The Sign Painter Movie & Book

End of January Update: Ed Ruscha, book details & more!

2012-01-23T13:36:00.000-08:00

Sam & I are happy to announce that our book manuscript has been submitted on schedule to our editor at Princeton Architectural Press. On top of that, we couldn't be more excited to tell you some additional good news...

We are very pleased to announce that artist Ed Ruscha has written a fabulous foreward to the Sign Painters book. This will be followed up with an introduction by and Deputy Head of Research and Head of Graduate Studies at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Glenn Adamson. These two talented men are adding important content to an already complex layered book of personal stories and experiences from the sign trade. We can't wait to share it with you in fall of 2012.

Ed Ruscha, Standard Station, 1966
Image courtesy of Ed Ruscha and Gagosian Gallery

The next few months will be spent tying up loose ends with the documentary shoots, including a trip to Fort Myers FL to visit the SignCraft Magazine headquarters. Then we have massive hours of editing and some tight festival deadlines in front of us. Throughout the process we will keep you in the loop of any exciting news that unfolds about the book and documentary!

Two additional time sensitive sign painting related links we encourage you to check out:

Guerrero Gallery "An American Language”, featuring the works of 12 traditional American sign painters through February 4, 2012.

The Vernacular Typography kickstarter campaign. A design and photography project that documents and maps disappearing examples of found lettering. Fund this project through March 2, 2012.

Shop: Support Your Local Sign Painter Shirts

2011-12-16T12:23:00.000-08:00

We are cutting it pretty close to the holiday's but just in time Sam & I are happy to bring you a very limited run of "Support Your Local Sign Painter" T-shirts. Proceeds of all sales will go toward the production of the documentary. Keep an eye out, there's more to come in 2012 but for now we appreciate your support with our project & creating an awareness that Sign Painting is still a vibrant alive trade!

For now, these T-shirts are only available through our big cartel shop here, or by clicking the t-shirt on the sidebar.

Edition #1: designed & lettered by Josh Luke of Best Dressed Signs

Support Your Local Sign Painter is printed in white Ink on a unisex Gildan heavy cotton shirt.
Shirts are $20 each & available in: S, M, L, XL + $5.95 shipped via USPS Priority Mail

HOLIDAY ORDERS: place your order by 6pm CST, Monday December 19th are guaranteed to be delivered by Christmas according to the USPS calendar. All orders will be shipped via USPS Priority Mail.

At this time we can only ship orders within the United States but hope to broden our reach soon as we add more items to our shop & we entire the new year.

We hope you are all having a good December & wish you a very Happy New Year!

Princeton Architectural Press to publish Sign Painter Book

2011-12-12T09:56:00.000-08:00

Collaborators Faythe Levine & Sam Macon at the American Sign Museum, 2011

We are very pleased to announce that Princeton Architectural Press will be publishing a Sign Painter book co-authored by documentary directors Faythe Levine & Sam Macon. Scheduled to be released in parallel with the film's 2012 release. The book will feature select people we have interviewed for the film along with information about the trade and lots of amazing diverse samples of brushed work.

A big thanks to our book editor Sara Bader & everyone at Princeton Architectural Press for believing in this project and taking it one step further!

More on this element of our project very soon!

John Downer // Ed Otten // Hugh Hoffman

2011-12-05T20:13:00.000-08:00

After visiting Bob Behounek we drove to Coralville, Iowa to meet with John Downer whom we first heard about through Ken & Andy over at House Industries. John grew up in the Pacific NW, and began painting signs there when he was still in high school in Longview, Washington, under the guidance of Shelly Dugan, a hotshot pinstriper.

Coralville is where John's former Signshop associate, Ed Otten is still located and operates his same business today. Ed is a veteran (left-handed) sign painter who received excellent training in Cedar Rapids before starting to work at the University of Iowa's own sign department in the 1960s.

We were joined by Ed's second cousin Hugh Hoffman, of nearby Mt. Vernon, Iowa. Hugh is a professional sign painter and pin striper. Hugh has been doing many of the local painted signs ever since Ed switched his output to primarily vinyl signage back in the '90s.

John brought out a number of old sign examples to share with us and Ed's photo albums of his work blew our minds.

Left to right: Ed Otten, John Downer, Hugh Hoffman
[we really are having fun here, I swear]

John showing off his amazing sandwich board Halloween costume he designed and painted.

Hugh did an amazing pin striping demo that I didn't capture on my iphone, but Travis got great footage of.

John giving us an on-camera lettering demo and then busting out a beautiful show card for the movie.

