Lettrines
Illuminated alphabet
Illuminated alphabet
An illuminated letter, or lettrine, is a decorated letter that typically appears at the beginning of inscriptions or paragraphs in a manuscript. They are meant to embellish the text in which they appear but can also convey a message of their own through imagery and illustration contained within the lettrine. Illuminated text dates back to 500 AD but the art of the lettrine was cultivated and popularized in the Middle Ages.
This alphabet explores the concept of appropriation, one of the prevailing idioms in popular culture today. Existing art and music are constantly being borrowed, updated, and revamped in to something new.
The set was created by taking pieces of baroque pattern and wallpaper, tracing the different forms and reshaping them in to the different letters. The base letter forms are hand drawn interpretations of calligraphy in the Book of Kells. The end result is a fusion of modern and medieval style. Each letter was then ink jet printed 5"x 5" and mounted in a grid.
This alphabet explores the concept of appropriation, one of the prevailing idioms in popular culture today. Existing art and music are constantly being borrowed, updated, and revamped in to something new.
The set was created by taking pieces of baroque pattern and wallpaper, tracing the different forms and reshaping them in to the different letters. The base letter forms are hand drawn interpretations of calligraphy in the Book of Kells. The end result is a fusion of modern and medieval style. Each letter was then ink jet printed 5"x 5" and mounted in a grid.
