It was a few years ago now, but I remember someone saying to me: "Never meet your heroes as they'll only disappoint you". To that person, I say bollocks. Why? Today I met my hero and inspiration Seb Lester and it had to have been (to this day at least) the most exciting moment of my life. I was totally sitting at the front with Clive and Naomi, and by the front, I mean the front.
Earlier this evening I saw Mr. Lester give a talk at the Birmingham City University as part of their Type Talks series, and as I'm writing this on the train home I'm still shaking with excitement (thank goodness for auto correct!).
He covered quite a lot in such a short space of time, starting with a brief introduction to himself and his working environment, which was surprisingly untidy (That's not a criticism, he said it himself but he worded it much more poetically!), to his recent prints and work with NASA.
On a slight tangent, I and many others in the room learned that he's actually a secret Brummy! He grew up in Moseley and went to Bourneville College before heading to London to study at Central Saint Martins and eventually settling in Lewes.
Seb talked about how his prints are separated into those that are to show off his technical ability when it comes to drawing letterforms (top right and top left are images of his Jerusalem print) and those that are to present passages of text (bottom right and bottom left are images of his most recent print which has also been turned into a mural in E17 in London).
Some of Seb's beautiful works
One of the most important things for me, at least in terms of the research I did into his work and the explosion in popularity, was that he talked quite extensively on how all this exposure came about and how it has effected him.
Surprisingly he's quite an introverted man, so it'd be an understatement to say he's been taken aback by all the views, mentions and followers he's built up in a mere three years (and it's still growing) but Lester was also overwhelmed to be featured by art blogs, BuzzFeed and even television interviews in America and Germany!
As usual for the Type Talks, at the end of the talk they opened it up to questions from the audience.
I hesitated at first, but as this is probably the only chance I'll ever get to see him, I wanted to ask him if had ever faced bouts of depression while he was working and how he overcame it. I've never really spoken out about my depression which was hard enough, but talking to my hero about it with an audience of 200 behind me made me feel even more vulnerable.
He paused for a minute. Then said that for him, his calligraphy was therapeutic and helped him to focus on what he was doing anyway. More interestingly though is that he mentioned that he too was quite hard on himself and the work he produces, making me feel quite at ease with where I am with my work.
He finished my question talking about mindfulness and self belief, which was his closing topic. It's safe to say that even though I was still bewildered and elated, I left feeling confident and focused.
Seb, if by some bizarre chance you're reading this, I want you to know that you've given me hope. Hope that I can make it with my calligraphy and lettering.
Thank you, so much.
