Charles Pearce (born 1943) is a British calligrapher and painter. His work may be found in collections around the globe, including those of members of the British Royal Family. He is recognized for the strength and beauty of his letterforms and his calligraphy manuals are recommended to their students by calligraphy teachers around the world.
Born Charles Rothwell Pearce in Aston, Birmingham, he is the eldest son of Charles Kenneth Rothwell Pearce, an English and Drama teacher, later Headmaster, and Winifred Helen Mary Pearce (née Evans), a concert pianist. He has two brothers, Robert and Julian, and a sister, Barbara.
He studied at Tettenhall College (Wolverhampton), and the Leek School of Arts and Crafts (Leek, Staffordshire). At the Central School of Arts and Crafts (London), he studied with Dorothy Mahoney, William Gardner, and Ann Camp. At the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts (London, England), he studied under Donald Jackson and Sidney Bendall, graduating with a National Diploma in Design at Special Level in Writing and Illuminating and Lettering.[1]
After graduation Pearce went to work for Decca Records in their Lambeth studio designing record sleeves and promotional literature, and then on to a small advertising agency in the West End of London. He left there to become an assistant to both Donald Jackson and Sidney Bendall. He worked with Bendall for some four years designing and cutting letters in stone and wood, but remained with Jackson for almost fifteen years, through 1979.
In 1971 he was made a Fellow of the Society of Scribes & Illuminators. Pearce and Jackson worked on many commissions which came into Jackson's studio. One included a huge family tree which measured 8 ft by 4 ft, and was a large board covered with a cowhide which had been prepared as for vellum. A large amount of his time during this period was involved in the design and signage for Cranks Health Foods until they were taken over by Guinness.
In 1980 Pearce moved to New York City to live and work. While living in New York he primarily worked for two major clients: Pentalic Corporation and RKO Century Warner Theaters. It was during this time that he was awarded artist in residence status by the City, which thus allowed him to convert loft space into a working studio.
Pearce moved to Cleveland in 1991 and worked in the American Greetings design studios for almost ten years, during which he was trained in the use of computer technology. He finally left to go back to working freelance and was granted a contract by AG for 16 months to give him the opportunity to work his way back into that market.
Pearce began to use brushes on canvas rather than pens and paper which gave him the opportunity to work considerably larger than previously. He has developed a technique which involves the throwing of paint onto raw canvas, to create the start of his paintings. He then stretches the canvas onto frames/stretchers which he has designed specially to take the force of stretching the canvas, which doesn't involve any cross-bracing. His largest single canvas to date measures 5 ft by 9 ft.
It was on a visit back to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where he had taught a workshop back in 1988, that he was suddenly struck by the idea that he no longer needed to live in Cleveland and could, in fact, do something which he had wanted to do for much of his life: live in the country. In late 2000 he bought 12 acres just outside Eureka Springs and began work on designing and constructing a studio in which he could also live. Whiskey Spring Studio was completed in 2003.[2]
While no longer a member of the Eureka Fine Art Gallery, he continues to paint in his studio, constantly expanding the use of calligraphy in abstract paintings. He also works occasionally with John Robert Willer, another fine Arkansas painter, with whom he has been creating a series of Ozark paintings which they call the "Blue Grass Series". He is currently working to have his paintings established in cities around where he lives. he is represented by J. r. Jones and the Two25 Gallery and Wine Bar in Bentonville. He also welcomes people to his studio just south of Eureka Springs
In 1966, he married Linda Margaret (née Cook), and lived for three years in Palmers Green, London, before moving to Hertford in 1969 and then to Ware, Hertfordshire. They have three sons. Pearce and his wife were divorced in 1979.
. Charles Pearce (calligrapher). 1981. The Little Manual of Calligraphy. Taplinger/Harper Collins. 978-0-8008-4923-8.