I have befriended glyphs. My fascination since childhood with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and the writing system of Japan intrigued me with their picture-like qualities. In 1977, I was learning American Sign Language whose dance-like vocabulary enjoys an emphasis on where we are in space. This inspired me and suddenly I had a clear goal in mind for my own picture language, and the confidence to sustain it through ample growing pains while creating Tapissary.

With some eight thousand glyphic characters (called çelloglyphs), Tapissary owes much to the above mentioned languages with my own pictures comprising the bulk of the vocabulary. After all, I’m an artist and have used my language in exhibits, illustrated journals, miniature cities, videos, and practically speaking... shopping lists. With this cast of of thousands of glyphs, along with markers showing physical placement, and the cyclic grammar which throws on a layer of ‘personal lighting’, Tapissary might be considered a language portrayed as performance.

Recently, after having had the honor of appearing as one of the language creators in Britton Watkin’s 2017 documentary “Conlanging, the Art of Crafting Tongues”, I discovered to my delight, that some people have taken an interest in Tapissary. Because I’m preserving the original Tapissary website, I decided to set up this website to keep you current. My friend Evelyne Okonnek, who is a writer and fellow artist, is helping me organize the content so it will be more user friendly.

Please take a look around. All art related entries, including my clay village called Venticello, fall under the EXHIBITS AND FILMS tab. Language related entries with a 900-word starter dictionary can be found by clicking the LANGUAGE tab. I hope you enjoy the tour, and may the glyphs be with you!

Steven Travis

September, 2018