Bob Behounek

2011-12-05T13:07:00.000-08:00

Last week we drove to meet Bob Behounek at his shop one hour outside Chicago. Aside from telling stories of the glory days, Behounek's passion for life and the sign industry and those who continue to carry on the trade is evident in his current charity based project the Chicago Brushmasters.

On the cork board: The Baron & Ed Roth

In the basement we were blown away by Bob's work-in-progress model train, complete with a Behounek Sign Shop on Main Street.

October 2011, Austin: TX

2011-11-22T10:39:00.000-08:00

This is the final leg of catch up before our next and soon to be final rounds of shooting. After wrapping up shooting in Los Angeles, Travis (our director of photography) flew home for some local work and Sam & I drove to Austin. We stopped a few good spots along the way. I got to see the Salton Sea for the first time, spent the night in Tuscon at one of our favorite spots The Congress Hotel and had a fantastic dinner in Marfa TX. No matter which way you swing it, Los Angeles to Austin in 2 days is a haul.

But we made it, a little late but in time to pick up Travis at his hotel and straight to meet up with Gary Martin in his awesome shop. Gary took us on a tour around Austin to see some of his work installed in key spots around the city- his hand really has shaped the way Austin looks.

Next on our list was to meet Norma Jeanne Maloney of Red Reider Studio. Norma's stories about her history with signs are now top on our list- which is saying a lot.

As everywhere we have visited we missed some key players who were out of town or off our radar until too late, but we are so pleased to have Austin be a part of our project.

Next week we meet the legendary Bob Behounek & John Downer.

Los Angeles//Ventura: "Doc" Guthrie, Nick Barber, Keith Scharwath, Marjory Garrison

2011-11-13T13:43:00.000-08:00

We spent 4 very full days shooting in the greater Los Angeles area. It was obvious before we got there after we skimmed our list of contacts and leads that an entire film could be made with all the talent in that area.

Driving back from Las Vegas we talked about what we would find at our shoot the next day at LA Trade-Tec were we were invited to the Sign Graphics course taught by the legendary "Doc" Guthrie. I'm going to save his stories for the film (and most likely extra features, because there were a lot of stories), but for me personally Doc was one of the most inspirational people I have ever met in my life. Watching him balance a very diverse, I'm talking age, ethnically, economic, the entire shebang, of 60+ students all tucked into 2 larges rooms with 4 levels of students ALL WORKING was a beautiful thing. Everyone should raise their glass to Doc Guthrie.

Doc Guthrie at LA Trade-Tech

Guthrie's first semester class at LA Trade-Tec

HOT TIP: All you inspiring sign painters, movie to LA, get residency, take this program before it's gone and get ready to get your butt kicked by a great teacher.

Synchronicity is no stranger in my life and working on this film it's reared it's confusing head a number of times. Through a series of events we found out that Keith Scharwath who is a third semester Sign Graphic's student and Los Angeles based art director, designer and artist is someone I had previously worked with on a project he directed for GOOD Magazine (and on an even stranger level his fiance, Alissa Walker interviewed me a number of years ago about my last film Handmade Nation).

We were able to shoot some footage of Keith at work in class and then went to his studio/shop and did a quick interview about why an established graphic designer such as himself would spend 2 years going to a trade school to learn traditional sign painting techniques. To us, the answer was obvious, but we feel as if it's the perfect way to prove that sign painting is no where near the near death many think it is.

Keith Scharwath in his studio/shop

Some of you hardcore sign writers may argue there's no place in this film for some of the people we have decided to include in this project. They aren't "real" sign painters, the feedback we have received is that they don't represent the trade. At first, I didn't understand what this criticism was about, but after investing almost two years to research and doing a lot of interviews, I now understand. What we have found very contradicting is many of you journeyman sign painters have start-up stories that mimic almost word for word the stories of these younger painters that we have found.

In Los Angeles we met up with Marjory Garrison who's background and job is working with non-profit organizations. Marjory also works as a full time sign painter. Garrison spoke prolifically about finding old trade books, contacting the legendary masters she read about in Sign Craft and asking questions upon questions to whoever would listen. She even had a story about emailing John Downer who called to chat with her on the phone. Her self taught technique is a similar story among a younger strain of sign painters. She is learning while on the job. Marjory's style, skill and nearly booked schedule of painting signs around her neighborhood speaks loudly we believe and having her presence along with a handful of other young self-taught sign painters represents an element of the new generation of sign painting.

Marjory Garrison at home

Marjory who shares a home and studio with 3 other people one of them her husband industrial designer Brendan Ravenhill, uses the large windows at home to practice technique, taking advantage of the space she has to work with.

