04 March 2020

Thomas Ingmire | Vatic Scrip


Thomas Ingmire is an American calligrapher, born in 1942 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In 1977, he became the first American elected to England's Society of Scribes and Illuminators with a craft membership status. He is one of the illuminators of the St. John's Bible.

Since 2002, Ingmire has concentrated on the making of artists' books. He has embarked on a number of collaborative projects, including this work with author/poet Christine Kennedy.

"This book is part of a series that explores the relationship between poetry, music, and calligraphy. Christine's approach to the project was unique. She used one of my abstract calligraphic images as the foundation for her poem. She initially scanned the image through an optical recognition program. The generated characters were run through spell check, which resulted in a pool of vocabulary that was then used to compose the poem. Christine also viewed the image as a musical score and created a free vocalization which was interspersed with her reading of the poem." [Colophon]

Vatic Scrip: Live Ink
song for Thomas Ingmire

In a Tall Tale
I am His Sybil
I am an Ink inlet

I Tell of live Ink
His Ink vial
lit as if live
Til Ink is vital

son son
son son déjà sonné


Christine Kennedy