Here is a Master Calligrapher and One of the Youngest Master Penmen | Eastern NC Now
As the world grows increasingly, digital, storied art forms like penmanship are quickly dying out.
I have always admired and been fascinated by excellence in almost any activity. One of the most common examples of sheer talent reinforced by practice and commitment is the accomplished musician. If you have ever tried to play an instrument, you know the many solitary hours of practice required before the performance is honed to perfection. Most will never reach that point due to the commitment required. But once that is accomplished, it looks easy to the untrained eye until you try to duplicate it.
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Bobby Tony said:
( March 20th, 2016 @ 10:40 am )
I just uploaded a post on the maps of Vietnam. Surveying today I suspect is helped by GPS but still would require the good skills. One of my friends from Georgia Tech said the surveying final was a survey of the campus that the professor had been using for years. He gave you the start location and waypoints. If you ended up at his stop location, you passed. My friend said the system was flawed since the expressway next to GT had changed some of the points. He submitted his final point at the Varsity Drive in, which was just on the other side of the expressway and the professor gave him a passing grade since the test was so outdated. Here is crude example of the joke.
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When I said I was a map maker, it was just my day job, where I would: go out in the field with my crew; record information; then reduce that information, by using math (mostly trig, algebra and even simple division, i.e. relative fractions reduced to a factor of 1 with various word problems scenarios); and then I would take that information to draw/draft plot plans measuring showing land situations horizontally and vertically in precise measurements, with descriptions weighted in script and line.
Long description here, but it feels good writing about something that I did about 40 years ago. I really do believe that I could go back to being a surveyor with just a bit of burnishing of the skills, including the math (which would not take long). Computers would make it all really cool. Here below is the latest map that I made, after many decades and using the computer, by building upon some data that my buddy Hood supplied me (which is completely built upon a map that I initially drew and gave Hood) of my land that I am just now engaged in subdividing. The final map will depend upon the placement of septic systems and the house footprints. I will not plot the official recorded maps, but I will use my maps, built upon the official maps, to promote the property because I like colors, which communicate as well.  These hand maps that you supplied regarding Vietnam War, by Wild Bill, proves how valuable the communication of drawings are. Who knows, Wild Bills maps may have kept some of your buddies alive. |
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Stan, I would love to see some of your work, if you still have them.
There are maps and there are maps. Here is a map of one of our Base Camps in Vietnam which I think was drawn by our resident artist, Wild Bill Hauser (I Could be incorrect here as memory is faded). This was drawn free hand using the topo maps of the Army as a guide. He drew it after he returned from Vietnam based on memory and consultation with others. He drew caricatures of most of the guys in the unit, but unfortunately, I lost mine during the years of denial and repressed memories. There is also a map of Cu Chi and Nui Ba Den, which was much more detailed and based on some Army maps. Some would ask how one would remember such things? The best way to cement something in memory is to attach some emotional baggage to the memory. Think about your childhood neighborhood, I'll bet most could sketch the two mile radius without consulting a map. Naturally, the Army in all its wisdom decided that Wild Bill was more valuable as a grunt than a mapmaker or cartoonist. 
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I agree Bobby Tony.
One of my early jobs was being a draftsman and map maker, and in those olden days before plotters, we hand scripted information in various weights, which made up the visual communication vehicle - the drafted drawing. The key to the project's success was the consistency of form. |
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It may be automated calligraphy but it somehow does not seem as inspiring as the master does with his pen and ink. I spent most of my working life selling automation products to improve productivity and efficiency, but I always admired the skill of a real craftsman practicing his trade.
Sometimes progress can be effective in reducing cost and increasing productivity but regressive in its disregard of the dedication of skilled craftsman as shown in the above article. Below is the indifference of automation that accomplishes a purpose but loses something in the process. From the Gutenberg printing press to this simple printer show below in the 1:/12 minute video, we have managed to create efficiency but I hope that we will always have room for the skill set required to design and implement uniqueness in some works of art. beaufortcountynow.com |
| Bobby Tony asks for money, will you support him? | A Description of the Visual Arts and Graphics, Art Talk, The Arts | Going to college in a parking lot in Atlanta |
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