Julie Wildman is a well-regarded professional in the fields of graphic design, commercial lettering, calligraphy, and workshops. Her studio is in northwest Indiana, only 30 minutes from downtown Chicago.

Her calligraphic interest began in the late ’80s after a friend gave her Timothy Botts’ book Doorposts, and she saw the written word illustrated in such a way as never before. About ten years later, she had the privilege of taking a year-long class with an internationally known calligrapher and was hooked. She joined the Chicago Calligraphy Collective soon after and embarked on a lifelong journey of studying letters.

Since then, her work has been exhibited in juried shows throughout the Midwest and the U.S., including the Newberry Library in Chicago. In 2007 and 2014, her pieces “Psalm 117” and “An Alphabet Book,” respectively, won the Newberry’s Purchase Prize Award and became a part of the library’s permanent collection. Her work has also been published in many issues of Letter Arts Review, as well as Bound & Lettered, a publication featuring the works of accomplished calligraphers and book artists. She has also been published in Alphabet, a quarterly publication put out by Friends of Calligraphy in San Francisco, and in Communication Arts Design Annual #59, September 2018.

She loves line, shape, color, texture, paper, ink, and paint and often can’t believe she gets to play with them for a living! She enthusiastically shares her love of “beautiful writing” with young and old by teaching calligraphy for staff development classes, on-site promotional events, community programs and personal growth workshops throughout the Chicagoland area, U.S., and Canada. And now with Zoom classes, she has taught hundreds of students from more than 20 countries around the world.

Instructor Website

Workshops

Alphabets Inspired by Nature

Lettering, Stamping & Transfers on Unglazed Tiles