My project… an experience…
An essay…
My project, the one I have been working on for nine months under Gabriela Soba’s mentorship, is done. If you recall I have written about the project in previous posts:
On each post I either talked about my process, challenges, and influences as well as the mentorship and exhibition project that is Symbiosis—currently on its fifth year, by Dorothy Lim from The Art of Letters. But if you don’t want to go back to read each post—though they are good reads (ahem!), I will give you a short summary below.
Each year Dorothy puts together a group of master calligraphers to mentor three to four calligraphers who want to challenge themselves. There is an application process and an interview. If selected, one is paired with a calligrapher who will be the mentor. Mine was Gabi and it has been amazing!
Each mentoring group works on the developing ideas, fine tuning them, and finalizing one. There is a period of nine months. After that, Dorothy organizes live and recorded sessions of Meet the Artist and the online exhibition. The entire effort is quite the project since we are all in different parts of the world. Keeping our time zones straight has been a recurring humorous challenge. Imagine how much Dorothy has to keep straight!
My project became an experience.
My project became an experience. I do not say this lightly. From conception, process, influences, ups and downs, critiques with my students, pivoting more than a few times, wanting to quit at a certain point, and seeing each piece transform itself into what it is now, the entire project feels like it took a life of its own. I am not sure if I can participate again but if I can, I will.
We do have a few parameters. We commit to avoid anything political and religious in nature due to catering to an international audience. Dorothy carefully and tactfully makes sure the work fulfills these parameters. This was not difficult to abide by. In fact, I appreciated it because the easier thing to do right now is to use political content, to be honest. But, what to do when you can’t touch the one thing that is at your fingertips? You dig and dig deep.
My exploration started with my long held interest in movement and typography. In this case, movement and calligraphy or lettering. I found a way to marry movement and gestural marks by simply dancing on the paper with a brush on a stick. For the background story of that, you will have to listen to my presentation. The stick essentially became my dance partner. I did so many compositions. Each one was different and yet not so different from each other. If you put the pieces next to each really tight, they blend onto each other beautifully. Like a never ending blend of movement and flow. But if separated, each one has its own personality and yes, story telling. Each stroke took a distinctive personality and life. I learned so many things in the process. Some of which are:
The tool is both the message and the medium. They are intertwined and depend on each other. Each mark is completely dependent on the tool which is made with. Each tool makes a distinctive mark.
The size of tool determines the width of the strokes. This might seem obvious but it really isn’t. That is because we think we know how a tool like a brush or a knife will behave with ink on paper but one can’t know for sure until it is tested.
The length of the stick (my brushes were taped to a stick) determines the looseness or tightness of the stroke. How much control or lack thereof one desires depends entirely on how long that stick is from the body.
These quality and variety of the strokes depend on how far or close one is from the paper. The closer one is, as in sitting on a desk, the more control one has over the tools and the strokes. The opposite is true if one is farther.
Small strokes need an intimate closeness to the body but also need less body participation.
Larger strokes are not less intimate but they are produced with the participation of the entire body. It is almost like a different type of dialogue with the paper in the space.
And the biggest lesson I learned is that it would be amazing to have a type of studio warehouse. Ha! Tyson and I had to prep large sections of the carpet with tarps and planks of wood so I could have a working space where I could play with the ink and my movements.
I can’t wait to share my process with you. If you are around and want to see it live here is the link and the time. See the details below:
Dorothy Lim-Chew is inviting you to Meet the Artist: Alma Hoffmann.
Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/5211123532?pwd=go0LM505iLbgM5THWSQouKQIQmbO50.1&omn=84167551078
Meeting ID: 521 112 3532
Passcode: 2116132171
Sunday Nov 16, 2025 ⋅ 10am – 11am (Malaysia Time - Kuala Lumpur)*
*Please note that if you are in US Central time, it will be Saturday November 15th at 8:00 pm. If you are on US Eastern time, it will be at 9:00 pm.