Presenting

Symbiosis IV —
The Auction

1st Dec (12PM GMT+8) - 3rd Dec 2024 (12PM GMT+8)

Nothing quite like sitting with art, mulling over it and appreciating its energy. Perhaps it’s the sweep of a stroke, the clash of colours or emotions evoked by textures — art has the ability to deeply move us beyond words.

Once again, The Art of Letters is pleased to present in this catalogue, a wide array of calligraphic art available for auction. These are works by established international artists as well as rising artists, ranging from modern abstracts to classically-informed calligraphy, in a wide variety of media.

This year, as part of the events surrounding Symbiosis IV, we are offering these works for auction on Instagram for 48 hours.

Visit Instagram page to bid

View all Participating Artists

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**Please use dateful.com/time-zone-converter to check for local times.

How to

Bidding on Instagram

The Art you see in this catalogue will be posted on Instagram as individual posts at IG: @TheArtofLetters_com.
To submit a bid, type your bid price as a comment on the post of the art you wish to bid for.
Please check the previous highest bid before submitting your bid.
All subsequent bids must be submitted as
a NEW comment and NOT a reply to your old comment.
We will not accept bids via DM, reply to story, or email.
4. All bids are in USD.
5. Minimum bid increments: USD 10.
6. Winning bids are the highest bids at the close of the auction.
7. Winners will pay for shipping. We will connect winners with artists to arrange shipping.
8. The winner will have 48 hours to remit full payment. Failure to do so will result in the art will going to the next highest bidder.
Once payment is received, the artist can proceed with shipping.

Auction ends in…

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Based in Poland

ALEXANDRA STELMASHONOK

A lettering artist, graphic designer, and educator, Alex has established herself as a skilled and innovative professional in her field. She began her career as a graphic designer in 2010 and has actively participated in both solo and group art exhibitions since 2008. Since 2016, Alex has focused on teaching and promoting calligraphy, showcasing its diversity, exploring its boundaries, and lecturing on platforms such as TEDx and at international art festivals. To popularize calligraphy, she has organised the creation of group art objects and murals. She has authored three books on calligraphy and teaches four original courses, including one centered on creativity and experimentation. Through her work, Alex inspires others to explore the art of lettering, fostering a deeper appreciation for its possibilities and encouraging creative expression in every form.

Based in USA

ALICIA MARQUEZ

Alicia works with letters and text, drawing from her background in typography, graphic design and calligraphy. She is fascinated by how words take on new meanings when transformed visually. She enjoys working with various materials, especially those that allow her to play with light and shadow, like collage and letter-carving. Her goal is to create pieces that invite people to see language in fresh, unexpected ways.

Based in Germany

ANDREA WUNDERLICH

A trained textile designer, Andrea started calligraphy in 1998, and became a full-time calligrapher and artist in 2003. Besides her artwork, her commissioned work shows her wide-ranging skills in sign-painting, lettering, logo-design and murals; she teaches nation- and worldwide. Her work is shown both nationally and worldwide and is part of private and public collections like the Berlin calligraphy collection, the Moscow Museum of Contemporary Calligraphy, Center of the book arts San Francisco. Andrea has a strong interest in the craft of calligraphy. She loves mastering the different tools and materials in order to use them for contemporary pieces. At the moment, she’s into developing her idea of 'Modern Illumination'.

Based in Poland

FILIP CIŚLAK

Filip Cislak’s journey in calligraphy began during his Graphic Design studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, where he discovered a passion for this art form in type design classes. Initially self-taught, he later refined his skills through workshops with renowned instructors like Luca Barcellona, Christopher Haanes, and John Stevens. In 2022, he earned a PhD, focusing on teaching calligraphy to graphic design students.

Cislak has taught calligraphy in various cities, including Katowice, Kraków, Warsaw, Helsinki, Bratislava, and Zaragoza, and is currently an assistant professor in the graphic design department at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice. He is a member of the Calligraphymasters collective and the Speedball Professional Artist Network and played a role in organizing the 2024 Calligraphy Festival in Katowice. His calligraphic works have been exhibited in Poland, Germany, and Turkey.

