This particular article was never written before as a part of My Jobs in 2012 but one I thought I should include . . .
After losing my job at Lee Wards in 1983 and staying home with my son for two years, I did freelance art jobs which overlapped over the years during my full time jobs.
One that stands out was meeting the new creators of Indy’s Child magazine at an Awards Ceremony for my Junior High age daughter who was getting an award from the Mayor. (I have a whole album of her academic awards over the years — smart like her Dad). I sat next to the ladies and we struck up a conversation and they needed artwork for their new magazine (headers for sections, fillers and art to go along with articles). I created black and white drawings for them before clip art and computers became widely used. They are still in business (37 years!)
I continued to do calligraphy classes at Walker Career Center, Manual and Howe high schools. They were all adult evening classes and the students did well. I had a beginner class of 4 weeks followed by advanced calligraphy for serious students. I had my lesson plans ready and I could grab my bag and go at a moment’s notice. During one of my calligraphy classes I met a young man with his own small marketing company who needed a part time artist and I started doing artwork for him at home. I did everything from drawing the art for t-shirts (that was fun except when I had to do a sports stadium from an airplane view) to designing newspaper ads for apartment complexes. Once I did a sign on a huge canvas that hung on an apartment complex fence saying “If you lived here, you’d be home now” (you could see it from the interstate). I had to do it outside because the paint was toxic. I even made a huge apartment building sign on plexiglass cutting a hand drawn stencil I made and spray painting the letters. Another time I had to paint the sign for a new dance studio backwards on the inside of their front window. The paint fumes were terrible.
I also did brochures for the library since my husband was a librarian there. There were MacFadden lectures every year and for several in a row, I did their poster advertising the event with the famous author giving the lecture.
I regularly did calligraphy signs for a medical convention at Methodist Hospital. These were really big and I used a calligraphy steel brush to make the letters.
For years (maybe twenty) I did calligraphy for a wine tasting club who had an annual fancy French dinner with a menu all in French (which I do not speak). It was 4 pages of calligraphy and the meal sounded wonderful if only I could read it! I decorated the menu with grape leaves and elaborate borders. I did their place cards too. The members of this club were all doctors and lawyers and I dealt with the nicest gentleman in getting this done every year.
I had a few calligraphy jobs for weddings which sounds like it should be right up my alley, but they are very stressful. One time I had a client (mother of the bride) who wanted all the envelopes done in burgundy ink. They don’t make burgundy ink, so I had to mix red and black ink to get the right color. She had a paper artist cut little standing swans for the placecards and I had to letter all those too. When I was in the hospital giving birth to my son, she called my husband and wanted him to take the calligraphy supplies to the hospital room and have me do a few more placecards — he told her she could pick up the ink and supplies at our house and do it herself. I never did meet the bride and I feel sorry for the groom with such an overbearing mother-in-law (the marriage didn’t last, mark my word).
Another time I did a Wedding Certificate for a Quaker ceremony on the most elaborate and huge piece of parchment I’ve ever worked on. It had to be perfect, no backup parchment, no erasing ink, so it was nerve-racking.
Someone years ago wanted the Declaration of Independence done in Calligraphy — I can’t remember who, but as you can imagine it was a nightmare to do. I’ve got to learn to say “NO” more often. I want you to realize that calligraphy ink is not permanent and if it gets rained on or sneezed on, it runs, so I had to use a fixative spray to seal all these calligraphy jobs — I hope it wasn’t carcinogenic!
I did a family tree in calligraphy (I’m sure I’ve told this story before, but bear with me). I made the trunk my daughter’s name and then up from that trunk came two branches — my husband’s name on one side and then mine on the other. Luckily one of his aunts passed on the family ancestry, so I could list back to the 1750s when the first Newschwanger (later Nicewanger) came over from Bern, Switzerland on a ship. My side did not so much info, but I made each branch get smaller and smaller with smaller pen points — it looks like a tree. My daughter’s version I rolled up and took to calligraphy classes as an example. Later, when my son was born, I created another for him and framed it and hung it on the dining room wall. In later years my daughter’s boyfriends would comment “you must be adopted you’re not on the family tree.” I kept telling her I had made her one, but could never seem to find it. Well, for her 40th birthday I located it, ironed it out, matted and framed it for her and gave it to her as a gift!
I still do a few art jobs, but I’m kinda busy with this newspaper.
paula.weeklyview@yahoo.com
Next time: My job in L.S. Ayres Advertising Dept.