Welcome to our 2018 Fundraising Campaign for the upcoming film "With Pen in Hand; the Journey of American Handwriting." We Need Your Help!
Please consider a tax-deductible donation.
We need your support! Your tax-deductible donation will provide funding to help finish the production, post-production work and distribution for our film "With Pen in Hand; the Journey of American Handwriting." You will receive a tax-deductible receipt, for your records, in an email. This film will be seen by millions of people around the world!
We have different donation levels (starting at just $25). We will provide updates on the film's progress on our website and blog.
About the Film
Emmy Award-winning filmmaker John Altman, together with the world’s foremost Master Penman, Michael Sull, are producing a documentary film, "With Pen in Hand: The Journey of American Handwriting"(working title). It is designed for national PBS and educational distribution, via traditional television and video distribution, as well as through a plethora of social media. The film will focus on the art, significant history, and future of handwriting, calligraphy, engrossing, and engraving – especially Spencerian Script and the Palmer Method in America, and on the threat to the teaching of cursive penmanship worldwide.
History & Importance of American Penmanship.
Few people are aware that penmanship's rich history is a uniquely American saga, perhaps the most influential factor in our country’s becoming a literate nation. It is a story that has never been told, until now.
As British colonists, the educational goal in teaching that hand was "uniformity," a shaded script with close letter-spacing: everyone's handwriting looked alike. But Americans came from many countries, and a mixture of styles sprang up. The most beautiful was that of Platt Rogers Spencer, whose simple strokes were based on movement, curvature, contrast and variability, so that individuals could create their own unique style of handwriting.
With the American Industrial Revolution in full motion, there was high demand was for penmen who could write well and fast; it was almost a guarantee of employment. Business schools flourished. Austin Palmer invented a simpler style that was easier for children, called the Palmer Method. A new style was born and taught to virtually every American student for decades: cursive handwriting.
For many people, the term “handwriting” brings to mind solely the activity of writing words on paper, and the image of the handwritten words themselves. In reality, handwriting is much more than this. Since the birth of humankind, handwriting has served culture after culture as a means of personal artistic expression, relaying visual representations of thoughts and emotions.
One of the major purposes of this film is to share this very human aspect of handwriting through the calligraphic images of various renowned lettering artists, past and present. Calligraphy is artistic handwriting, and it has always served to celebrate, recognize, and inspire people, events, and ideas.
As master classes are highlighted around the globe, the film is also meant to provide a variety of experts’ viewpoints on the value of teaching cursive handwriting to the next generation, especially because there are already many, many current and recent American students who can neither write nor read cursive.
About the Master Penman - Michael Sull
Michael Sull is an IAMPETH master penman and author living in Mission, Kansas, United States. An expert on penmanship, he was Ronald Reagan's calligrapher after his Presidency and is known worldwide for his skill and teaching ability. He regularly teaches handwriting, calligraphy, and engrossing programs throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.
Considered America’s foremost living Spencerian penman, he is author of Spencerian Script and Ornamental Penmanship, Learning to Write Spencerian Script, and American Cursive Handwriting, and publishes various other educational materials focusing on pen writing. He also manufactures period style oblique dip pen equipment for use by penmen today.
Today, Sull serves as Master Penman for Zaner-Bloser, performing public demonstrations. Michael has spend the past several years teaching hand-writing around the world in countries including, Italy, The Dominican Republic, Hong, Kong, Sinapore, Jakarta, Thailand, England and St. Petersburg, Russia.
*Credit Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Sull*
About the Filmmaker – John S. Altman
John is an accomplished, Emmy Award-winning filmmaker; he has produced and directed a broad variety of award-winning documentary, dramatic, educational and corporate films and television programs, many of which have aired nationally on cable networks and PBS, including The Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie with Ms. Larrabee.
Where Your Donations Go – Institute for Historic and Educational Arts (IHEA)
Bill Wolfe is the Vice-President of IHEA, founded in 1998.
The organization is devoted to the preservation and creation of historic physical and decorative arts such as sculpting, many types of metalworking, hand-crafted textiles, and now, the handwriting arts.
IHEA had served as fiscal agent and bookkeeping/oversight organization for several of John Altman's documentaries over many years and has contracted with Altman to receive and disburse donations in a timely and appropriate manner for production and distribution costs of With Pen in Hand: The Journey of American Handwriting.
In addition to the donations to the film thus far on Causevox, $21,000+ has been contributed by longtime friends and "clients" and colleagues of Mr. Sull and of Mr. Altman. Coming directly to IHEA to the Causevox donations, the vast majority of these funds have been used for research and development and for initial filming on the project. IHEA disburses 95% of all donations directly for the film's production and distribution.
For more information about With Pen in Hand, check out our website:
penmanshipdocumentary.com
