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"epitaph"
Lately (as per the previous post), I have had the delight to be in the company of a young person learning to write. Currently she recognizes all the letters and can accurately depict them. Placing those letters in a word-making arrangement is the approaching horizon.
Watching her practice, provides a reminder that handwriting is drawing. Before written words can convey meaning an image must be constructed. Learning to master handwriting is an early, formative experience of what we might call "realistic drawing." The instructive irony, of course, is that making marks that register as words - words that only exist in the mind and who's communicative meaning is completely dependent on consensus - is about as abstract as it gets.
Today's posted drawing is an example from an ongoing body of work I refer to as "word paintings."
Posted by mark at January 25, 2004 01:23 AMThanks, I didn't realize why I enjoyed handwriting so much: the flow of a line of ink in a stream-like course is the tracing of art. Dan
Posted by: dan turner at February 11, 2004 03:49 PM