Precision and Creativity do not necessarily to go together. The words seem to describe opposites because precision denotes exactness and staying within the rules while creativity broadens the scope and suggests new boundaries and change in focus.
In his long and productive life, David Baldwin has blended both avenues of opportunity and profession as he continues to be vibrant both as a master trumpeter and a gifted and skilled calligrapher.
At the University of Minnesota, School of Music in Minneapolis, Dr. David Baldwin held the post of Professor of Trumpet for 45 years. During that time, he was an active soloist with orchestras and composed, arranged, and recorded 12 CDs, four of which were of his original compositions. He holds MM, MMA, and DMA, degrees from Yale University and a BM from Baldwin-Wallace College.
After retiring, he moved to Cornwall, and while he still plays his trumpet every day, his focus is calligraphy –short pieces and volumes, mostly using black ink, but some works with decorative embellishments in many colors.
“I was originally inspired by my grandfather’s superb handwriting. He took great pains to make it look beautiful.” As a child, he and his parents visited his Uncle Chalmers King who was a professional calligrapher in Minneapolis. By tenth grade he had a new Speedball book in his possession. This book gave instructions in lettering. He found lettering to be “amazing fun! And I was hooked and started my lifelong journey in the letter arts.” When he started graduate school at Yale University, he found a calligraphy course his first semester. He learned from John McCrillis, the head of the Yale Press. Over the years, he has continued to hone his skills.
Calligraphy, like music, is very precise, but again like music, is an art that offers ways for individuals to demonstrate uniqueness in style, subject, color, and paper in bringing new life to ancient scripts as well as making the ordinary magnificent in the modern world of computerization. In his solo exhibit, The Art of Calligraphy, Dr. Baldwin demonstrates the wide variety that calligraphy offers to the artist as well as the viewer.
Come to the reception on Sunday, October 13 from 3 to 5:30 p.m. To set the tone, Dr. Baldwin will play a famous fanfare on his piccolo trumpet.
The Mindy Ross Gallery is the venue at which the exhibit will be shown from October 9 through December 13. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. except for October 14 ~ Indigenous Peoples Day, and November 27, 28, and 29 when the college is closed during Thanksgiving break. The gallery is located in Kaplan Hall at 73 First St, Newburgh where the college garage opens for free, secure parking.