Calligraphic Magic

As the students packed the room, Dylan Chae ’20 and Kara Lee ’20 had their hands full.  Laying out markers and colored pencils, pouring out Thai tea, and getting ready for the first meeting of Calligraphy Club. Despite being so occupied, both were surprised by the large showing of the first meeting. Over 60 students of all grades and experience levels attended the introductory meeting of the new club, and got to work right away.

The new club, which meets on Mondays in room 1904, is open to students of all experience levels. Some members have been honing their calligraphy skills for years, and joined the club as an avenue to pursue their interests with friends, while others are just getting started.

“People who have more experience can help people with learning the basics, and those people now have a brand new skill that they can use,” Chae said.

After the executive board introduced themselves, members had the time to work on their own and practice their own calligraphy techniques. While Lee wrote out the alphabet on the board to help beginners, Chae and the rest of the Eboard walked around, helping out and making sure everyone had paper, writing utensils, and above all, tea.

Chae and Lee wanted to start the club their freshman year, due to the lack of any specific clubs that catered to their interests, but didn’t hear back.  Undeterred, they tried again their sophomore year, and their idea got approved.

While this is still the first year of the club, Chae and Lee plan on hosting workshops, helping out with school events, and giving back to the community through projects.

“For example, during the holiday season we’ll do cards and stuff like that for people who don’t necessarily get that heartfelt note every holiday season,” Chae said.

Calligraphy Club is hoping that their members will be able to help other clubs (that don’t meet on Mondays) and the community with the skills they develop. One way they plan to increase their outreach: An event they’re planning called “Calligraphy Night”.

“We’re going to showcase everyone talents in different languages and different styles, to give people a better understanding of what calligraphy is,” Chae said, “because it’s not just this fancy stuff you see in bullet journals, it’s not something that’s super hard.”