caligraphy « WordPress.com Tag Feed

Future Eckos in the Works

ecko — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:36:00 +0000

I apologize for my leave of absence. I’m taking some time away from visual poems to work on a new book scheduled to be published in late August, 2010. It will be under my alter-ego name, Scott Scherr, and involves a collection of short stories and poetry of a “dark and spooky” nature. I will also be contributing some new visual poems to go along with this theme. Should be a blast. I’ve placed a link on the right to some of the stories that may be included (still in the rough draft stages). I would appreciate any feedback or suggestions you might have.

Thanks, and Merry Christmas Everyone,

ecko.

Gogger's Blog

gogger — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 03:37:45 +0000

Retna – iv posted this guy before but i couldn’t resist this one. Enjoy!

Rifle Me Unique

Miss Cali Girl in NJ — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:57:36 +0000

Your wedding day story told in in a sweet, folksy way. I adore these wedding invitations by Rifle Paper Co. I recently sent these to my wedding invitation designer / bridesmaid of Alana Bailey Brand because they reminded me of her beautiful, color saturated poster work. I am still trying to decide how formal I want our wedding invitations to be. When I see these, I think maybe more playful. The feeling I get when I see these are that the couple is grounded to each other and the earth. I like this feeling.

A lesson in Chinese traffic laws - or the lack thereof

abbykeiper — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:37:31 +0000

Saturday, October 10, 2009 – Evening

This evening we visited an astronomer friend of Uncle Joe’s who had generously arranged our travel plans out of Beijing, and we took the subway up to Beijing University to pick up our tickets and walk around the campus. We got a nice tour and history of the astronomy building, then took off around a lake and through the lush garden of a campus. Along our walk, we met a man painting calligraphy on the sidewalk with over-sized paintbrushes filled with water. He told us he was a psychology professor at the school and, finding out we were Americans, wrote out the characters for the United States – Meiguo.

The Chinese character "guo" - meaning nation. The Chinese word for America is Meiguo, which means "beautiful nation."

A sidewalk calligrapher and psychology professor paints the characters for America with water-filled paintbrushes.

He was quite excited to talk to us in English, as most Chinese people who know English are, and explained happily about his hobby and his love of language and calligraphy. It is so refreshing to see all the thoughtful and healthy hobbies that many Chinese people have – I have just been warmed by all the people I see in parks, exercising or playing games or just spending time with friends and family.

Beijing University students spend a Sunday afternoon playing soccer in a complex accompanied by acrobatic equipment and a climbing wall.

A jungle gym and rock-climbing wall at the Beijing University sports complex.

We hurried up our walk around the campus to meet up for dinner. Grandpa and I held back to purchase some cheap souvenir t-shirts at a sidewalk-side table, and then met the rest of the group so we could brave the Beijing traffic and make it to our banquet dinner on time.

Our dinner was held in a big, blindingly colorful room in the traditional Qing dynasty style, complete with costumed staff and performers. The food overflowed the table and consisted of everything imaginable, including, but not limited to: rabbit, fried fish bladder, and frog egg soup. Dessert was the usual melon as well as traditional Chinese fortune cookies – steamed dough balls filled with dried fruit, nuts, or seeds. As each guest selected an item, the waitress would read out that person’s fortune, depending on the shape and contents of the bun.

During dinner there were dance and Peking Opera performances, along with the ever-impressive “Changing of the Masks.”

A costumed man performs a traditional "Changing of the Masks" where his face changes seemingly by magic with a wave of his hand.

Mom and I had been wanting to see Peking Opera, but after the screeching and unintelligible snippets of performance we saw that night, we decided a small taste was more than enough.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

This morning we woke at 5:00 in order to get to Tiananmen Square and see the flag-raising, an absurdly popular event attended by a crush of people. We arrived in plenty of time for the 6:20 sunrise (the flag is raised with the sun – which you can’t really see given the tall buildings and blanket of smog, but I just trusted that they had it figured out), and staked out a spot fairly near the front guard rails.

