Pen and Ink
By Helen Gwyn Jones
April 15, 2024
April 15, 2024
Helen Gwyn Jones (she/her) started recording her world at the age of 8 when she bought a Brownie camera from her sister, something which has become a lifelong passion. A collector of the past (hers and other people’s) she likes nothing better than muted images of imperfection. May be found poring over Welsh grammar books when not photographing drains or going into raptures over rust.
Recently published at Acropolis Journal, Paddler, Heimat Review, Dayjob, Pareidolia, Blink Ink, Moss Puppy, Levatio, Camas, Storyteller’s Refrain, and Full House Literary.
Recently published at Acropolis Journal, Paddler, Heimat Review, Dayjob, Pareidolia, Blink Ink, Moss Puppy, Levatio, Camas, Storyteller’s Refrain, and Full House Literary.
Artist's Note:
My own education was in a very old fashioned school in Wales and I’m a firm believer in a thorough grounding in the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic (though the latter is my Nemesis!) Shortly before the sale of the beautiful old building in which the junior school was housed, I was given access to the upper floors and attics where I found many treasures. These included attendance registers from the 50s (where I found my brother’s name), ancient textbooks and ink pens and dipping pots. I “rescued” some of these which you see in my picture. Knowing the style of teaching from this school first hand, I can picture students from an earlier era painstakingly copying out lines of letters and numbers and texts in beautiful cursive writing, just as I did decades later.