I'm still a work in progress
A selection of press and media images along the road of my continuing journey as a calligraphy artist.
For my bio please click here
Below: Close to my beginnings. A press review of a manuscript book I was commissioned to make, age 14!
My teen demonstration below at Roscrea Heritage Centre, Co. Tipperary, after they commissioned me to make a facsimile page of The Book Of Durrow, 1984-ish. Photo by the Irish Press.
Since these early photos, I requested that Calligraphy be added to the categories in the National Crafts Competition, which was held by the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) until 2017. They accepted. I've been honoured to win over 30 awards, in the calligraphy and glass categories and also several cross-category overall awards such as The Muriel Gahan Scholarship and the California Gold Medal. I don't have figures, but I may hold more awards than anyone in this competition. The press review below playfully suggests I "won just about everything a horse can't win" the first time I exhibited at the Crafts exhibition at the RDS Horse Show in 1989!
My first major commission on graduating in Advanced Calligraphy in London was The Great Book of Ireland 1989-1991. Patron: Taoiseach, Charles Haughey. I performed the calligraphy on every page, featuring an artist and a poet. Below is a poster for a later lecture. This page features drawings by BrianBourke which I stabilised on the page by adding branches of calligraphy with poetry by Cathal O'Searcaigh. The manuscript was purchased by University College Cork for $1 million in 2013, celebrated at UCC with the official launch by President Michael D. Higgins. There was extensive press coverage accompanying the original launch in 1991 at The Irish Museum of Modern Art. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Book_of_Ireland
The Irish Indepented featured the cartoon below, January 1991!
A press photo with Uachtarán na hÉireann, Mary McAleese and husband Dermot McAleese in 2007.
My honour that the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland commissioned me to present a portfolio of my Art Prints to them.
2013 Beijing Art Commissions
Below is a studio photo of me looking small behind a 5 metre canvas I made as one of 12 large artworks now installed in the 5-star Beijing Rosewood Hotel. Below again is the work in-situ in the hotel lobby.
A DVD set documents my making of large works for the 5-star Beijing Rosewood Hotel, on location in China.
I designed and published my book, Brown Calligraphy, in 2017. Acknowledged by the Irish government as a work of artistic and cultural merit, many reviews are humbling. Read one from the Netherlands below.
"This book makes clear the most important aspects of calligraphy as art in this moment. One will understand the difference between real calligraphy and what I call typographical calligraphy. Even if if you are not a calligrapher you will far more enjoy calligraphy after reading this book. Because of serious reflections and excellent works and illustrations, it is the most important book on calligraphy of the last decades. It s a must for calligraphers and all people interested in Calligraphy as Art." Evert van Dijk, Calligrapher/Author , the Netherlands.
I picked up an award while on a 2019 teaching trip across the US, just before COVID knocked us all down for a while.
I learned that American Irish are the real stuff, not just Shillelaghs and Darby O'Gill!
No, it's not an online exercise class! I'm teaching how to compose calligraphy with dynamic triangles for Calligraphy TV, May 2025.
I produce it all, from filming, recording, editing, music production—everything. I returned to college to get a degree in sound recording and production in my early thirties. Stretching oneself is key to staying fresh! I design these web pages too, FYI, and personally sign and ship every copy of my book. One-man-band!
I am sitting in studio against my recent Dublin Airport commission, "Céad Míle Fáilte", A Hundred Thousand Welcomes.
I am now honoured with a bio panel alongside the work in the airport.
My journey continues...! Thanks for taking a look.
Denis Brown, Artist Calligrapher, Dublin, 2025
