DECEMBER 2021 — Wrong Letters: The Comb Pen and the Brody Pen

The creation of the comb pen was a bit challenging, but yet again, moving out of one's comfort zone creates mind expanding growth.

I have loved every single part of this year long journey studying with Brody. It has stretched me, taught me about art, expanded my repertoire, reinforced compositional importance and graphic design and pushed me to actually produce finished pieces. The selection of these 2 strange twinning tools in this series is unexpected but quite strikingly delicious. It’s a little like serial killers at times but eventually they get caught! I enjoyed the comb pen line quality but was even more surprised by the Brody pen given its tougher metal. The range of marks and moods on my pages is broad…and the feelings created are many. The tools require exploration and use to become as natural as possible but the demonstrations and handouts alone have been instrumental in getting a great start. Brody it’s impossible to say thank you for the most natural teaching style I have ever seen…your amazing descriptions of the art world, meaning and application are second to none. You have been incredibly generous with your knowledge, techniques and feedback and your innovative off paper ideas for our walks have been totally inspirational. I have enough of a body of work for a solo exhibition and it’s time to mount one. But I will see you for 2022…another year I am looking forward to. Merci beaucoup! For everything.

This has been definitely a silver lining of the pandemic. I had wanted to learn from Brody for several years, since he taught many of my favorite teachers, but he wasn't teaching anymore... and suddenly he was in my studio for eight months of mind blowing teachings and experimentation. HIs talent and breadth of knowledge is awe inspiring and stimulating. His generosity and accessibility with the critiques is fantastic; always pushing us outside our comfort zone and transcending the paper on which work is produced. The caliper of the students from all over the world is outstanding and so is the evolution we have witnessed of each other's work in this past year. Even my husband has become interested in calligraphy, in overhearing the critiques and seeing the work produced. I must acknowledge Karen Ness for her warm and open moderating and Peter for his technical support. Of course I signed up for a full next year of learning in 2022 and I'm counting the minutes.

When I first signed up for these sessions, I had no idea how Brody was going to teach the wide variety of subjects. Well, he did it with amazing demonstrations and understandable explanations. He inspirated all of us to contine exploring in our individual journeys and pushing us out of our comfort zone. His generosity and preparation make the difference! At first, the crit session scared me, however after taking the plunge, his well thought out comments were insightful and supportive. Dont miss them! To me, the most significant change to my work was his encouragement to use my own words. Brodys calligraphy world is an experience that any calligrapher would grow from.

It's a privilege taking a class with Brody. And it is also an extraordinary experience, learning 'wrong letters', illegible marks, and so much else. It helps and teaches us to learn other forms, other marks, other ways to write. Usually we dont make much time to experiment and practice weird ideas that we have in our head, but with Brody's simple and interesting instructions we can leave out formal, "constipated" letters and enter the unknown Brody Planet, where almost anything goes, as long as it has good design and balance. I hope that I can take many more classes with Brody.
Thank you so much for opening our ideas and to let our creativity SOAR!

great fun: Brody- and Comb-pen. I love them both. Thanks for this wonderful series this whole year - it's been an extraordinary experience!

As I have been a calligrapher for quite a number of years, a jumping learning curve or light bulb moments are coming less and less. It is because that I want to stay in my comfort zone. It is harder to think outside of the box. We could have ( or have had) many workshops to learn new things and new concepts from the masters, but quite often there is not enough time to fully understand. Studying with Brody for 8 month was the pure blessing to me. Some concepts are still beyond my understanding but I am very very happy to experience things I have dreamed about. I feel like now I have some insights how to paint with letters... I really appreciate all the preparation and encouragement, Brody! ( Also I do love your lectures) Thank you!

The full series over the year has been mind blowing. The work produced by the student body stunning. So much to learn so little time..... Thank you Brody for allowing us to see your mind at work and for generating such amazing discussion and passion. I think I have enough information in my brain to last a life time - now to take the information out and produce something "amazing" in the time I have left.

Thank you!!!!