Musings

Music touches the soul in ways that are hard to describe. When songs and lyrics are written on paper in calligraphic format, they take on a new beauty. Elegant and sweeping brush strokes give shape to the song, bringing it into the physical world, and the lyrics themselves no longer exist as just a component of music, but rather become an art of their own. David Ashley has created many beautiful calligraphic works that include song lyrics and poems. One of his most interesting pieces of this fashion is titled “Folk Song with Illumination & Illustration”. 1

As a prominent artist and well known calligrapher in Denver, David Ashley has produced many works for notable figures and organizations over the years, including ten Nobel Peace Prize laureates for Regis University, the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries, and the Colorado Calligraphers’ Guild, as well as many artists, photographers, and musicians. David approaches every project with enthusiasm, passion, and joy. However, over the years, there have been some projects that were particularly unique and exciting endeavors and have remained memorable even with the passage of time. “Two Rivers,” a calligraphic work produced for Pope John Paul II is one of such projects. The project was exciting not only because of the eminence of nobility of its receiver, but also because it held a quality that invokes fervor in the heart of every artist - it was a challenge. 1

Check out David's reflections on his journey from Calligraphy to letterpress are featured in Vol. 12 No. 4 edition of Bound and Lettered. An excerpt: As a practitioner of both calligraphy and letterpress printing, I have learned how they can be very complimentary art forms. With letterpress, calligraphy gains a threedimensional, sculptural