On our last day of shooting we drove from Los Angeles to Ventura to meet with the west coast king of Window Splash [temporary window signage] Nick Barber. Nick's interview just made us swell with excitement, he and every single person we had met on this trip so far had been so amazing. Barber's wealth of knolowdge, stories and passion made us feel like we were right on track gathering what we need to round out this project.

Nick Barber touching up a piece for us at a long time client of his, the local Harley Davidson dealership.

Detail of a Nick Barber window splash at a local Harley Davidson dealer. Window splash is often done in florescent paint to catch the passer-by's eye.

HOT TIP: Nick has two books he has written on the art of temporary window splash you can get from his website.

Next on our list, drive from Los Angeles to Austin, TX to meet up with our next subjects.

Las Vegas, NV

2011-11-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

From Big Bear Lake we drove to Las Vegas where we met up with one of the legendary founding members of the Letterheads, Mark Oatis and his wife Rose at their home. Mark is currently the creative director for YESCO & Rose continues to collaborate with Mark and do freelance sign jobs.

Mark doing some quick freehand lettering on camera for us.

Rose talking about their sample kit filled with beautiful gilded samples of all varying degrees of awesome.

We had a fantastic time at their home/studio where Rose cooked us an amazing home cooked lunch- which when your on the road is the best thing ever and we talked for hours, on and off camera.

Mark's notes of the 7 original Letterheads.

Personally, the highlight of our time with Mark & Rose was when Mark had the three of us raise our hands and take the letterhead oath with him. It's official.

Our trip was just getting better and better. The next day we were scheduled to meet with Robert Curry, a close friend of glass gilder Roderick Treece. Robert took us to a near by building that housed a number of his incredible fine art pieces that incorporated his perfected lettering skills and then we sat with him at his home and talked about his long romance with the sign industry.

Robert Curry painting detail

Robert Curry painting detail

Just blocks away from Roberts house, right before we hit the road back to Los Angeles we randomly spied this sign. There was no one in sight but we took it as a good omen, stopped at IN & OUT burger and hit the road. Once your looking, sign painters really are everywhere.

Big Bear Lake: Brouhaha Letterhead Gathering

2011-11-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

Over the summer we were contacted by Sean Starr who invited us to a small Letterhead gathering at his shop in Big Bear Lake in late September. It timed out with our West Coast trip and we were able to observe some great workshops, get some interviews and meet some new friends.

Antiqued & Distressed Signs by Sean Starr

One Stroke Lettering by John Lennig

Reverse Glass Gilding by Roderick Treece

Pre-Computer Sign Making by Derek McDonald who also quickly knocked out this reverse gilded glass piece for us as a gift.

We spent two lovely days in Big Bear Lake then headed out to Las Vegas for the next leg of our shoot.

Catching Up // AUGUST: 2011

2011-10-24T11:55:00.000-07:00

I am going to attempt to play catch up and keep it snappy. Back in August our crew (Sam & myself + our Director of Photography Travis Auclair) traveled East to do a number of interviews.

After landing in NY and driving up to Boston we met up with Josh Luke of Best Dressed Signs who was finishing up work on a tattoo shop window in Cambridge.

The next day we were able to meet up with James "Spike" Birmingham, Rich Thuillier and John Butera of the Butera School of Art Sign Department. We discussed the recently shut-down program (currently in its last semester after being recently bought out by Fisher College) and it's impact it's had on the Sign Writing community after 100 years of teaching lettering.

After our time at Butera we drove 6 hours back to New York for the night, then up early for a 2 hour jaunt to Deleware to meet with the gentelman of House Industries [Ken Barber, Andrew Cruz and Rich Roat] to discuss the roll of hand-lettering within the development of type & fonts, their love of letters and the roll sign painters have played in their business.

Back in New York we got a chance to spend a quite a chunk of time with the Colossal Media's Sky High Crew. Owners Paul Lindahl & Adrian Moeller gave us a rundown of how the business is run, jobs are executed and how the shop is structured. The breakdown of responsibility within the company as far as interns starting ground up with pattern making, mixing paint and then after a few years, if ready, get to rig a job and paint to a job manager who runs the show on site.

The amount of room needed to store all the equipment is significant. We were also allowed us to go on the set-up for two jobs, and watching them haul everything up flights of stairs and manually up the sides of the buildings I personally now have a real understanding of what goes into the large wall jobs and am excited we will be able to show the public how this is done in the documentary.

