The 2007 Artpoints Tour of the United Kingdom continued
The St. Johns Bible
A visit to Wales and the home and studio of Donald and Mabel Jackson
June 18, 2007
 The Scriptorium
The next day was to be the highlight of our travels so far - a reunion with my calligraphy teacher of 30 years ago; Donald Jackson, Scribe to Her Majesty, the Queen.
In 1977, Donald spent a year as a Visiting Distinguished Professor at Cal State LA. There was a full-scale calligraphy revival underway in the USA at that time. Calligraphy societies and classes were springing up throughout the country and Donald had an almost rock-star status as the "Scribe to the Queen".
Donald studied with Irene Wellington at the Royal College of Art alongside Anne Hechle and many other well-known future craft-members of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators.
Donald's wife, Mabel and his two children came with him to LA, and we all came to know each other well. I had only seen Donald once briefly in London in 1979 in the intervening 30 years.
David Meckelburg had introduced me to lettering and calligraphy at Immaculate Heart College in Hollywood where I had studied Art as an undergraduate from 1970-74.
It was there where I fell in love with lettering, combining my two loves; language, and visual art.
When I heard that Donald would be in Los Angeles, I wasted no time in enrolling as a graduate student at CSULA in order to join his class. In fact, it was more like a one-year group apprenticeship. A group of slightly fewer than 30 students studied full time with Donald, taking no other classes. We formed an ad-hoc Scriptorium, working together day after day. We wrote on calfskin vellum with hand-cut quills and hand ground ink. We learned to make tempera paint from ground pigments and egg yolk as the medieval scribes had done. Most challenging of all, we learned to gild raised, illuminated initials with a complex technique revived by the scribes of the English Arts and Crafts revival founded by William Morris and continued by the great English calligrapher, Edward Johnston and his students.
Donald and Mabel now live in rural Wales where he heads a team of scribes engaged in a massive and historic project: creating the first fully hand-written and illuminated bible commissioned in 500 years; The Saint John's Bible.
 Unbound pages
In the morning we sallied forth armed with maps and directions to their country home. Jim was amazing, driving bravely (on the left side, remember) on a maze of roads ranging from major highways to narrow dirt paths. We reached "the Scriptorium" by noon.
Donald and Mabel live in a renovated farmhouse with the Scriptorium across the road in a stone building that formerly housed a mechanical workshop. Their home is surrounded by lush Welsh countryside and Mabel's ever-blooming gardens. A spring-fed brook flows nearby. We spent over an hour catching up on news of our mutual friends, trading news and memories. After a lovely lunch, we toured the grounds. Donald identified the songs of pheasants and other local birds and told us of the history of the land. I saw how deeply he and Mabel are rooted in the land.
 The Monmouth countryside
This massive project, commissioned by the Benedictines of Saint John's Abbey and University in Minnesota, has consumed Donald and Mabel since 1998 when planning and work began. All 73 books of the Bible are being hand written and illuminated on 1,150 pages of specially prepared calf's skin vellum. The final result will be presented in seven volumes to be housed at Saint John's University.
Donald and his team have had to re-invent the organizational needed for the logistics of this staggering project.
 Organizing the St Johns Bible
The text is being written with hand cut feather quills in a formal hand based on historical manuscript models. ( I am guessing Tenth-Century English hands, but have not checked this with Donald.)
Illumination is done with fine hand-ground pigments, gold, silver and platinum leaf as well as powdered "shell gold" (so named because it was once sold in "dishes" of cockle shells).
 Unbound spread
The most remarkable aspect of the Saint John's Bible is that although the craft techniques are ancient, the iconography is entirely modern. Donald is working with such noted contemporary artists as Thomas Ingmire to create a work of art that is very much rooted in our time. Art for the illuminations is also being created by Donald. The illuminations combine imagery from science, ethnography, world culture and many religions to create a powerful and deeply spiritual whole. Much of the art is deeply modern, inspired by many of the greatest artists of the last two-hundred years.
 Genesis from the St. Johns Bible
Jim and I were deeply moved by the profound beauty of each page that we beheld. I believe that someday art historians will pore over its pages seeking to unravel the complexities of its illuminations. Donald always reminded his students that "illuminations" are meant to bring light to the text in the spiritual sense.
He has done that here. I believe that every person viewing this project will find a powerful connection to their inner life. I do not know if history will record the vital contributions made by Mabel Jackson, but it was very clear to me that her quiet strength and penetrating intelligence has kept this great project on course at every step.
For more information, reproductions and a video documentary, visit www.saintjohnsbible.org
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