Thomas Ingmire: Calligraphers

Paul:

Thomas Ingmire:

(An american calligrapher)

Born: 1942 Ft.Wayne, in USA

Education: BSLA 1966, The Ohio State University: MLA, 1969, University of California, Berkeley: Post Graduate Study 1977-78, California State University of Los Angeles Art Department.

He has been doing solo exhibitions since 1982 then started doing group exhibitions in 1990. To this day he has won three awards.

- 1977, Elected Crafts Fellow of Society of Scribes and Illuminators, London, England ( the first American and first person outside of the UK to be elected to this status).
- 1980, Newberry Fellowship, Newberry Library, Chicago, IL
- 1998, Awarded comission for public art installation, Mountain View Public Library.

Thomas Ingmire is known for all different forms of calligraphy, from magazines to poems. The image above and below are two examples of something you can order from his website for him to produce, you can get just initals or full names.

"You may select from different styles and colour options to have your name or initial designed and illuminated by Thomas Ingmire.

The image (3 3/4’ x 4 3/4”) is presented in a standard size 8” x 10” exhibition mat suitable for easy framing. All options include a 24k gold initial letter."

Thomas Ingmire, is one of the forerunners of calligraphic movement in the US. He has taught calligraphy since 1978 including workshops through the US and Canada, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and Europe.

Thomas Ingmire and Monica Dengo, in association with the Accademia Delle Arti Calligrafiche in Cittadella, Italy will offer a calligraphic study program which will take place in the small northern Italian town of Cittadella.

The rich Italian heritage of lettering, art, and archeitecture will serve as the foundation for the calligraphic studies.

Thomas Ingmire has a very unique and abstract way of using lettering. For the majority of his type he uses acrylic on canvas, but every now and then he'll use ink. The piece on the right shows an example of his ink work. The use of white space really helps to highlight the letters. However, its very illegible as everything is so close together, but you its very clear that this is his work. No matter how hard I look at this piece of work though, I can't personally make out any distinct words, can only make out letters. Its very messy and compressed.

TEXT SPACE SERIES 1 (1999),

7” X 10.5,”

Sumi ink on handmade paper

(this is one of a number of similar small black and white pieces)

This is an example of Thomas Ingmire's acrylic on canvas (left). From a distance I thought this piece just looked like a load of squiggly lines and swirls, but if you really focus on it and look for letters they are actually really easy to see. I can even see numbers jumbled up within it. This piece is definitely more compressed and packed than the ink, its like he's layered up the type in this piece, getting lighter as they go into the background like they're fading away.

CITY RHYTHMS (2000)

DETAIL,
57” x 72,”

Acrylic on canvas