| Everyone learns to write. Yet handwriting is often seen as at best a convenient tool, at worst a chore. This ground-breaking exhibition revealed the potential for craftsmanship, beauty and expressiveness in contemporary handwriting. Fourteen internationally-known calligraphers from Britain, Europe and the USA displayed examples of a huge variety of writing skills in individually crafted inscriptions, dedications, poems and other literary texts. Alongside these were seen the ephemera of their daily lives - shopping lists, letters and envelopes, sketchbooks and even early schoolroom exercises. The practice of writing emerges as one of the arts of everyday life, with the potential to bring a personal, creative touch to even the most mundane of scribbled communications. The importance of the early mastery of writing is one of the aims of the BBC National Schools Writing Competition. For the first time ever, the work of the winners and finalists for 1999 were displayed. A further section included a variety of writing tools and materials ranging from the simplest forms of implements to the latest computer programs. | |
