Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Ward.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I grew up on a farm near a 4000 person town Called Barrhead, in Alberta, Canada. Considered to be a “collector of hobbies” my entire life, I always dabbled in sketching, painting, sculpture, etc. but the only artistic avenue that I pushed and worked really hard at was dance. I became a professional dancer in 2004 in Vancouver B.C. Canada, and to further my career, moved to Los Angeles in 2010. Around that same time, I was fully involved with my hobby of collecting and restoring vintage fountain pens. Antiques had always intrigued me, and fountain pens were very fascinating. This led me to trying to improve my own handwriting. (I had fairly nice writing at the time, but it didn’t have the character or precision of others work I had seen. Also, I wrote in block capitals most of the time) In my research to find study material, I stumbled upon the IAMPETH website and their rare books section.
There, I found Palmer method, and shortly after, Spencerian. That is when I fell down the rabbit hole. I fell in love with studying and practicing Spencerian. I met Michael Sull at the Los Angeles International Pen Show (fountain pen world) in 2011, and purchased my first “real” oblique holder and nib. Then Spencerian became my meditative exercise. After a long day, or if I wanted to relax, I would sit down, play some relaxing music, and practice. I never really thought about it being a business. It was just what I liked doing the most.
Please tell us about your art.
I specialize in Spencerian and Ornamental Penmanship. I do that the most simply because it is what I enjoy doing the most. Of all the calligraphic styles, I find traditional Ornamental Penmanship to be the most difficult, and I know that I can train it the rest of my life, and not get where I want to be with it. That is the drive. I fell in love with practicing. Analyzing old work, and correcting, moving forward. The coolest part about that is that unintentionally, getting better is just a convenient byproduct of what I love to do.
The work that I am most known for, however, would be my foil work on leather. Back in 2015, I began devising a technique for applying the Signature Design fundamentals that I was studying too much, onto leather in a metallic foil. This enables me now to create pieces that people can have on their desk, in their pocket, or hanging on their wall, that will last (hopefully) a lifetime or longer. In a perfect world Heirlooms. That’s just cool to me, so that is the drive behind my constant research and testing to further the technique.
Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
Honestly, the main thing that I try to teach people is to “fall in love with the process”, and find the joy in things.
More specific to Calligraphy or Penmanship though, I put a lot of stress on studying and practicing the foundations of styles, and then (only then) dding the style elements that help you “find your own voice” within a style. Not just copying others work, but studying their work, and growing from it.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Most of my work gets posted on my Instagram account @MrMGWard or on my YouTube channel. People get introduced to my work primarily through seeing a custom item I have created for another Calligrapher or Penman. I customize Leather Blotters (leather writing surfaces) so many of the teachers traveling the world use them for their own work.
I love making custom items for people, be it a wallet or journal they send to me, or a blotter, journal cover or flask that I make. Adding the custom elements to pieces by hand is what I love to do. I have an Etsy through my website www.mrmgward.com where people can place orders for pretty much anything they can think of. (Also custom carvings lately haha)
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mrmgward.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrmgward
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MrMGWardCalligraphy
Image Credit:
“Pay It Forward” was for Dr. Joe Vitolo The bird flourishes in that piece are his
“Harvest Crittenden” was a blotter I made for master penman Harvest Crittenden
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
