Colleen’s Story

A fifth generation Oregonian, Colleen Cavin’s first exposure to calligraphy came in the 6th grade, when a student teacher walked into her classroom at Rigler School in Northeast Portland with a bunch of pens and Lloyd Reynold’s book. She thought the calligraphy was “pretty goofy” and wondered what a pen angle was all about. Her love of calligraphy was ignited during her freshman year at Madison High School when her art teacher, Florence Bafus, taught a 6-week calligraphy class. The students studied from The Speedball Book and Lloyd Reynolds’s Italic Handwriting Book. One day Colleen made a lovely capital S and she “was smitten in that instant.” During high school she lettered certificates, banners and everything in between. She thought she knew it all until she took a freshman calligraphy class from Jaki Svaren at Portland Community College.

Colleen soon realized she didn’t know everything. She was in Jaki’s beginner class for four years and two years with Lloyd Reynolds at the Museum Art School. She said, “I was terrified of Lloyd at first and the many prominent calligraphers in that class. I held calligraphers up in the clouds–they were angels.” Colleen continued her studies with several more prominent teachers at Portland State University’s Haystack Summer program; Bettye Lou Bennett’s classes at PSU; and a week-long workshop with Dorothy Dehn at Reed College on Roman Capitals. 

Colleen received her Bachelor of Arts in Art History while attending PSU. She once reflected “Calligraphy has not come easily for me, I was not a natural. It was several years before it occurred to me that I really liked it.” 

After completing college, she worked as a screen printer at Meier & Frank Department store in Portland as a screen printer and taught calligraphy classes in the evening. She continued to study with Dorothy Dehn and attended workshops at Oregon College of Art & Craft. Colleen attended the California Experience International Calligraphy Conference in 1985. “That conference changed my ideas about calligraphers forever–my angels had fallen. Calligraphers party, drink beer, and have families. I found that some good calligraphers aren’t always the best teachers.” Colleen came home with a new confidence in her ability and applied for admission to the Roehampton Institute in London, England, in their bookbinding and calligraphy program. To her surprise, she was accepted. She then applied for grants and, again to her surprise, received a Fulbright scholarship. 

Colleen left for London in the fall of 1987 where she studied with Ann Camp, Gaynor Goffe, Jen Lindsay. Stan Knight, Donald Jackson and Gerry Fleuss. Her classmates included Denis Brown, Christopher Calderhead and Izzy Pludwinski. Her year in London greatly expanded her ideas about calligraphy by acquainting her with European influences, giving her hands-on access to historic manuscripts and the artistic riches found in the museums and cathedrals throughout the country. “No one instilled the love of letters in me. Rather it grew out of familiarity from constantly-working on Italic, those truly wonderful Romans and history. I take my own delight in actually making a good letter form–the way it feels in my hand.” “I’m indebted to my teachers–Jaki, Lloyd and Dorothy. But I owe my determination to London. If I could go there alone with no place to live, no one to meet me, hauling bags of stuff from train to train to get somewhere I’ve never been–/ can do anything.” 

Colleen holds the distinction of being the sole Portland calligrapher to date, and the first member of  the Western American Branch of the Society for Italic Handwriting, or WABSIH (which became PSC), to be admitted as a Fellow into the esteemed Society of Scribes and Illuminators, the British organization that initiated the Society for Italic Handwriting.  She joined because she wanted an “Order of the Black Chrysanthemum” certificate and Lloyd wouldn’t give her one unless she joined. She has been active in the guild ever since, including 3 stints as president, the faculty exhibit coordinator at the first Calligraphy Northwest conference,  and she helped to hang numerous PSC exhibits throughout the years. Colleen loved learning new techniques and skills, including stone carving and gilded letters. She received several grants from RACC and her work received recognition both locally and internationally. 

For over 30 years, Colleen taught calligraphy and book arts at Portland Community College, Pacific Northwest College of Art, the Oregon College of Art and Craft and Multnomah County Library. She did several teaching residencies with the Multnomah County School system’s Young Audiences Program where she loved teaching beginning calligraphy to kids.

The Colleen Cavin Fellowship at the Focus on Book Arts conference was created in her honor, giving three applicants the opportunity to take classes and help at the conference.