Chinese guards bring the flag out from Tiananmen gate and raise the national flag in time with the sunrise. In the evening, the process goes in reverse, and the flag is taken under the gate as the sun sets.

Within minutes, people poured in behind us. The pushing and shoving started to make Mom a little claustrophobic, so she moved back a bit, realizing that the crowd was thinner behind Grandpa, who stands about twice as tall as most of the Chinese people. People were elbowing me out of the way and shoving their children in front of me, even 30 minutes before the flag was about to make its ascent. I was starting to think this early morning was not worth it. Eventually, people settled into their places for the most part, or just decided to stop trying to fight with the foreigners. Cameras and cell phones held high, most of the Chinese tourists were still short enough that I could see the flag over the tops of their heads.

When my tiptoes got tired, I just settled for the view from everyone else’s cameras.

We were carried out of the square by the dispersing crowd, and were able to get a glimpse of early morning Tai Chi and kite-flying activities in the square.

A woman flies a kite in Tiananmen Square in the early morning.

As we were walking to breakfast, Grandpa noticed a large slash in his jeans pocket – the exact size and shape of the outline of his billfold. A quick panic found his billfold intact and full, but he was a bit frustrated with himself for bringing it with him to the mob scene this morning. It’s not surprising that someone was picking pockets in the crowd, as we were in a full crush of pushy, excited Chinese tourists and their nimble-fingered children (not making any assumptions, just saying – we had several small children pushed into and in front of us). It was our first real scare with crime in the city, but luckily it was nothing a complimentary hotel sewing kit couldn’t fix.

Our search for breakfast took us through some sleepy hutongs (alleyways) south of Tiananmen, where we saw all kinds of dilapidated apartments covered in rubble and vines hanging with gourds. The people wandering through their internment-camp-style alleys did not seem the least bit upset with their living conditions; on the contrary, they were considerably well dressed and walking confidently and with a mission. The further we walked into the neighborhood, the more I realized how cozy the whole atmosphere really was – little courtyards filled with bikes and laundry and food scraps peeked behind heavy locked doors, and dogs sat in the doorways or chased people riding their bikes to work. Everyone was going about their business, for the most part oblivious of our presence – or at least not caring that our tourist adventure was their day-to-day life. Many seemed headed to the morning market upon which we stumbled near the end of our tour.

Customers search through assorted vegetables during a morning market in Beijing.

A woman prepares a breakfast wrap in her portable booth at the morning market - a crepe like fried bread topped with egg and scallions.

People were cooking and selling trinkets, but mostly clustered around farmers selling their fruits and veggies.

A child plays on the back of a truck of cabbage, while his father sells produce to waving and hollering customers

Mom and Grandpa bought some Tangerines and Tsous (a small Chinese fruit shaped kind of like a crab-apple, but very sweet and evidently called a Jujube in English).

Tangerines are weighed out for purchase, while other vendors sit and wait for customers.

Chinese Tsao fruits - safely shampood and repeatedly rinsed in clean water - which taste like a cross between a sweet apple and a pear with a large pit.

We decided to walk back for free breakfast at the hotel again instead of risking salmonella from the mouth-watering, but hygienically-questionable breakfast wrap.

After breakfast, we followed Grandpa to the police station to report his torn pants and then we walked toward what we thought was an antiques and art shopping area, where Grandpa wanted to look for calligraphy. In reality, we spent two hours snaking through upscale shopping areas and noisy, smelly hutongs, but we did get some great glimpses of the variety of Beijing shops and local life.

A pair of pet bird cages hang outside a shop. Traditionally in China, men have pet birds and women have pet dogs. It's not uncommon to see a man out carrying a bird cage, just taking his bird for a walk.

