Schools

Calligraphy Artist Shares Expertise With Middle School Students

Kathy Jevic visited the North Canton Middle School recently to help students hone their calligraphy skills. The students were working on a project funded through an ArtsinStark grant.

Let's face it: Calligraphy is not an easy thing to master.

But calligrapher Kathy Jevic made it fun and enlightening for students when she hosted a calligraphy workshop recently at .

The workshop coincided with students' calligraphy projects and was made possible through an ArtsinStark grant, which teachers Ryan Krieg and Kathy Wyckoff applied for. The accompanying photos, provided by Krieg, show some of the students' illuminated poem projects.

Find out what's happening in North Cantonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

About the students' eagerness to learn during the workshop, Jevic said: "I think they did a very good job, and they were very attentive."

Jevic has a long history in the arts. A calligrapher for 35 years, she's also been the education director at the Massillon Museum and program manager with the Stark Education Partnership.

Find out what's happening in North Cantonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Now she's retired and owns her own studio in Massillon — Rabbit on the Moon.

During her lesson at the middle school, Jevic walked students through how to create letters of the alphabet. Not only that, but she clued them into the history of calligraphy and of the Medieval Ages.

For instance, who knew that the word "gutter" came from the white border around a page filled with calligraphy? 

The art of calligraphy takes not only concentration, but practice, she said.

"It takes a lot of practice, as in anything, because your mind has memory but your muscles have memory as well," Jevic said. "So the more times you do an alphabet, the more you will school your muscles in how it's supposed to be made."

Jevic was pleased to hear the teachers had applied for a grant through ArtsinStark to bring the calligraphy and Medieval project to the school.

"The arts are so important for students and for adults to engage in because with the arts, you don't have a set of facts and understandings," she said. "What you have is yourself. By learning a technique you can then bring yourself out and expose yourself with the arts, so there's nowhere to hide. It's a good discovery for the mind as well as your emotions and your heart."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from North Canton