art First. The exhibition features major works by Simon Lewty, and is accompanied by individual depictions of the mythical Nereids created by 26 artists represented by the Lettering Arts Trust. 

Simon Lewty’s mastery of the calligraphic, the palimpsest, graffiti and scripts of many kinds, is matched by his generation of poetic content. His hand-written texts combine with figurative imagery to create a dream like reality. In recent years, a group of drawings have emerged, inspired by his love of Greek mythology.  

The Nereids, in particular, captured Lewty’s imagination. They are known as the fifty benign sea goddesses which symbolised everything that is beautiful and kind about the sea. “Simon Lewty & The Nereids” is a collaboration between The Lettering Arts Trust and Art First. The exhibition features major works by Simon Lewty, and is accompanied by individual depictions of the mythical Nereids created by 26 artists represented by the Lettering Arts Trust. 

Sometimes Lewty coats tissue paper in white gesso onto which he applies softly inked lettering. The engaging but illegible lettering he uses in some of his work is known as tachygraphy, or Shelton’s shorthand - used in the 17th Century by civil servants, in particular by Samuel Pepys for his diaries, and mastered by Lewty over a period of years. These elegant mysterious marks serve as a secret language, in this case - ‘a kind of wordless sea-language’ which he developed in 2019 as an evocation of the voices of the Nereids, ‘who may cry in the murmurs of the waves’.  

Simon Lewty & The Nereids runs from 15th May to 4th July 2021.   

JOHN STEPHEN SKELTON MBE (8 July 1923 – 26 November 1999) was a British sculptor and letter-cutter whose work embraced a range of disciplines including stone and wood carving, heraldry, calligraphy and metalwork.

His works can be seen in St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, The British Museum, and the Royal Opera House and many other public locations.

This exhibition celebrates John Skelton's innovative approach to the alphabet and lettering design and explores the large variety of commissions he produced.

Works on display represent significant pieces of sculpture and examples of lettering on stone and slate, many of which relate to the artist’s extensive catalogue of Public and Royal Commissions.

The exhibition presents the development of John Skelton’s work, through the presentation of original drawings, rubbings, and sketches and supported by maps, posters and 'workshop' photographs taken at the time.

This exhibition can only pay passing homage to John Skelton’s extensive body of work. However, visitors will gain a strong sense of his boundless innovation and we hope will be inspired to discover more.

John Skelton's daughter Helen Mary continues his work practices and philosophy at Skelton Workshops.

The exhibition has been curated by HELEN MARY SKELTON, JONATHAN SKELTON AND NATALIE OBORN. More details can be found on this dedicated website

ALL EXHIBITIONS AT THE LETTERING ARTS GALLERY ARE FREE TO VISIT

From Friday, 29th November, The Lettering Arts Centre hosts its annual Christmas showcase, featuring a wonderful range of artworks and seasonal gifts created by some of the UK’s foremost lettering artists. With prices pitched for every pocket, visitors will discover hand-carved, initialised pebble paperweights; life-affirming motifs described in calligraphy, screen prints and pictures; gilded robins - and for an artistic finishing touch to a Christmas stocking there are sticks of ‘Rock Paper Pixel’. Lots of initial gifting inspiration and presents that last a lifetime.

The Lettering Arts Trust supports the endangered heritage craft of hand letter carving with apprenticeship and bursary schemes and all profits go towards sustaining the art form. The showcase continues until 2 pm on Christmas Eve.

‘Christmas Greetings’ Designed and painted by Chris Elsey 2013

EXHIBITION INFO

Influence, experimentation, and play in contemporary lettering

Curated by Mark Noad

The history of lettering and design has been driven by developments in technology from the earliest clay tablets to the latest tablet computers. Different mediums, tools, materials, cultures all contribute to the creation of innovative letterforms and layouts. This is as true today as it’s ever been with constant developments in the way we communicate.

The aim of this exhibition is to demonstrate that an enquiring mind and a fertile imagination are essential ingredients to producing new, innovative, and inspiring work in all fields of the lettering arts. While crafts skills and a knowledge of the history of lettering and design are essential to good practice, if all we do with them is replicate established conventions then little or no progress is made and creativity becomes stagnant.

A willingness to not be constrained by convention, to look outside ones own field using different media and production methods, using imagination and not being afraid to occasionally make mistakes are key to creating truly original work.

This exhibition will bring together an eclectic and diverse selection of artists and designers who all demonstrate that they are willing to try something new. In doing so, the exhibition sets up a dialogue between the different lettering disciplines encouraging the visitor (and the participants) to consider how the cross-pollination of ideas can benefit the continuing development of lettering and design.

The exhibition will feel active rather than passive with visitors encouraged to interact with some of the exhibits and to share their experiences on social media.