JOHN LANCASTER NDD, MPhil, PhD, SHA, FSEAD.
Professional Calligrapher & Heraldic Artist.
Works with gold leaf, Chinese inks and goache colours on fine vellums & handmade papers.

He designs family pedigrees (books and/or broadsides),heraldic scrolls, armorial panels, illuminated addresses & library paintings. He also paints hatchments & armorial panels on wood.

John Lancaster trained as a calligrapher, illuminator & heraldic artist at Leeds College of Art under the tutorship of Thomas Swindlehurst ARCA, in the traditions set by Edward Johnston and medieval artists. He studied for the National Diploma in Design (NDD); gained higher degrees at London University (MPhil & PhD) and was awarded the Fellowship of the NSEAD. He is also a member of the Heraldry Society and the Society of Heraldic Arts.

 

He undertakes commissions for private individuals, churches, colleges, corporate institutions, borough councils & livery companies. He is a Freeman of the City of London and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners for whom he acts as scribe and heraldic artist in designing presentation scrolls & freedom certificates, while also being responsible for the Company's "Golden Book", an historic archive in which he inscribes the names of distinguished guests attending Company banquets and functions.

Many of his heraldic scrolls have been presented in
Civic Ceremonies in the UK, USA, Russia, China, Africa
and France. Other work has gone to the USA, Australia,
Belgium, France and Mexico. His work is in collections
across the world. He has taught undergraduate and post-
graduate students in art colleges and universities in Oldham,
Doncaster, Leicester, Gloucestershire & Bristol (Head of Department)
As a visiting professor he has lectured widely in the USA - where he
has also directed a number of summer schools. In 1991 he was invited to
Arizona by the Gila Valley Arts Council as its Visiting Artist, where he gave
demonstrations, lectures and classes in schools, universities, adult centres, a
Federal prison and on the Apache Indian Reservation at Fort Thomas. Towards
the end of this visit he mounted a Solo Exhibition of his work in the town of Thatcher.
He has also been a guest speaker at a large art convention in New York.

John has had a number of solo exhibitions in the U.K. in London, Leicester, Keele, Stowe, Cheltenham & Bristol, and in the U.S.A. in Decatur (Alabama), Columbus (Ohio) & Arizona. A number of his books on Lettering and Calligraphy for both adults and children have been published by leading companies. Under the auspices of the British Council he has visited universities, art colleges, teachers' centres and schools in Africa and Norway as a guest lecturer, teacher and adviser.

John is fortunate in having an ancestry that has embraced heraldry from its beginnings in the mid. 12th century when Sir William de Tayleboyse - the 5th Norman baron of Kendal by direct descent - took the name de Lonecastre as Governor of Lancaster Castle. His arms were very simple - Argent two bars Gules - with the Lion of England added as an augmentation of honour in a quarter of the shield very shortly afterwards. Lancaster barons and knights fought at the Siege of Caerlaverock, the Siege of Calais and other battles and their banners must have been borne with immense pride. John is delighted that the arms he himself bears are derived from such distinguished origins and brings the same pride to bear in his own heraldic work.

For advice, consultations & quotations please contact:

 

John Lancaster
10 Walnut Close, Pittville, Cheltenham,
Gloucestershire GL52 3AG, ENGLAND.

Tel & Fax: 01242 231862