Contributed by Gloria Cooper

There is a saying, learn something new everyday. The students in the Morphing Monograms workshop truly learned something new.

Marcia Friedman and Barry Morentz were our patient instructors. They gave us a new found appreciation for constructing monograms that are interesting and exciting to design. We used a variety of letterforms to produce beautiful and unusual monograms.

Barry used more traditional techniques to develop his creations, drawing by hand with the use of tracing paper, and Marcia utilized the computer program Photoshop. Some students had experience in using this program and some had little to no experience with this technology. Those with prior experience adapted more quickly and others were quite challenged, but all learned a great deal. Marcia walked us through the steps of creating a monogram on the computer.

Marcia explained that it takes practice and time to feel comfortable using Photoshop. People who can master this can save a lot of time, take more design risks, and come out with original work. It’s handy to be able to switch out colors and sizes with the touch of a command, and reverse the process if you don’t like what you’ve made.

I learned a new appreciation for making monograms. Creating a monogram by hand or computer can be a special personal gift for yourself or someone else, especially someone for whom it is hard to find a gift.

Rows Top to Bottom: Chris K., Jean F., Maura L., Sally W.

Each row demonstrating taking a monogram design (which could be made up of 1 or more letters) and copying (by hand or by scan) and rotating several times to create a “pinwheel” or “calli-pin” (as termed by Barry and Marcia).