Write on Calligrapher flips the script from humdrum digital to exquisite analogue The Creators
By: AV Kitching Posted: 3:00 AM CDT Saturday, Mar. 22, 2025

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This article was published 22/03/2025 (276 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Every time Janet Murata puts pen to paper she is taking part in her own form of resistance.

The calligrapher’s practice is a “gentle act of rebellion against technology and the addictions of smartphones, email and social media.”

Murata weaves her art into her daily routine.

“My calligraphy shows up everywhere, whether I am writing a letter to a friend, a note to a teacher or my grocery list. My pen comes with me everywhere I go, although you can do calligraphy with pretty much everything — you could use a carrot, a feather or a stick — it doesn’t have to be a pen,” she says.

To the untrained eye, the letters, with their intricate loops, swirls and whorls, may look like a more sophisticated versions of cursive handwriting. However, whatever you do, don’t call it that.

It is believed the ancient art of decorative lettering originated around 600 BCE in Rome. The word calligraphy itself has its roots in the Greek language: kallos, meaning beauty, and graphein, which means to write.

“While cursive and calligraphy can have many similarities, they can also be quite different. Calligraphy is about art — seeing letters as shapes and looking at the negative space,” Murata explains. “It’s quite nuanced.”

Her artistry is rooted in a desire to preserve the written word.

“People’s stories are being erased from history. Now, more than ever, I believe in the importance of documenting our lives and experiences in analogue form so nobody can change it without seeing it has been altered, “ she says.

She began her practice in the early 2000s, learning from library books at first. It proved to be a slow and frustrating process for the left-hander.

“Calligraphy was not always welcoming of left-handed artists. Information and tools were rare and difficult to find,” she says.

In 2009, she joined the Calligrapher’s Guild of Manitoba where, under the auspices of guild president Kathie Mcilvride, her knowledge, skills and confidence grew.

Working from her studio at home she takes on commissions to script out everything from poems, invitations and certificates to significant historical documents.

“I was commissioned by the Manitoba Métis Federation to create a document which was signed and blessed by Pope Francis when he formally apologized to the Indigenous and Inuit Peoples of Canada,” she says.

She also runs workshops, teaching beginners the art of “beautiful writing,” details of which she posts on her Instagram account @michiko.craft.

For professional commissions, Murata uses two kinds of writing implements: pointed pens for copperplate script and broad-edge pens for Gothic script.

“The pointed-pen version of calligraphy — the most common is copperplate — is flowy and elegant, like the styles you would use on wedding invitations. Broad-edge pen, often called Gothic, has straight and structured letters. The beauty of calligraphy comes from the thicks and thins these pens create. Monoline, a simpler version of calligraphy, can be done with a regular pen or pencil,” she says.

The artist is “picky” when it comes to choosing her papers, pens and inks. She has gone through countless reams of various types of paper, testing out different inks in different pens before finally settling on her favourites.

“I have many different types of paper with my preference depending on the pen and the ink, the relationship between the nib, the paper and the ink… it’s kind of like dating,” she laughs.

“You have to try things out before you find the perfect match and get married. Oftentimes the experimentation is a long process, but it can also be fun if you have the right mindset.”

av.kitching@freepress.mb.ca