At Crossroads Calligraphy, your ideas and inspiration become elegant calligraphy pieces with heart.
Sure, you could type text out on a computer or pick something up from a big box store. But nothing really matches the handmade quality of custom calligraphy and your great taste and good ideas. Calligraphy is a great way to present them memorably. It’s something the viewer can spend time with. They’ll always remember the way they felt when you had it done for them.
About Renee, the Person Behind the Pen
I’ve made artwork for as long as I can remember. I took a calligraphy class at age 11. I had no idea I could pursue it seriously! As an adult, I discovered that calligraphy is a valued skill and business. With my practice rekindled, my artwork came back to me as well.
I love being able to assure clients that their ideas and feelings are not only valid, but that they can be the basis for a lasting and beautiful work of art.
When I’m not in the studio I like to:
- Cook delicious meals or read about cooking
- Learn about sewing clothes
- Spend time in my garden
- Practice Yoga
- Journal
- Read
Calligraphy to Illuminate Your Milestones
Our logo is a Celtic Compass Rose. More often than not, clients come to me when something in their lives shifts and changes – weddings, retirement, new relationships, memorials, new businesses, and new family members. I believe it’s important to pause and acknowledge these events as the big moments they are. Calligraphy is alive and expressive in ways that printed text just aren’t.
“Renee was wonderful to work with. She added her touch to my ideas and was very flexible when my plans changed. She accommodated everything that I needed to make her work a surprise for my wife and the piece turned out beautiful. I couldn’t be happier with how my wife reacted to it.”
Shane Hause
Values
I am guided by the concept that human beings have a full spectrum of emotion. This is a foundational and valid part of our existence. Above all else, I believe in compassion and respect, both toward our individual selves and toward one another. There are many paths to self-knowledge and effective communication of boundaries. To make an effort toward these concepts is progress.
Emotional Intelligence
I believe in the value of emotional intelligence in navigating this lifetime with relationship to self, environment, and others. When clients come to me, they’ve given their request plenty of thought. That’s the most complex part of any communication: being authentic with expression. I honor that journey and provide calligraphy that visually expresses the emotions and energy to engage the viewer.
Effective Communication
I am as thorough as possible when sharing about my process, procedure, and methods so that you can make an informed decision. In my experience, the better idea a person has about what the plan is, the more at-ease they feel about the in-between period. That’s where the quality of my client relationships really lies, and I want it to be something to look forward to.
Anti Bias Education
I can only speak and understand for myself. I understand that we are not all having the same experience during this lifetime. The only way I can understand another person’s experience is to make the time and space to listen to it. I choose to participate in building a community that collectively honors individuals’ experiences and needs. This means that I regularly monitor myself for impulsive thoughts and strive to respond rather than react. I know that I will be unlearning implicit bias and racism for the rest of my life. I have stopped waiting for racist instances to occur around me. Instead, I’m having call-in conversations with friends, family, and colleagues about marginalization. We can no longer avoid examining the ways whiteness plays out as violence. My anti-racism efforts:
- Monitoring myself for bias and not denying it when it comes up
- Disrupting racist stereotypes and ideologies in friends, family, and peers
- Listening to Black experience, including experience outside of trauma
- Paying Black people for their offerings
- Amplifying BIPOC voices and businesses
- Voting
Conscious Consumerism + Sustainability
When shopping for supplies or services, I prioritize local businesses first, especially if they’re women-led and BIPOC-owned. I abide by the concept that every dollar we spend is a vote for the type of world we want to live in. Conscious consumerism is important to me — where things are made, if they are reusable, compostable, or recyclable. In turn, this helps to protect nature. That said, I know that currently, shopping with integrity is not an option for everyone. It is not my responsibility to judge, but to educate myself and choose how to act from those intentions. Here are some of my efforts when making personal and business purchases:
- Keeping money out of companies that are racist, treat workers unfairly, or donate to bigoted organizations
- Prioritize purchasing from locally-owned merchants and promote their content
- Encourage peers to do the same
Economic Accessibility + Justice
Flexible Options
Different budgets call for different production needs. I can tailor design and calligraphy for your event or business that expresses you. I start with a base rate for everyone with payment plans available and offer customization and add-ons from there.
Workshops on a Sliding Scale
Access to learning new skills should not be limited by funds. I offer workshop prices on a sliding scale with an option to pay it forward. My revered teachers offer knowledge for free saying, “There’s room for everyone.” I have benefited from it first hand and it’s the least I can do to be a part of the group that invites more minds in to the practice of calligraphy.
Distribution of Funds
When one of us comes up, we all come up. I believe in leaning into the strength of the entire community, and we can only do that when we all have access to the keys we need. Percentages from each sale go toward calligraphy scholarships and toward local funds for access to therapy and liquid assets supporting access to food and shelter.
In an effort to make learning and commissioning calligraphy more accessible, I’ve expanded payment options for my offerings.
Ascender Calligraphy Scholarship Fund
I add 2% of net sales to this scholarship monthly. This scholarship goes toward supplies and registration for classes I teach. Scholarships allowed me to take childhood calligraphy classes and study with prominent calligrapher Paul Antonio. I keep 2 spots available as scholarship positions for each class, completely confidential between myself and the recipient.
Thank You
As I learn better, I do better. Divesting thought and action from this machine isn’t a linear and finite task. It’s an ongoing practice. I can’t further my work without these practices bearing on the decisions I make. Thank you for supporting my work and this vision.
Updates and Revisions
Published 8/9/2020
Revised 8/31/2020 after 2 anti-bias trainings. Streamlined each Value presented.
Revised 2/22/21 to be specific about the Ascender Scholarship Fund