Focused on Western calligraphy, Cislak views calligraphy as a creative medium and a form of visual communication. He values historical letterforms as a foundation for experimentation and modern reinterpretations, blending tradition with innovation.

Based in Argentina

INES BUTELER

Ines began 30 years ago to study painting (oil, acrylic and watercolours) as a member of the International Painting Society of the USA. After 15 years and with a passion for calligraphy, she found a mentor in Marina Soria, with whom she studied for 8 years. Marina introduced Ines to The International Society for Calligraphy & Handwriting and she began to combine painting with experimental calligraphy. Ines participated in various exhibitions in Argentina. She is a member of the International Society of Painting of USA and The International Society for Calligraphy & Handwriting where she has encountered excellent international teachers. With high interest in experimental calligraphy, she took classes in the USA and in Europe, from teachers such as Peter Thornton, Louise Lemoine, Yukimi Annand, Ives Letterm, Monica Dengo , Thomas Igmaire, and Jurgan.

Based in Argentina

INES SOTOMAYOR

Ines Sotomayor might have had an unusual life journey: born in Argentina, her family moved to Brazil where she lived for 15 years. In her final years of high school, they moved again, this time to Portugal, where she graduated in a Spanish school. Finally, in 1993, she came to Buenos Aires and started college right away.

To soothe this immigrant grief, she drew, painted and wrote, and daydreamed that she would someday become a 'real' artist. She didn't attend art school, however, graduating instead as a Graphic Designer and a Front End Developer. She started studying calligraphy formally in 2003 – with Marina Soria, a talented artist, and a passionate, generous teacher – and also began developing websites that year.

Her introduction to calligraphy occurred while a student at the University of Buenos Aires, in typography classes. It was love at first sight! It felt great to learn this skill in the midst of the computer craze in the design field. Her passion for letters grew so strong that she began teaching classes at the university for almost a decade, specialising in Typography. From then, she has never stopped learning every formal hand and expressive calligraphic styles.

Based in Spain

GABRIELA SOBA

Gabriela is an artist and a designer with a postgraduate degree in Typography. A lover of bookbinding and calligraphy art, she has been featured in several Editions of Arts Libris (Artist Books). Gabriela’s calligraphy art is emotive, sensitive and lyrical. Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, she has been based in Barcelona since 2007, and she is a beloved calligraphy artist and mentor. She is interested in techniques and media that she uses to reach her goal of creating a graphic work. Her work is always very close to the world of paper and fabric. She has also worked with different recognised brands, and designing spaces. She uses calligraphy in a way that helps her communicate her ideas, as an artist and designer.

Based in Australia

JULIE WILDMAN

Julie's calligraphic interest began in the late ‘80s after a friend gave her Timothy Botts’ book “Doorposts.” Ten years later, she had the privilege of taking a year-long class with Reggie Ezell and was hooked. She joined the Chicago Calligraphy Collective soon after and embarked on a lifelong journey of loving and studying letters.

Her work has been exhibited in juried shows throughout the U.S. and Midwest, including the Newberry Library in Chicago. In 2007 and 2014, her pieces “Psalm 117” and “An Alphabet Book,” respectively, won the Newberry’s Purchase Prize Award and became a part of the Library’s permanent collection. Her work has also been published in many issues of Letter Arts Review, Bound & Lettered, and various other type and lettering publications. Two of her more recent works, “Merton Quote” and “Psalm 97:1,” have been purchased by the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) and a private donor for the Harrison Collection at the SFPL.

Based in Australia

JANINE MITCHELL

Janine became interested in writing, tools and letterforms at a very early age, coinciding with her art studies and practice in botanical watercolour and pastels. Her training in traditional calligraphy
began in 1994 and she has extensive education with both local and international lettering professionals across all forms of lettering and associated arts. Her long history of learning crosses the boundaries of formal, contemporary and abstract letterforms. She has traveled
to Europe to study and also worked professionally, running a studio, gallery and education centre. Janine is known for her skills in lettering and has been a key contributor to heightening calligraphy skills in Australia.

