LASALLE Calligraphy Class in Rochor: Eight Weeks From S$500

LASALLE College of the Arts runs three calligraphy courses through its Continuing Education Programme at its McNally Campus, 1 McNally Street, Singapore 187940, two minutes on foot from Exit A of Rochor MRT. Each one is eight classes of three hours. Chinese Calligraphy: History & Art costs S$500, Introduction to Penmanship and Spencerian Calligraphy costs S$560, and Modern Brush Lettering costs S$600, all before GST and a S$10 application fee. If you want a structured calligraphy class taught inside an art college rather than a one-off workshop, this is the term-length option.

LASALLE traces its roots to Brother Joseph McNally, a De La Salle brother who lived from 1923 to 2002 and believed, in the college's words, that the arts could shape lives and societies. In 1984 he set up the St Patrick's Arts Centre, which offered diplomas in painting, ceramics, sculpture and music. The institution later moved to its city campus at 1 McNally Street, the street now named after him, and was rebranded LASALLE College of the Arts. The Continuing Education Programme is the part of the college open to adults outside its degree courses.

The Chinese course is the most ambitious of the three. Its hands-on sessions introduce the Four Treasures of the Study, brush, ink, inkstone and rice paper, and then work through five script styles: seal script, clerical script, regular script, running script and cursive script. Alongside the practice you study iconic calligraphers such as Wang Xizhi and Zhang Xu, so the course reads partly as art history. The September 2026 run meets every Wednesday from 9 September to 28 October, 10am to 1pm, and summer runs were held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 7pm to 10pm.

The trainer is Elaine Chan Choon Ling, who founded the art initiative Inklings, 鈴感工房, to present oriental art and Chinese calligraphy in a contemporary way. Her course profile lists collaborations with the National Library Board, McKinsey & Company, Bottega Veneta and Aston Martin, which hints at the design-minded angle she brings to an old discipline. Budget roughly S$60 for materials on top of the fee, because participants buy their own brushes, ink and paper rather than borrowing studio kit.

The Western option is Introduction to Penmanship and Spencerian Calligraphy, which covers the history, tools and forms of penmanship. Spencerian is the flowing nineteenth-century American business hand, a forerunner of many pointed-pen styles you now see on wedding invitations, so this is the course for anyone who loves fine hairlines. The 2026 run met every Thursday from 6 August to 24 September, 7pm to 10pm. The fee is S$560, or S$330.40 including GST after the National Silver Academy subsidy, and materials cost about S$80 more.

It is taught by Judith Perera-Lee, a graphic designer turned calligrapher who works in traditional scripts including Spencerian and Italic. In 2021 she received a scholarship from the Art of Letters Mentoring Initiative and studied under the Argentinian calligrapher Marina Soria, a credential worth noting because Spencerian rewards close correction from someone who has been drilled in it. If you already letter with a brush pen and want to learn to control a pointed nib, this is the most technical of the three LASALLE courses.

Modern Brush Lettering takes a refreshingly old-fashioned route into a trendy style. The course begins with simple pencil exercises to construct foundational letter shapes and understand the principles behind classical scripts, and only then moves into modern brush lettering. Its 2026 run met on Thursdays from 16 April to 4 June, 7pm to 10pm, at S$600, or S$354 after the National Silver Academy subsidy, plus about S$80 for materials. No trainer is named on the course page for this run.

Every application carries a non-refundable S$10 fee, GST included, and short courses are for adults aged 18 and above. The Chinese course can be paid with SkillsFuture Credit or the Union Training Assistance Programme, and Singaporeans aged 50 and over qualify for the National Silver Academy subsidy, which the FAQ says ends on 31 March 2027. Withdraw in writing seven working days before the start and you get a full refund less a S$40 administration charge, half back if you are later than that, and nothing inside three working days.

Two rules deserve a frank warning. There are no make-up classes and no pro-rated fees, so missing two Wednesdays of an eight-week course simply costs you a quarter of it. And a course can be cancelled if too few people apply, in which case you can transfer to another run or take a full refund. If your schedule is unpredictable, a pay-per-session workshop elsewhere will suit you better. If you can commit to eight sessions, the structure is the whole point.

The campus sits between Short Street and Prinsep Street. LASALLE's contact page lists the walks as two minutes from Rochor MRT Exit A, eight minutes from Little India Exit A, nine minutes from Bugis Exit A and fifteen minutes from Dhoby Ghaut Exit A.

Two very Singaporean stops sit within a short walk. Sim Lim Square, the electronics mall that taxi drivers use as a landmark for the campus, is a block away on Rochor Canal Road, handy if you need a desk lamp for home practice. A little further north, Tekka Centre, the Zhujiao Centre on Buffalo Road in Little India, pairs a busy wet market with a large hawker centre, good for a plate of biryani or a teh tarik after a session, and its noise is a vivid contrast to three hours of careful strokes.

Address: LASALLE College of the Arts, McNally Campus, 1 McNally Street, Singapore 187940. Courses: Chinese Calligraphy: History & Art, S$500, eight classes; Introduction to Penmanship and Spencerian Calligraphy, S$560; Modern Brush Lettering, S$600. All fees exclude GST and the S$10 application fee. Materials: about S$60 for the Chinese course, about S$80 for the others. Age: 18 and above. MRT: Rochor Exit A, two minutes. Refunds: full refund less S$40 if you withdraw in writing seven working days ahead.