Ewan Clayton
Photo Credit: Roger Bamber
Ewan Clayton is a calligrapher who grew up as part of the craft community at Ditchling in Sussex where two previous generations of his family have worked as weavers and dyers. Ditchling was home to a number of significant lettering artists including Edward Johnston and David Jones. Johnston was a calligrapher and type designer, Jones a painter and poet, all these areas of activity have inspired Ewan’s own creativity and teaching ever since.
In the 1980’s, after a serious illness, Ewan spent several years at the monastery of Worth Abbey in Sussex. Here he experienced text in a new way as a focus of liturgy, but a significant part of the life was to live in a space where words were deliberately absent. Then, as a consultant for over a decade to Xerox PARC, a computer research lab in California, Ewan contributed to thinking about the way documents work in analogue and digital forms. From this came his book on the history of writing The Golden Thread (2013) and his work as external advisor on an exhibition considering the future of writing Writing: Making Your Mark held at the British Library (2019) soon to tour to China. Today Ewan lives, works and teaches calligraphy from his studio in Brighton. He is Professor in Design at the University of Sunderland and a core faculty member at the Royal Drawing School where his teaching on movement has become a key feature of ‘The Drawing Year’. Despite all these ‘honorifics’ Ewan enjoys working with his fellow calligraphers and artists whatever their level of experience.
In the 1980’s, after a serious illness, Ewan spent several years at the monastery of Worth Abbey in Sussex. Here he experienced text in a new way as a focus of liturgy, but a significant part of the life was to live in a space where words were deliberately absent. Then, as a consultant for over a decade to Xerox PARC, a computer research lab in California, Ewan contributed to thinking about the way documents work in analogue and digital forms. From this came his book on the history of writing The Golden Thread (2013) and his work as external advisor on an exhibition considering the future of writing Writing: Making Your Mark held at the British Library (2019) soon to tour to China. Today Ewan lives, works and teaches calligraphy from his studio in Brighton. He is Professor in Design at the University of Sunderland and a core faculty member at the Royal Drawing School where his teaching on movement has become a key feature of ‘The Drawing Year’. Despite all these ‘honorifics’ Ewan enjoys working with his fellow calligraphers and artists whatever their level of experience.