by Scott Wettlaufer

about

scott at table.jpg

Scott has been practicing calligraphy for over 45 years. He has acquired over two dozen alphabets, focusing on the medieval and renaissance period between 600 - 1500 AD. He began his studies in Portland, Oregon in the 1970’s. He was influenced by the legendary Lloyd Reynolds, thru his series of calligraphy television broadcasts before his death in 1978. Many of his earlier alphabets came from Robert Palladino who also worked at Reed College. 

He has taught calligraphy in Portland and Corvallis, OR, Ithaca, NY, and Ann Arbor, MI. He has studied watercolor in Glen Arbor and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and has also studied wood engraving in Ann Arbor.  He was an instructor for the Hollander’s School of Book Arts in Ann Arbor, MI.

While he was in Ithaca, NY, he studied illuminated manuscripts at Cornell University with Dr. Robert Calkins. This heightened his love for work with illustration and illumination. His influences have lead him to his present work which combines letter and image and his work attempts to combine different art forms in conjunction with letterforms to produce unique pieces of art.

Artist Statement

 “My interest in calligraphy is primarily an interest in the visual communication of handwritten marks in conjunction with imagery. I believe in writing by hand as a means of expression and see the act of writing as an act of marking our existence. In my teachings I always consider the history of letterforms and the learning of letter shapes, as important as the personal handwriting and the letter marks that everyone desires to make when holding a pen. The combination of letter and image becomes much more than the sum of its two parts and expresses a powerful synergy between handwritten marks and 2D imagery."

 

Recent Group Exhibitions

2018                Sublime to Surreal, Buckham Gallery, Flint, Michigan

2018                MACnificent Lettering 2018, Novi Civic Center Atrium, Novi, Michigan

2018                Volumen et Rotolus, Edizione IV, Galleria Valentina Bonomo, Rome, Italy

2018                Volumen et Rotolus, Edizione III, Rearte Gallery, Vienna, Austria

2017                Volumen et Rotolus, Exhibition Hall Sala DelBianco, Starnazzano, Italy

2017                Scrolls: Before the Book, Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, Venice, Italy

2016                Employee Art Exhibition, University of Michigan Hospital, Ann Arbor, Michigan, (Best in Category, Mixed Media – Artist Book)

2015                Written in the Mitten, Ella Sharp Museum, Jackson, Michigan, (Best in Show – Artist Book)

2014                Employee Art Exhibition, University of Michigan Hospital, Ann Arbor, Michigan, (Best in Category, Painting - Watercolor)

2013                Connected, Art Prize, Grand Rapids, Michigan

2012                Employee Art Exhibition, University of Michigan Hospital, Ann Arbor, Michigan, (Best in Show - Watercolor)

2012                Thoughts and Colors of Nature, Huron Valley Art Council, Highland, Michigan, (3rd Place – Artist Book)