While Sam & Travis were shooting with the Sky High crew in Soho I ran by Steve Powers studio to shoot some stills. He was working on some pieces for an upcoming exhibit in Italy but also had time to show me sketches and tell me about a large scale project about to be painted in Brooklyn that you can now see completed here & read about in the New Yorker here.

We had a few more folks lined up that we were going to try to hook up with but due to Hurricane Irene we had to make some schedule adjustments- that also included us being trapped in the city much longer then expected.

WANTED: more hours in the day

2011-10-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

Saul Steinberg drawing from his book Passport

We are shamefully behind updating you with all the amazing people we have interviewed in the past few months, but are hoping to get the blog updated in the next few weeks. Our only excuse is that you sign writers are keeping us busy with too much good footage to stay on top of our internet game.

However, the facebook account can get updated from the road, so if you want up to date information about who we are interviewing & were we are- that's the spot to get it.

Keith Knecht

2011-09-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

Through a series of very timely synchronous events we had the opportunity in early August to interview the legendary Keith Knecht. We found Keith in a very unique situation in his assisted living home in Toledo, OH. He explained to us he was going off of dialysis within a few weeks and would pass away soon after. By having the opportunity to tell us part of his story about his life-long romance with signs his story would reach an audience outside his close circle of friends and family.

Signs of the Times quote from Keith Knecht's cover story, June 1975

Sam, Travis and I left Toledo feeling like we had gained a friend and learned more about sign painting then we thought possible in the 3 hours we spent with Keith and his brother Bruce. We feel greatful to of spent an afternoon in his presence and so thankful to have his voice as a part of our documentary. We were incredibally sadened to hear of his passing when we were in New York shooting on August 25th and suggest you read Keith's obituary honoring his amazing life here.

Cincinnati & Justin Green

2011-06-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

Sam & I just spent a very productive two days in Cincinnati this past weekend gathering some amazing footage. Friday was spent at the American Sign Museum with founder and director Tod Swormstedt. I had met and blogged about Tod this past December and was really excited to get back there to film with Sam. His knowledge of the sign industry is staggering since his family has been in the business 3 generations and he spent 20 years as the editor at Sign of the Times Magazine. We could have spent all weekend in his way- instead we got a good 6 hours talking, exploring his collections and hanging out talking shop.

Downtown Cincinnati, OH: Justin Green in front of an abandon sign painting shop, 2011

When we left on Thursday, Saturday was still up in the air, but we had our fingers crossed that we would get to interview Justin Green. Thankfully, synchronicity was on our side and Justin met us downtown to start off what ended up being an amazing few hours of sharing his thoughts and expertise on camera.

Those of you in the industry may know Justin as a fellow sign painter and as the hand behind The Sign Game, a comic strip that ran in Sign of the Times magazine. You can also find Justin Green's Sign Game published as a collection in a book, I'd get a copy while you still can if I was you. Some of you may also recognize Justin's name from his work as an underground comic artist. Green seems to have few limits with his creative talents and I am endlessly grateful to of had the opportunity to meet him and get an interview for our film.

Justin discussing painting & movement with a maulstick

Demonstration on folding a disposable paper cup for paint on the fly

The American Sign Museum: Cincinnati OH

2010-12-11T14:36:00.000-08:00

I was in Cincinnati for programing at the Contemporary Art Center and got in touch with the American Sign Museum director Tod Swormstedt to hopefully arrange a preliminary visit while I was there to check out the space.

I can barely describe how amazing the few hours I spent with Tod in the museum were. I was giddy with appreciation, excitement and awe for what he has collected and created. The museum is currently housed in an industrial type warehouse filled to the gills with neon, books, kits, supplies and all sorts of everything related to the history of signs.

Tod also took me to check out the new building that will be the future site of the museum once he raises the remainder of the needed funds. A few highlights from the new space are that it houses a neon shop for visitors to watch the process, a full side of a Mail Pouch Tobacco Barn, a sign repair shop and Tod even expressed interest in building out a sign painter shop if there was the right fit of someone to oversee it (hint hint if any of you are looking to relocate or retire to Cincinnati).

Here are a few images I snapped, I'll leave you wanting more. But don't worry, when we shoot there this next Sprint, the entire experience will be shared. Until then, if you happen to find yourself near Cincinnati don't miss this treat.

Panel reads:
The Signkit documents the 35 year signpainting career of Chuck Beauchemin, who retired in late 1998. Each Beauchemin worked for or owned is documented by a logo with a respective state and year. The kit was his everyday working signkit.

