Sister Grace’s Story

Sister Grace Taylor was born in 1918 in Condon, Oregon, where she grew up with four sisters and two brothers. As a child she enjoyed many hours of horseback riding alone, which gave her time for contemplation and reflection.

Sister Grace professed her first vows as a Benedictine Sister in 1928 at Mt. Angel Monastery. She became interested in calligraphy while making charts in the convent. She said as soon as she got a calligraphy pen in her hand, she knew it was a friend . Before she began working with calligraphy, her doctor discovered a disease which threatened the amputation of her hands. However, by using her relaxed wrist action with her writing of calligraphy, she eventually learned to relax her wrists completely, and she was able to avoid amputation and enjoy many years of writing.

She taught first through seventh grades prior to studying calligraphy with Lloyd Reynolds in 1962. Lloyd gave her an assignment to become a great calligrapher; but she felt she had another goal in mind, and that was to teach teachers to write calligraphy. In 1967 she earned her master’s degree in calligraphy at Reed College. Although she refers to Lloyd as an exacting master, she has always been grateful for his careful critique of her work. 

Her first teaching assignment in calligraphy was in 1963 in Albany, Oregon. She was the first in the field teaching teachers calligraphy at Portland State University. She devised her own handout sheets, which were printed on a ditto machine. One day, passing in the hall, Lloyd suggested she get an offset press. When she asked what that might be, he told her to go to the duplicating room to find out. Sister did find out about an offset press, and subsequently this led to the purchase of other needed equipment to handle her huge volumes of handouts and ideas to help the calligraphy student. Her electronic paper cutter, collator, book-binding machine, tablet binder, plate developer, etc., were soon added to the original press. 

Sister Grace was known for her ABCDARIUM (or, as she often referred to it, her “warehouse”), a huge double-classroom-sized room lined with shelves full of wonderful calligraphic handouts that she designed, wrote, and printed herself.

Sister Grace taught for over 30 years at various schools in Mount Angel, Albany, Oregon City, Woodburn, and at Sacred Heart School in Portland. She also taught at Portland State University, Chemeketa Community College, and tutored students in her own studio for many years. She was a dynamic and well-informed teacher with a great sense of humor. She wrote and published a series of calligraphy texts for elementary teachers, an instruction book for adults and a series of books for kindergarten through eighth grade called Introduction to the Italic Handwriting.

Her work was shown in college art galleries, and she was a member of the American Association of University Professors, the Western Branch of the Society of Italic Handwriting, Capital Calligraphers, the Western Italic Association and Portland Society for Calligraphy.