Ewan Clayton
- Faculty
- Alumni,
Biography
Ewan Clayton is a calligrapher and lettering artist who lives and works in Brighton, Sussex. He holds a part time position as Professor in Design at the University of Sunderland. For twelve years he worked as a consultant to Xerox PARC, the research lab in California that developed much of the digital technology underpinning the world of digital communications and mobile computing that we know today. He grew up in and around a craft community at Ditchling in Sussex founded by Eric Gill. Ewan’s book The Golden Thread, a history of writing, was published by Atlantic in 2013.
On drawing
I see drawing, as I do calligraphy, as an art of line and gesture, a drawn line arises from felt space and some kind of imaginative yet embodied response to the possibilities of relationships between and within things and to the whole. At a more prosaic level, I see drawing as a foundational discipline. In the Applied Arts it functions not only as an education for eye and hand, but as an additional means for documenting one’s work. Its uses extend to recording personal observations and insights, exploring alternatives in design and working out constructional details. It is also invaluable as a tool to use with clients in the development and communication of ideas.
