Laman Library to Host Exhibit of Paintings by Renowned Calligrapher, Charles Pearce
- Ongoing: until Sunday, March 13, 2011
- Sunday: 1:00pm
- Monday: 9:00am
- Tuesday: 9:00am
- Wednesday: 9:00am
- Thursday: 9:00am
- Friday: 9:00am
- Saturday: 9:00am
- Where: William F. Laman Public Library, North Little Rock
- Cost: Not available
- Age limit: Not available
Laman Library to Host Exhibit of Paintings by Renowned Calligrapher, Charles Pearce
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (December 29, 2010) -- The William F. Laman Public Library System announced that it will open its 2011 exhibition season with “The Painted Word: Calligraphic Paintings by Charles Pearce,” January 26 – March 13, 2011.
Charles Pearce was born in Birmingham, England, the son of an English teacher father and musician mother in 1943. His early schooling was traditional in nature, and he won a Bantock scholarship to Tettenhall College in Wolverhampton at the age of 10. After finishing his secondary education, he completed five years of art school training at Leek Art School, the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London and finally the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, also in London. It was at Camberwell that he first formed his association with Donald Jackson, Scribe to Her Majesty’s Crown Office at the House of Lords. Pearce graduated from Camberwell with the equivalent of an MFA in the lettering arts.
In 1970, Pearce was made a Fellow of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators in London, the most prestigious award available to calligraphers. After teaching and lecturing for many months out of each year in the United States, he finally moved to New York in 1980, where he was the first, and thus far, only calligrapher ever to be granted Artist-in-Residence status by that city.
He is the author of a number of books on calligraphy, including: “The Little Manual of Calligraphy” and “The Anatomy of Letters,” both of which are widely recommended by teachers around the world. He currently lives and works in Eureka Springs, AR, although he still teaches and lectures widely in North America, Europe and Australia. His work can be found in public and private collections around the globe. He is also an accomplished ceramicist; an article on his work has been published in Clay Times.
Pearce’s work now takes on more the character of paintings, executed almost exclusively on canvas, both raw and primed. He currently concentrates his efforts on producing work to be shown in art exhibitions, as he says, "in a vain attempt to have calligraphic work more widely accepted by the fine art fraternity." He is also beginning to run one-week "apprenticeships for serious students" to come and work in his studio on a project of their own choosing.
The William F. Laman Public Library System, founded in 1946 and composed of a main library at 2801 Orange Street in North Little Rock and a branch library at 506 Main Street in Argenta, is the official library system of North Little Rock. Although the William F. Laman Public Library System is independent from other library systems in central Arkansas, anyone living in Pulaski County may freely obtain a library card through the William F. Laman Public Library System. For more information, visit www.LamanLibrary.org.
This event was posted Dec. 30, 2010 and last updated Jan. 27, 2011
