Sheila Waters (13 March 1929 – 18 March 2022) was a British

calligrapher Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as " ...

and teacher who spent the last half-century of her life in the United States.

Life

Sheila Waters was born in

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is th ...

, England, on 13 March 1929. She graduated from the Medway College of Art,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, in 1948 with a Diploma of Design, and received an

associate degree An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. Th ...

from the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It of ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1951. There she developed her calligraphic skills under the tutelage of Dorothy Mahoney (assistant to the calligrapher

Edward Johnston Edward Johnston, CBE (11 February 1872 – 26 November 1944) was a British craftsman who is regarded, with Rudolf Koch, as the father of modern calligraphy, in the particular form of the broad-edged pen as a writing tool. He is most fam ...

). At twenty-two, Waters was elected a fellow of the

Society of Scribes and Illuminators The Society of Scribes & Illuminators is an organisation dedicated to the promotion and development of the arts of calligraphy and illumination. The SSI was founded in the United Kingdom in 1921 by former students of leading calligrapher Edwa ...

. She inaugurated the program of calligraphy courses at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and later developed her own private classes and annual workshops. Waters was the first president and founding member of the Washington Calligraphers Guild. Waters was married to bookbinder and conservator

Peter Waters Peter Godfrey Waters (19 May 1930 – 26 June 2003), a former Conservation Officer at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., United States, worked in the areas of disaster recovery and preparedness, and the salvage of water-damaged paper ...

from 1953 until his death in 2003. One of her three sons is Julian Waters, a noted calligrapher and typographer. In 1971 the family moved to the United States after Peter was appointed Chief of Conservation at the Library of Congress. Once she obtained a teaching job in 1976, she was able to be more selective about what calligraphy work she took on and dedicate more time to develop her craft as an art form.

Books and artwork

Between 1961 and 1978, Waters hand-lettered and illustrated an illuminated manuscript of

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Unde ...

' ''

Under Milk Wood ''Under Milk Wood'' is a 1954 radio drama by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, commissioned by the BBC and later adapted for the stage. A film version, '' Under Milk Wood'' directed by Andrew Sinclair, was released in 1972, and another adaptatio ...

''. The book was released in 1979. Waters is the author of ''Foundations of Calligraphy'', published in 2006. Her 2016 book ''Waters Rising: Letters from Florence'' documented her husband's efforts to save hundreds of thousands of books damaged in the 1966 Florence flood. ''Time-Line Triptych'' is the name of an artwork from 1986 which consists of three works individually titled ''Ancient, Mediaeval'' and ''Modern'' in gouache and pastel.

References

External links

Sheila Waters: Granddaughter, Mother and Queen of Calligraphy - blogpost with interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waters, Sheila 1929 births 2022 deaths English calligraphers Alumni of the Royal College of Art Women calligraphers People from Gravesend, Kent

Life

Books and artwork

Further reading

References

External links