
Parchment, Calligraphy, and Contemporary Palimpsests
For thousands of years, humans have used parchment to record written information. The word “palimpsest”—which comes from the Greek word palimpsēstos meaning “scraped again”—originally described an early form of recycling in which an old document was erased to make room for a new one when parchment was scarce. Colloquially, the word palimpsest refers to anything that has multiple layers: people, history, etc. In this two day workshop, students will use calligraphy and visual imagery to create their own contemporary palimpsests on parchment (stretched and dried animal skin).