Her wavy blond hair is tied loosely back in a ponytail. She is relaxed, in a T-shirt and pants, sitting crossed-legged on her living room floor. Her demeanor is expressive, and she laughs and moves her hands while she talks. She is an artist who has transformed brush strokes into alphabetical formulas that the Microsoft era takes for granted.
Teri Kahan, a Costa Mesa resident, is one of the few artists in the world who creates type fonts. You know, the dozens of options to chose from under the “format” in the Word program.
Artists such as Kahan create new styles of lettering, formulate them into fonts and license them with font companies such as fonts.com for publishing use. Because “font” is such a widespread word now, most people don't know the origin of those stylized alphabets. Kahan does. She has been in the industry since before big computer companies made it so commonplace. She designed the alphabet the Lexus car company uses for signage and marketing. That was is in the 1980s, before computers were a household item.
Kahan got a calligraphy set when she was a child and just took to lettering, she said. Throughout grade school, she won awards for artistic merit and took lettering classes at Newport Harbor High School . “That's when they had lots of art classes available in school,” Kahan said.
After high school, she trained classically at Orange Coast College , UCSB and UC Irvine. Kahan taught courses at Golden West College for a few years, continues teaching through the Society for Calligraphy and often focuses her attention on younger students in the elementary and middle schools her young sons attend. She volunteers as a part time art instructor because “kids just don't get enough avenues to express their creativity” so she forces the issue. “I like to teach them how to hold the pen, how to move it along the surface, in a free, uninhibited motion,” Kahan said. They are delighted to be introduced to the art of lettering and drawing.
Kahan said her style is very flowing and expressive, unlike static, boxy font types. Many of her fonts are inspired by the ocean –the ebbs and flows, the curves of the waves and the curves of her letters. The movement of water inspires her art. “Water themes abound in my work,” Kahan said.
While Kahan is one of the few women in the world who participate in the computer-driven type font industry, she said she is partial to hand-lettering. She recalls earlier in her career when companies were willing to budget for hand rendered graphics and logos instead of relying on computer-sculpted graphics. “I love the spontaneity of the strokes,” Kahan said. “It is always a surprise how the letter is going to emerge.”
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In the computer age, Kahan works hard to digitize her freehand styles. She starts with her brush-written letters and scans them into the computer. Using the Adobe Illustrator graphics program, she plots the points on the various letters to make a pure shape that tells the computer where to automatically fill in with black. Because computers are so precise and pragmatic, it can be a frustrating process to try to formulate the spontaneity inherent in art, she said.
For Example, her type font called “Puamana” is very rustic and requires dozens of plot points to illustrate the jagged edges of the lettering. About 200 hours of work goes into each type font, she said. Often, the alphabets are designed where she is most inspired – in nature or at the beach – then the work is transferred to the computer and ultimately placed in a font program called Font Lab.
Growing up in Newport Beach and then living in Hawaii for a number of years, Kahan said she cannot stay away from the ocean. She would love to learn how to surf and holds deeply the Polynesian philosophy of Huna, which stresses empowering yourself with seven principles such as “now is the moment of power”, and “aloha is to be happy with”. Self-empowered, the free-spirited and smiling Kahan works at her skills diligently, transforming her creative brush stroke into logos, headlines, fonts and other formal graphic design pieces. While the craft has moved into the technological fields, Kahan believes it is her classic art training that gives her an edge. “It's a very unusual talent,” Kahan said.
Local entrepreneur Rebecca Hall, who has worked on collaborative projects with Kahan, said her unparalleled style comes through in all her work. “Design firms recognize her unique talent,” Hall said. “The logos and lettering she creates have meaning and influence, all trapped into a small space. She really gives thought to what it means and how it should be used.”
The mother of twins graciously accepts the compliments, giving all credit to innate aptitude. “It is just a wonderful blessing to have the skills and the eye for a career in the arts,” Kahan said. |