Calligraphy keeps up with the times in South Shore show

Cathy Feeman, director of exhibits for the Chicago Calligraphy Collective, hopes her organization's exhibit at South Shore Arts' Atrium Gallery broadens viewers' horizons.

"When people think of calligraphy, they think wedding invitations and certificates and manuscripts, but it's been evolving over the years," she said. "Calligraphers now embrace a lot more contemporary expressions and use a lot of different medium. We want to move forward always and embrace new things that are developing in the art world."

Exhibiting selections from four years of shows at Atrium Gallery through March 4, the Chicago Calligraphy Collective celebrated its 35th anniversary last year. Currently boasting more than 200 members on their roster, the collective has expanded over the years outside of the windy city, with member artists hailing from Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan.

In addition to holding calligraphy workshops and study groups of all levels of skill throughout the year in the four–state region, the collective also encourages its members in the creation of their art, with artists serving as soundboards for fellow artists in their creative endeavors.

"The collective is really a great group of people," Feeman said. "These are people that just love what they do, and they want to perpetuate the art of calligraphy and all its different aspects. They're very open for sharing ideas and helping one another. It's just a real good environment."

Chicago Calligraphy Collective's South Shore Arts exhibit, "An Exploration of Word and Letters," is made up of works created over the course of the last four years by member artists. The 26 works that make up the show were selected in the collective's yearly juried exhibit, which is displayed at Chicago's Newberry Library.

"I love the variety of the pieces," Feeman said of the South Shore show. "We love to see the traditional calligraphy, which is beautiful writing, and we like to see people push the envelope a little bit too ... we just want to stir interest in calligraphy and let people know that we're out there."

The collective's 2012 juried exhibit is slated to open at Newberry Library on March 12 and will be their 26th annual show.