Our misguided wanderings led us to stop at a hotel for a drink, bathroom and regrouping. We then took a taxi to the exact location of the shopping (Thanks again, Lonely Planet!) and spent a lot of time walking through the art stores and browsing watercolors. I found a nice painting of what I think is a magpie sitting in an autumnal plum tree. It needed to be matted on a scroll, so I left my bartered-down deposit with our friendly English-speaking salesman and will come back to get it in 10 days when we return to Beijing.

We found a man dong some beautiful calligraphy in his studio, and I asked Grandpa to request a scroll of my favorite saying of his – “yi lu ping an” – which means, essentially, “have a nice trip,” but literally translated means something along the lines of “I wish you peace for the entire road.”

A calligrapher paints the characters for "yi lu ping an" on a scroll.

After much searching, Grandpa finally got his Chinese poem painted in calligraphy by the same man, and we went back to the antique store where I purchased my painting to see about having his poem mounted as well.

Stomachs growling, we hailed a cab to take us to the lake for dinner. The traffic for the end of the holiday celebration at the square was unbelievable and backed up the whole center of the city, but our driver was genial and we arrived at the lake unscathed, albeit significantly more hungry. We found the place pretty quickly (relatively speaking – given our record) and sat down to a lakeside dinner of delicious, spicy Hunan cuisine – eggplant, tofu, scallion pancakes, soups and beer. We waddled through the light drizzle to another taxi, which crept through the intensified traffic at an alarmingly slow pace. Mom and I laughed deliriously and in disbelief at the ridiculous lane-changing, turning-around, and wrong-way-driving of the monstrous tour buses while our driver huffed and guffawed at the jam of traffic, which obviously could have been avoided had he chosen a different route. We decided to get out and walk the rest of the way instead of rack up more on our already outrageous meter. Of course, the second we round the corner, the traffic clears and our ex-driver flies through the light.

Mom put it well when she said that Beijing traffic is like bumper cars at a carnival – vehicles of all kinds sprint in front of each other, weaving in and out, horns blaring, ignoring any and all traffic signals and attempting simultaneous 5-point turns into several lanes of one-way traffic.

Tonight we pack up the hotel room for another 5:00 wake-up call and an 8:00 a.m. bullet train to Taiyuan!

Ain't no mountain

Eduard — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:30:14 +0000

RECORD. El dels premis CAPLA de dibuix, a Castelló, que organitzava la Caixa d’Estalvis. Fins i tot jo, amb el conegut trauma pel dibuix que em va causar un dels enrgúmens que passaven per mestres quan érem infants, m’hi presentava; per mor dels obsequis, naturalment i exclusivament –aquells rotuladors gruixats indelebles, un de negre i l’altre de vermell; o la taula periòdica dels elements; o el més bo de tots, un que em sap greu d’haver perdut: el Cuadro sinóptico de la Historia universal, valga’m Déu!

CALIGRAFIA. La bona lletra és com l’educació –no l’hauries de perdre mai. Més encara –cal conservar-la, com a mostra d’autocontrol i font d’autoestima, en les situacions en què els altres estarien encantats que t’hi deixassis anar.

FURTS. Al llarg de la meua vida m’han furtat bastantes coses (afortunadament, no m’han atracat mai). He comprovat que, a la feina, qualsevol cosa que deix damunt la taula sense vigilància és susceptible de ser robada. Hi ha una excepció, però: els llibres. Ningú està interessat a furtar llibres. Són un no-valor segur. Ja els pots abandonar tranquil.lament, en el lloc més visible, que ningú no hi pararà esment.

AMISTAT. Diu Toni F. que, per a ell, l’amistat és un concepte elusiu. I per a qui no? Jo hi he pensat, escadusserament, al llarg dels anys –és un tema que m’agrada. Què en puc dir? Que, o bé adoptes un criteri de màxims, el de és amic aquell que t’ajuda a moure un cadàver (i no ho prengueu completament a broma –penseu durant una estona si algú en el vostre cercle d’amistats ho faria), o si pel contrari et va més bé el criteri de mínims, en què seria amic tot aquell amb qui tens relacions, bones o dolentes, superficials o profundes (i no desdenyeu aquest criteri tampoc del tot –penseu que conèixer qualcú, tenir-hi relació és una extravagància planetària, una insignificància estadística quan ho poses en relació amb la gent que no coneixes).

