An online enrichment session with Kathleen M. Rollick

Saturday, 12 September 2026
10 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. dst  (1:00pm – ~3:15pm est) The session will be recorded and available to view for 3 months for current members of the Westcoast Calligraphy Society.

Zoom link and Handouts have been emailed to members. WCS Members can also go to the member portal under Programs & Recordings to view and download these materials.

Acanthus Leaves: A Manuscript Approach

 Thanks to a variety of digitized collections, we are lucky enough to be able to access these collections without needing to travel around the world.

In this presentation, we will delve into the various styles of acanthus leaves common in 14th – 15th century European manuscripts. We’ll then discuss drawing the basic acanthus shape and folding and spiraling the leaf, with a focus on fitting the folded acanthus leaf into the letterform. If time permits, we will paint a simple Lombardic letter containing a folded acanthus leaf.

Kathleen Rollick

Kathleen Rollick is a chemical engineer by profession and a calligrapher by passion. She loves all things delicate, detailed, and historical. She has been doing calligraphy since childhood, but didn’t really know what she was doing until she joined her calligraphy guild, read Sheila Waters’ Foundations of Calligraphy, and started taking workshops with amazing nationally and internationally known instructors (she still has lots to learn and practice).

Kathleen’s home guild is the Calligraphy Guild of Indiana, where she has served as workshop chair in the past and currently arranges meeting programming. She recently joined the Westcoast Calligraphy Society for Nina Tran’s gothic cursive workshop and is excited to be a member of such a vibrant and professional group.