Over the duration of her career Janine has won many awards and was also the first Australian to be chosen to exhibit in a major exhibition in St Petersburg. She is known internationally and her works remain on permanent exhibition in Moscow Museum.

Based in South Africa

LEESETTE TURNER

Calligraphy coach, teacher, and lettering artist, Leesette’s interest in calligraphy started with her first year in school where a teacher wrote in beautiful italic. After her mother bought her a Speedball book,
she spent years copying the scripts! Today, Leesette is still endlessly fascinated by all things script – Asian, Arabic, African, Asemic, Roman – the traditions and history, how letters become images and our relationship with text. Her philosophy is to have fun with letters as an abstract self-expression, not requiring perfection.

A member of the Cape Friends of Calligraphy, Leesette’s works have been exhibited locally and internationally, and her work appears in several international collections.

Based in Argentina

MARINA SORIA

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1961, Marina Soria is a seasoned artist and educator. With degrees in Fine Arts and Graphic Design, she lectured for many years on Graphic Design and Editorial Design in the University of Buenos Aires, and later on as an Associate Professor in Typography. Marina is a recipient of numerous awards, has exhibited internationally, and her works are in public and private collections around the world.

Based in Australia

NATALIA ACHINO

Natalia Achino is an award-winning artist, calligrapher and teacher based in Perth, Western Australia. After a long career in teaching languages, Natalia started her calligraphy journey in 2016. Since then, she has studied with many renowned local and international artists.

Her work is a constant experimentation with different mediums, seeking to capture in new ways timeless moments of beauty inspired by nature and the passage of time.

Natalia is an active member and dedicated volunteer with the Calligraphers’ Guild of Western Australia, the Watercolour Society of Western Australia, and the West Australian Society of Arts. She has exhibited widely and earned numerous awards in their group exhibitions throughout Western Australia.

Based in Malaysia

NUR SYUHADA JAAFAR

Since young, Syuhada has always loved art, though it was never seen as a practical career path. But she kept her passion alive by diving into handmade cards and scrapbooking. A career break in 2016 led her to a calligraphy workshop, and she has been in love with calligraphy ever since. Eight years later, she transitioned from an accounts executive surrounded by numbers and reports to a full-time calligraphy artist and instructor. 'I am grateful to have transformed this passion into her life’s work,' she shares.

Based in Poland

ROXANA HERNÁNDEZ

Roxana has always been fascinated by art and letters, but as a spectator and not a creator, until 2020, when calligraphy awakened the creative spirit within. What started as curiosity has since blossomed into a passion, starting with brush calligraphy, the pointed pen, and eventually embracing the broad edge scripts. Despite not having received formal instruction in calligraphy, as a self-taught explorer, Roxana has been avidly learning by studying historical manuscripts and the works of contemporary calligraphers. Her hard work was affirmed when she received the CLAS Distinction Certificate of Calligraphy in the Copperplate style. She continues to learn and experiment with different styles, from traditional scripts to creating personal variations (Roxana script).

Based in Australia

TOKS OJO

Toks started his calligraphic journey in 2019, copying a Foundational hand exemplar he had found on the internet -- individual letters at first, then words, and onto quotes. Shortly after, he discovered online workshops which gave him the opportunity to participate in classes with calligraphy tutors all over the world and he has not stopped since. His current work focuses mainly on broad-edge scripts such as italic, blackletter (Fraktur), Roman capitals and foundational hand.

Based in Belgium

Yves Leterme

Yves Leterme is a professional calligrapher based in Bruges, Belgium. Previously a teacher of Latin and Greek to high school students, Yves started lettering in the 90s. In 2010, his hobby became his full-time profession. Yves spent hours analysing, experimenting and honing his skills, drawn to the versatility and expressiveness of informal gestural writing, while remaining grounded in traditional letterforms. Keeping a balanced disciplined playfulness, Yves specialises in drawn capitals, brush Trajan letters, abstract painting as well as playful explorations in lettering. With his expertise and skills as a teacher, it is no surprise that Yves is a sought-after teacher all over the world. Yves’ works are found in private collections globally.