An opportunity in winter 2025 arose to set up a competition for UCA students to review the Tanner Gallery exhibition Fluidity and Inscription (until June 2026). The brief was simple: to write a critical 500-1,000-word genuine and creative response to the exhibition. £500 cash and publication in the calligraphy journal The Scribe was the prize.

Seven excellent reviews were submitted for review by CSC staff and the Centre’s Chair of Trustees Edward Wates, an established calligrapher.

It was a difficult judgment to make but Lewis Hale, a postgraduate Graphic Design student won the competition with his review that captured the essence of the show as well as digging deep on some of the subtext. In a perceptive sentence Hales writes: At a time when everyday writing often means tapping glass, these pieces restore an appreciation for the physicality of making words. They remind the viewer that writing carries the memory of the body that produced it. (See images below for some of Lewis’s current work.)

His full review will be published in an upcoming edition of The Scribe which will be shared on the CSC website. Well done to Lewis and all the UCA students who took part.