Fountain pen class evokes nostalgia
Writing with a fountain pen for the first time in many years, Janet Ellis recalled her elementary school days at Institute Hill School in Butler.
She and her classmates used dip pens back then.
“We got big blotches on our school papers,” said the Butler native.
The Butler Art Center hosted its first Art of the Fountain Pen classes on Thursday, reviewing the history of the pen, looking at various kinds of fountain pens, and experimenting with a new pen participants received for taking the class.
Classes were held in the afternoon and evening.
It's a class any letter writer can appreciate.
“A lot of people don't even write anymore. They punch buttons on a computer and talk on their cell phone,” said Stephen Harding, class instructor and Art Center board member. “This is an opportunity to bring back a pure art form: writing. You will find, in my opinion, that when you write with a fountain pen ... the connection with the paper is so much more unique and direct, and in me it makes words flow better than anything else.
“Better than even sitting at a computer keyboard and typing away. It's just fun.”
Fountain pens have existed for more than 1,000 years, he said.
Gel pens, highlighting pens and cartridge pens are just a few of the modern versions of fountain pens that are available now. Fountain pens vary in price from $3 to more than $9,000.
Regardless, using fountain pens evoked nostalgia for many who took the class.
“My grandmother, I wrote to her for years after my grandfather died. And when she passed away, all of my letters were still there, with different colors of ink and different pens,” said Cathy Bruner of Chicora.
“And my grandfather, she had all of the letters that he had written to her from the war. So it's just a piece of you that you can give to somebody.”She often handwrites letters to friends and family. A fountain pen, in particular, might even ease that process. “It just flows and you don't stop and dip,” Bruner said.Ellis, who decided to take the class because it sounded useful and fun, thought the pen gave her better penmanship. She sometimes handwrites letters to old friends, too.“It's a lot freer, and I find that I write a lot neater than any other time,” she said. “It's going back to that elementary, learning the cursive writing. It comes back and you want to make the letters right. With a regular pen you just scribble on, in a hurry.”Even for Ellis' friends, Carol and Dale Kirkpatrick of Penn Hills, the experience was nostalgic. Dale estimated he had not used a fountain pen in about 50 years.“I went up to school around DuBois,” he said. “We did use fountain pens when we were in grammar school. Everyone did.”His wife, Carol, didn't recall using fountain pens in her youth.“That's what they did in the country,” she said softly, with a smile.
