Handwriting...a Dying Art?

For our creative project we researched and put together a collection of handwriting samples. My partner and I passed out a quarter sized white piece of paper and directed students to write their names on the paper. We didn’t give any other instruction besides our desire for it to be done in ink as opposed to pencil. At the end of class students turned in their sheets of paper with their name on it and we went to work. For the in class presentation we showed a PowerPoint with the sheets of paper as slides to portray the different handwritings of our fellow classmates and we also put together a piece of art with all the names compiled onto each other.

The piece of art reflects an abstract expressionalist piece of work such as Jackson Pollock’s,  Autumn Rhythm. Although, at first glance the work may seem random but there is a certain pattern in his paintings. Abstract expressionalist pieces may appear meaningless, out of sorts, spontaneous, and automatic but they are not. They are just different from traditional art that provides the meaning of the work whereas this genre of paintings demands much more from the viewer. The viewer must contribute and participate in the work. The handwriting piece that we collaborated demanded direct participation from the viewers to make it possible. Writing one’s name may be spontaneous and automatic as it requires hardly any thinking.

Writing at first glance may appear meaningless, may even appear as chicken scratch but it has depth and personality to it that is unique to its owner. Handwriting is only meaningful when a person in educated in the corresponding language as the reader. Not only must the reader be educated but the piece must be legible to a degree of readability otherwise the purpose and meaning of the work is lost. As I began learning more about handwriting I came across a very interesting article put out by the BBC The Slow Death of Handwriting - BBC News which pointed out the dying and uselessness of handwriting. Registration Manager Ruth Hodson said, “If everything we do still had to be done by hand, there would not be enough hours in the day.” The age of technology in which we live, with cell phones, blackberry’s, computers, and laptops they have taken the place of the need to hand write things. The last holdout profession that still relies heavily on handwriting is clinical communication. Doctors claim taking notes is quicker to jot down ideas than to put up a record on a computer, but how significant are the notes when they are illegible?

At the bottom of the BBC article there are comments made by readers and most people seem to encourage the use of technology over handwriting things, that technology is much more convenient, faster, and breaks the barrier of illegible handwriting. After completing this project, reading the article and comments I have really thought about my own writing. Just this semester I have started taking notes on my computer but there is something about writing things down. I enjoy writing in a journal it is therapeutic for me to write feelings and goals down. I really enjoy going back to old journal entries and it is the handwriting, the emotion in the writing that is just as powerful as the content. I remember things much more when I write them down as opposed to typing them and I hope somehow through the surge of technology that handwriting is somehow preserved.