AMOR. I què passa amb l’amor? L’amistat no és pas amor. L’amor és una cosa distinta que requereix d’altres criteris per ser identificada i mesurada. Com saps qui t’estima, i com saps a qui estimes? Aquí no valen criteris de mínims –no estimes per se amb qui estàs casat, ni als qui t’han parit. Estimes, com deia Diana Ross, aquell pel qual, si desaparegués, ho deixaries tot i a tots (tot i a tots) i no aturaries fins trobar-lo — literalment, no figurativament. Ara digues: quants n’hi ha, en la teua vida, que qualificarien per a això?

Andalusi Islamic calligraphy: Mountains.

Andalusi Art Souq — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:44:51 +0000

Andalusi style arabic calligraphy: 'Bidhikrullah'

Andalusi Art Souq — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:39:51 +0000

Through the rememberance of God man attains a lightness of heart.

"Signs of Life, A Book of Visual Poetry" by John Ecko

ecko — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:59:14 +0000

“Signs of Life, A Book Of Visual Poetry” by John Ecko, is available for purchase at www.lulu.com/content/5844132

You will also find it at amazon and Barnes and Noble online stores. Just visit the links to the right of the page.

Snip, Snip

ecko — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 03:58:59 +0000

Here’s another one keeping in the Halloween spirit.

Black Cat Tactics

ecko — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:04:33 +0000

With Halloween approaching, I thought it was time to post some spooky stuff. Hee…hee…hee…

ecko.

Free Pattern "Japanese Happiness"

simplystainedglass — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:31:13 +0000

Koufuku
The Japanese Kanji symbols for “happiness” carved into a moss-covered rock.

Pattern here

Cross

ecko — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:44:47 +0000

For anyone that may be interested or if just curious, I’ve started a new blog under my given name, Scott Scherr, that takes a look into my Christian roots. You are all more than welcome to share any thoughts, questions, poetry, stories, testominies, or anything else you might wish to share over there. This place is called Highway316.

Thanks for listening,

ecko.

http://highway316.wordpress.com/

To The Stars

ecko — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:26:43 +0000

Stained Woodburned Boxes

artsyfartsyaficionado — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 01:43:27 +0000

I definitely want one of these bad boys for christmas. I’m thinking “The Love Letter” or “The Spring Tree”. Yessir. These wooden boxes come in different sizes and their uses are completely up to you. Check out Sixth & Elm to see your options for customizing boxes with different stains and personalized messages.

Three

Blair Marshall — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 06:13:03 +0000

Artfully messed up

The ink that contains a scent

The caligraphy

hairy ks

joanneoliver — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:25:58 +0000

Trackbacks are a way to notify legacy blog systems that you’ve linked to them. If you link other WordPress blogs they’ll be notified automatically using pingbacks, no other action necessary.

Trackbacks are a way to notify legacy blog systems that you’ve linked to them. If you link other WordPress blogs they’ll be notified automatically using pingbacks, no other action necessary.Trackbacks are a way to notify legacy blog systems that you’ve linked to them. If you link other WordPress blogs they’ll be notified automatically using pingbacks, no other action necessary.Trackbacks are a way to notify legacy blog systems that you’ve linked to them. If you link other WordPress blogs they’ll be notified automatically using pingbacks, no other action necessary.Trackbacks are a way to notify legacy blog systems that you’ve linked to them. If you link other WordPress blogs they’ll be notified automatically using pingbacks, no other action necessary.

Treasure Unknown

ecko — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 04:11:46 +0000

ROUTTES/ HAND WRITTING

tishasbio — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:16:12 +0000

Conceptual videoart ensemble, about contrasts, about urban life, about cities. About identity search in a massive network. Combines original footage with digital compositions and hand writting files / Search, critical, contemporary social analysis. Original audio.

