Signs for Sounds: Contemporary Letterforming and Calligraphy

This is the official iPad app for the Signs for Sounds exhibition: a Harley Gallery touring exhibition. Supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Discover the shapes of words and the Signs for Sounds. This exhibition considers the impact of Letterform, an art that we are surrounded by everyday – from traditional calligraphy to hi-tech font design.

From the scratch of the quill curling across the page, to letters painstakingly chipped and carved from stone, Signs for Sounds looks at the ways that artists use the age-old shapes of letters to amplify the effect of words. This exhibition looks at the traditional skills of letterforming, along with how we use lettering in the modern world – with mobile phones to display artists’ films of grafitti and virtual typography which lets visitors re-shape and re-read poetry on touchscreen monitors.

Artists featured in the exhibition include: Phil Baines & Catherine Dixon, Bunny Bread, Gary Breeze, Julien Breton, Ewan Clayton, Timothy Donaldson, Incisive Letterwork, Jason E Lewis, Brody Neuenschwander, Tom Perkins, Ina Saltz and Jeremy Tankard.

Tour Venues for the exhibition

Devon Guild of Craftsmen
Bovey Tracey, Devon
19 September – 31 October 2011

Bilston Craft Gallery
Bilston, West Midlands
10 December – 4 February 2012

Harley Gallery
Welbeck, Nottinghamshire
18 February – 11 April 2012

Beaney Gallery
Canterbury, Kent
18 January – 10 May 2013

20:21 Visual Arts Centre
Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire
18 May – 13 July 2013

Sunderland Museum and Art Gallery
Sunderland
20 July – 29 September 2013

About the Harley Gallery

The Harley Gallery is dedicated to the display of contemporary visual art and craft and hosts 5 national touring exhibitions per year. It houses the Cavendish-Bentinck family art collection (Portland Collection) which includes fine and decorative historical art. It also houses a Craft Shop, recognised by the Crafts Council as a quality retail outlet. The Gallery was built in 1994 on the site of the 19th century gasworks for the Welbeck Estate. It has won numerous awards including a Civic Trust Award for Architecture and an HETB Award for Excellence.