About
Cora Pearl is a full time calligrapher and teacher of lettering arts. She teaches full credit classes in Calligraphy (ART 218A, 218B, 218C) and Hand Lettering (ART 219A, 219B, 219C) at Portland Community College, various lettering arts workshops at the Oregon College of Art and Craft, independent classes and workshops in lettering and design and has taught at the Letters of Joy Conference in Seattle, the IAMPETH 2016 conference in Portland, at the International Calligraphy Conference, Letterworks 2017, in Ogden, Utah, and at Letters California Style in 2018. Cora received a Regional Arts and Culture Council grant to take master classes with Sheila Waters in the fall of 2015 and another grant in 2018 to attend Seattletters. She majored in Art and Art History at Oberlin College. Cora is passionate about teaching and values a holistic approach to learning based on building trust and safety in the classroom environment.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY OF CORA PEARL
Teaching students about the art of calligraphy and hand lettering is a dream come true for me. I love being able to share my passion and experience in the classroom and I believe that teaching at its best, is also an art form.
Central to my teaching style is sharing my passion and enthusiasm to inspire students to ignite their own passion and desire for greater self-expression and artistic exploration. The study of calligraphy and hand lettering requires patience, persistence and practice. My teaching philosophy is centered on supporting students in developing this core set of skills as the foundation for artistic and calligraphic growth.
Students of the lettering arts tend to come from different backgrounds—some students already consider themselves artists, some students have had little or no artistic training at all, some students have a background in graphic design, others simply have a love of lettering that they would like to explore further. I like to meet each student right where they are in the learning process and in their initial skill level—my goal is to see each student move forward and grow from where they started. I encourage my students to understand their creative evolution from their own starting place to their own ending place, rather than from using an outside reference point.
While supporting students individually is important to my teaching, I also believe that having a strong classroom community is essential. We can learn so much from each other’s mistakes, successes and experiences. Making art can be a vulnerable experience and having a safe supportive classroom environment helps nourish the willingness to try new things and to grow as an artist. I encourage my students to share their experiences with each other and to rely on each other for additional support. This creates an environment where students care about each other and celebrate each other’s work.
Because the lettering arts do require precision, and making mistakes is inherent to the process, students can easily come face to face with their Inner Critic. I like to address this phenomenon directly and gently nurture students towards greater self-kindness and self-acceptance through the process of making mistakes. Navigating this area of this art form in a gentle manner can help give students the ability to stick with the challenge of working through building their technical skill level and solving design problems.
My approach to teaching has always been a holistic one—I believe that the ability to present words in a striking and creative artistic way is a rare and beautiful skill to possess and it also gives students a powerful new connection to the use of language and text. In addition to developing this core skill I believe the study of lettering as an art form is an opportunity to develop greater self-confidence, self-kindness, and the ability to have a more sustained, and even meditative focus. In the widest sense of what creating art can be, I see the study of calligraphy and hand lettering as an opportunity to get to know oneself better.