Made By TISHA in Madrid, 2009
Cultural identity

There are modern questions of culture that are transferred into questions of identity. Various cultural studies and social theory investigate the question of cultural identity. In recent decades, a new form of identification and with pieces broken off from the individual as a coherent whole subject. Cultural identity remarks upon: place, gender, race, history, nationality, language, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnicity, and aesthetics.
Culture, as a social practice, is not something that individuals possess. Rather, it is a social process in which individuals participate, in the context of changing historical conditions. As a “historical reservoir”, culture is an important factor in shaping identity Some critics of cultural identity argue that the preservation of cultural identity, being based upon difference, is a divisive force in society, and that cosmopolitanism gives individuals a greater sense of shared citizenship. That is not to always be divisive. When considering practical association in international society, states may share an inherent part of their ‘make up’ that gives common ground, and alternate means of identifying with each other. Examples can be taken from both old and contemporary world order. In the old world order European states shared a high level of cultural homogeneity, due to their common history of “frequently violent relationships, and Greco-Roman cultural origins” (Brown 2001). Brown also argues that the Western invention of the nation-state has proven to be an appealing and homogenising factor to many cultures

Michael

ecko — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:43:05 +0000

Thank you Michael for your inspiration and for the positive influence you had on my life. There is nothing I could give back for all the years you shared your gifts with me. This is the best I can do. Farewell and safe journeys. Those circus clowns can’t reach you now.

With love and respect,

John Ecko.

Roulette

ecko — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:31:33 +0000

John Ecko, Featured Poet on One Night Stanzas

ecko — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:41:32 +0000

Last week I was featured on “One Night Stanzas” where you can read a brief bio, an online interview, as well as some of my poems. I was honored to be their first visual poet ever featured and more so because this has become one of my favorite web sites. Even if you could care less that I’m featured there, I encourage you to check out this wonderful site regardless. There are many informative articles on various aspects of writing as well as several other wonderful featured poets and poems. Definitely worth a look:

http://www.readthismagazine.co.uk/onenightstanzas/?m=200906

Thank you Claire and Team at One Night Stanzas :)

John

Eckovision Open for Submissions

ecko — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:03:21 +0000

Hello folks. Anyone out there have any shape poems they would like to promote? I would love to see them and post them here at eckovision. Also, any and all visual/concrete poetry is welcome. As long as it is visual in nature, I would be happy to consider posting it here (including photography). I won’t accept any work that is pornographic or hate related in any way.

With all submissions please include the following:

Your name and title of the piece as well as the year it was created so I can note it in the copyright beside your name.

A brief bio about yourself (no more than a couple paragraphs)including anything you wish and a link to your own websites and/or projects you want to promote here.

Lastly, all submissions should be sent as an attachment (jpg, jpeg, gif formats acceptable) with all other information in the body of the email to: visionaryeckos@aol.com

Be sure to place in the subject line: Submissions.

I can’t offer payment for submissions, just free promotion and a link back to your web pages. All artists retain the rights to their works when posting here.

Thanks for your submissions in advance. I look forward to seeing what’s out there.

ecko.

Starlight In a Bottle

ecko — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 05:57:25 +0000

everthineevents — Tue, 26 May 2009 23:28:17 +0000

Just the other day my brother and future sister in law were talking about how they would address their wedding invitations. They want the invitations to be written in Calligraphy but couldn’t find a good price and both of their handwriting just wouldn’t do. Becoming frustrated, they decided they would just use clear plastic labels. Pause for gasp here. I told them that there are many great professional calligraphers around. However, hiring a professional can cost you. To address an envelope, some start at $1 per line.
I suggest if you are on a budget, call a local art school, community center, or community college. Find out if there is a course on calligraphy and ask if they have any students they would recommend. You of course would pay these students, but they may have a much cheaper cost and if they are looking to become a professional calligrapher, this would be a great addition to their portfolio.