Roman Holiday Conference 2024 Review

Written by Ann H on August 30, 2024. Posted in Reviews.

By Leslie Barstad

Attending the Roman Holiday Calligraphy Conference was one of the highlights of the year! It was an amazing week!

My husband and I both attended; we each took two 1/2-week classes. I did Reggie Ezell’s ‘Rambunctious Roman Variations’ the first half of the week, and my husband took ‘Stone Carving 1’ with Paul Herrera. The second half of the week we both did ‘Sharpening the Eye while Training the Hand: a watercolor class’ with Chris Reno, who teaches art at St. Ambrose University.

The conference website is still up, so you can view the classes offered, and see the week’s schedule (under the FAQ section), as well as read about the amazing calligraphers and artists that taught classes.

St. Ambrose University(SAU) is a lovely, small campus, with lots of big trees and buildings of different ages and styles of architecture. Participants stayed in various dorms, but everyone ate together (I think there were around 400 people attending, including faculty), in the student center. I was a little giddy, looking past my salad to see John Stevens, Brody Neuenschwander, Carl Rohrs, Carol Du Bosch, Tim Botts—the list goes on!

Evening presentations were in the auditorium, which also had photos and displays about Fr. Catich’s life, and a gallery space had a retrospective of Rosie Kelly’s work.

The student wellness center housed John Neal Books and Paper and Ink Arts all week, and they offered lots of product demonstrations outside of class time. Also, the Dancing Letters silent auction, and market night, where you could purchase works by faculty and participants, on Thursday night, were in the wellness center, on the indoor track! So was the Friday afternoon ‘show and share’; we students took turns at tables displaying the work we did in our classes. It was great to see what everyone accomplished, and ask questions.

There were students who volunteered, and a couple good-hearted spouses of participants, that drove golf carts to and from dorms, student center and classroom buildings all week, if you wanted a ride.

Tuesday afternoon was a break in the schedule, providing time to take a papermaking or paste paper workshop, tour downtown Davenport by trolley, or just have free time. My husband and I did the outdoor papermaking workshop, taught by Joseph Lappie, chair of the art and design department at SAU. It was great fun in spite of the sweltering humidity!

I attended the guild representative’s meeting on Wednesday, moderated by Karen Nordstrom Roberts, President of the Pittsburgh Calligraphy Guild. I think there were people from about 22 guilds. The topic was growth. It was interesting to hear common concerns: guilds are aging out, people are less inclined to come to in-person events, regaining members after covid has been hard. Things that have been successful, in different guilds: demo events at libraries and schools, drop-in or free meet-up events, advertising on social media, or collaborations with similar groups, such as typographers or book-makers.

On Wednesday night, everyone who was in our dorm at the time of a tornado warning gathered in one of the basement hallways, while we waited to see what would happen. Our student assistant was tracking it on his phone, and it did come through Davenport, with minor damage, but didn’t affect the campus. There were a few tense moments, but mostly it was an opportunity to meet and visit with more people!

Friday evening concluded the conference with the coordinators thanking the conference and SAU staff, a photo show from the week, and live music by a local, New Orleans-style jazz band, The Locust Street Boys. It was a festive end to a marvelous week—it was so well-organized; the staff, both at the college and the conference, were kind, friendly and helpful; and it was a great time of friendship and conviviality. The days went by too quickly, and I’m so grateful that I was able to attend.

But for me, the biggest unexpected pleasure was learning about Fr. Catich, who taught at SAU, and who is still very much a presence on campus, even though he died in 1979. A priest, artist, sculptor, musician, and teacher, he is known for his work with classical Roman capitals, showing that their characteristic serifs were first painted on stone before being incised. The Art Legacy League artlegacyleague.org, in Davenport, was founded by some of his former students, including Paul Herrera, who was also one of Fr. Catich’s studio assistants, and taught the stone carving class that my husband took. Amy Nielsen, another former student, is president of the ALL, and was an artist-in-residence at the conference. The organization works to promote and remember Fr. Catich’s work, and the SAU library archives houses many of his sketchbooks, journals and art work. He was a fascinating, multi-talented person, and I hope you’ll look at the website and see why I was so moved by his life and work!

The title of the conference is a nod to Fr. Catich’s work with Roman capitals, and his study of the Trajan column, as well as the movie ‘Roman Holiday’. The black-and-white photo I’ve included is referenced in Cyrus Highsmith’s clever logo.