Magnum Mysterium #1
6 1/4" x 6 1/4"

Magnum Mysterium #2
6 3/8" x 6 3/8"

Magnum Mysterium #3
6 5/8" x 6 5/8"

Magnum Mysterium #4
5 7/8" x 5 7/8"

Magnum Mysterium #5
5 7/8" x 5 7/8"

Magnum Mysterium #6
6 5/8" x 6 5/8"

Magnum Mysterium #7
6 1/2" x 6 1/2"

Magnum Mysterium #8
6 3/8" x 6 3/8"

Magnum Mysterium #9
5 7/8" x 5 7/8"

Media for all pieces: watercolor, charcoal, graphite

Magnum Mysterium #3 was included in the ECVA exhibition Illuminating the Word, 2002.

Magnum Mysterium
   
By Inga Dubay

The series, Magnum Mysterium #1 - #9, is a series inspired by the motet, O Magnum Mysterium (1952) by Francis Poulenc. As part of the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral choir singing this choral work, I was struck by its strength and beauty. The layering of various media, together with the central gesture, are for me a visual metaphor of the words and harmonies of the music. I enjoy exploring the blending of alphabet and image as gesture, moving beyond letters as language and information. I find intriguing the shape and flow of letters when written right to left then left to right as in the boustrophedon style (as the plow turns) used by the Greeks ca. 900 to 600 B.C. I delight in the exploration of ways to incorporate inner gesture, letterforms, language, images and writing patterns as calligraphic expressions of my feelings and ideas.

Inga Dubay is an adjunct professor at the Oregon College of Art and Craft where she has taught since 1975. Inga teaches summer workshops at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, where she is a board member. She has also taught at Portland State University and has conducted numerous workshops including international calligraphy conferences. She studied at Mills College and received a degree from the University of Oregon with graduate study at the Art Academy in Oslo, Norway. Her work has been exhibited in national and international invitational and juried exhibitions and shown in publications including Calligraphy Review, Letter Arts Review, Lettering Arts, and Zyzzyva. She is co-author of Italic Letters: Calligraphy & Handwriting, Write Now: A Complete Self-teaching Program For Better Handwriting, and the Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting Series (K-6), and a video Write Now! Italic Handwriting. She and co-author Barbara Getty have presented over 100 handwriting seminars for doctors and other medical professionals at medical centers nationwide including Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles and the AMA Convention, San Francisco, and have been featured on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, NPR and in newspaper articles across the country.

Inga Dubay
1805 NW 34th Avenue
Portland OR 97210
(503) 228-0809
email: idubay@teleport.com