[Antir_scribes] New Questions

[kecain at quidnunc.net]

Greetings everyone,

Thank you, to the Sable Sable for asking questions that get the community
conversing. It is refreshing to hear so many varied voices.

I have been following this procession of questionnaires with interest but never
responded (business, shyness, whatever). So here are my two cents:

> 1) Have you ever motivated someone to become a new scribe? a new
> illuminator?  a new calligrapher?

I think so. I've taught Celtic knot work classes and there have been a few who
found them worthwhile enough to tell me. But the best was having a mother
come to me six months after I taught her son how to write his name in
gothic and telling me her son was still avidly learning calligraphy.

> 2) If your answer to #1 was yes, what did you do or say to get that person
> interested?

I'm not sure. It's the ephemeral connection between student and teacher. I'm
only at the beginning of figuring that one out.

> 3) Do you have any other ideas about how to get people who have never done
> it - involved in scribal activities?

Seeing scribes work at events is critical. We need to dispel the impression that
many of the uninitiated still hold, that what we do is akin to alchemy and will
forever remain a mystery.

Bless the people who manage to hold regular scriptoriums. I tried earlier this
year but my schedule just wouldn't allow it.

> 4) What keeps people who do scribal stuff interested in continuing to do
> scribal stuff?

I love a new challenge every once in a while. I just don't have the time to
accept as many as I would like.

> 5) Do you think that uninitiated people think that scribal work is a
> mystery?

See question 3

> 6) If your answer to question 5 was yes - what do you think are some ways
> to dispell the mystery.

This is the question of how do you get somebody to pick up a paintbrush or a
pen for the first time. The only true way is for the person to really want to. If
you can get past that first hurdle, then there has to be a support network for
this newbie fall back on.

We no longer live in the abbey or village. Many of us work silently in our homes.
When we show our work, it is to other scribes, or it is presented anonymously in
court. And for those living in less populated areas I imagine this is magnified
tenfold.

I don't think there is an easy solution to this. The 'simple' answer is to start an
academy. But because of geography and time, it would have to be online. And
an online tutor can't correct your posture or grip. You miss the nuance of
twisting the pen, just so, to achieve the proper shape. So in the end, I don't
think this 'simple' idea would work. We may frustrate as many as we enlighten.
But if we can enlighten more than we do now, is it worth the effort and risk?
I don't know.

> 7) do you have any good ideas on how to motivate experienced people to do
> scribal work?

I was an experienced, professional artist when I walked into my first event
(Ursalmas A.S. XXXV?) I went straight to the scribal arts because I could. I knew
nothing about white work, or period pigments. But I could paint and draw and
knew the rudiments of calligraphy. I haven't stopped learning since that first day.

I do this because I want to. Not because I have the time to, which I don't. This
art is demanding of time and patience. It can be slow and painful. (After doing
calligraphy on a scroll for about three hours, I had my entire arm cramp up and
go immobile while driving to pick up my son from school.) But there are rewards.

I love seeing how different people paint the charters I design. I love seeing new
Lords and Ladies admiring their charters and know that we, as scribes, have made
their experience richer. I love seeing somebody 'get it'. When they make a
personal breakthrough. When they produce something that, for the first time,
they feel unashamed at being proud of.

I can't think of a better reason to do this. Can you?

With many thanks,

Aron the Sinister