Live Auction
"Brief History of the Alphabet" - by the Willow Room
- Item Number
- 315
- Estimated Value
- Priceless
Item Description
Willow (Micah and Kyra's Uppder Elementary Class)
“The development of language is part of the development of the personality, for words are the natural means of expressing thoughts and establishing understanding between people.” - Maria Montessori
Words, as Maria Montessori noted, is a natural medium for expressing our thoughts and feelings. In English we use 26 abstract symbols to indicate the various sounds which we combine to make all the words we use. Reading is such an integral part of our daily lives we rarely pay attention to the letter forms that make reading possible.
The Willow House has examined how the work of past civilizations has contributed to our modern-day society. The transformation of letter forms from the Sumerian, Egyptian, Phoenician, Greek, and Latin cultures is an aspect of this study and is reflected in this year’s auction project. The letters MDTL were chosen to demonstrate the evolution of symbols, that range from the figurative and semi-representational to the hard-edged abstractions that make up our modern alphabet.
Each student was assigned a character, drew it on tracing paper, flipped the image, retraced on a foam plate, then carved it and personalized it with a border. The plates were then inked and impressed on archival cotton paper twice. The Willow House auction project is composed of 20 individually drawn and printed squares of about 6”x6.” Each student and teachers worked on a single square. Each row spells out M D T L in the following alphabets: Sumerian, Egyptian, Phoenician, Early Greek, and Latin.
A sheet with additional information about the students, and the eras in which the alphabets were in use will be included with the artwork.
Framed in maple wood and UV plexiglass, the artwork measures 30 x 40 inches.
Item Special Note
Live item only; available for bidding at Live Event on March 24, 2018.
Winner will be able to pick up item at the end of the night.
Donated By:
Willow Classroom
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