Blue kit Panel Reads:
Charles Stanely's signpainting kit (circa 1960) exemplifies the casual nature of the signpainter's work. Stanley had a shop in Cincinnati know as Stanley Signs, and was also Coney Island's (local amusement park, not in NY) resident signpainter from many years.

(Donated by Charlie Wheeler, Tattoo Charlie's Louisville, KY)

Museum Director Tod Swormstedt

One of my favorite things I saw was this hand colored envelope of a letter from a sign painter to his old shop saying how he missed working there.

Tribute wall to Rick Glawson & the Art of Guilding

Neon inside the new building

More images here and I also blogged about this visit on my personal site if you are interested in reading more.

Stockholm: Studio visit with Von Sven

2010-12-01T15:01:00.002-08:00

Director Faythe Levine was in Stockholm last week for programing at the Modern Art Museum and she got a chance to catch up with her old friend Sven from Minneapolis. Sven now lives and works in Sweden as a sign painter and striper. These images from her visit with him at his shop and studio are definitely worth checking out.

Sven on the front cover

For more info on VonSven go here.

Vintage Painting Supplies!

2010-10-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

This old packaging makes my heart race found via Boing Boing where I came across this post. The folks at dieline pulled the images from the poplulture photostream, a place to get lost in packaging for hours.

Steve Powers aka ESPO

2010-10-01T17:18:00.000-07:00

This a short piece directed by Faythe Levine and Sam Macon shot in collaboration with the Syracuse University, Steven Powers and his crew. This piece was produced specifically for the University, but elements of our four days in Syracuse there will be in the final edit of our feature length documentary.

A LOVE LETTER TO SYRACUSE from samuel j macon on Vimeo.

Chuck Johnson: Hollywood Beach, FL

2010-09-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

"They are calling me a one-man redevelopment project."

F. A. BERNETT BOOKS

2010-09-01T14:17:00.000-07:00

Last week over on recto|verso you will find a fantastic post "International Sign Painters of the World Unite and Take Over" about a book you can pick up for the measly amount of $1,250.00

I pulled a few of the plates that they posted, check out the rest here.

Steve Powers // Syracuse

2010-08-28T13:33:00.000-07:00

With some funding assistance from Colab (located at Syracuse University) we arrived yesterday to document Steve Powers and his crew in progress painting three train trestle bridges in downtown.

The three double sided trestles will read:

Nothing To Do // Is Everything With You
Spring Comes Summer Waits // Fall Leaves Winter Longs
I Paid The Light Bill Just To See Your Face // Now That We Are Here Nowhere Else Matters

America Is F*cked.......(Graphically at least)

2010-08-03T10:39:00.000-07:00

Kurt Reighley Seattle-based author of "United States of Americana" sent this link over this morning that really truly sums up a lot of peoples feelings about where we are going with signage. Although it's not specific to hand lettering, I feel like it's relevant to part of our motivation with this documentary.

P.S. If you are not a fan of the "F" word, don't watch this.

America Is F*cked.......(Graphically at least) from Jess Gibson on Vimeo.

Resource Alert!

2010-07-21T17:01:00.000-07:00

Via @RichterSigns on Twitter we found this great post (and the images below) over at UN/Stage with 40+ Examples of hand-lettering. These images are from a fantastic collection over at TypArchive where they are cataloged with location. What an amazing resource.

There goes my afternoon.

Roderick Treece

2010-07-15T16:10:00.000-07:00

Back in May Roderick Treece sent us an really nice email letting us know "I love what you guy's are doing for the craft" and that he is ready to help if there is anything we need. Obviously this is really encouraging for us and we totally appreciate it, especially when coming from someone with so much talent. We haven't had the chance to meet yet but I am hoping that as we keep working on the documentary that time will come.

Meanwhile, you should check out Roderick's amazing catalog of work:
www.customglasssigns.com
www.studiozerosigns.com
www.ghosttownsigns.com

Also his blog has a ton of great links including this video with his beautiful examples of custom gold leaf:

From Cleveland

2010-07-08T06:36:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Casey Myers and Joseph Hughes of Northcoast Zeitgeist who back in May sent us links to some images of one of their favorite sign painters. Here's some of his work in the windows of Alesci's market in Cleveland:

Mayfield Road
South Euclid, OH

View Casey's entire photo set of hand lettered signs here.

Have photos/video/articles you want us to feature?
Send them to signpaintermovie[at]gmail[dot]com

WATCH:: Rooftop Ad to God

2010-07-05T09:18:00.000-07:00

Our sign painter friends Forrest Wozniak and Phil Vandervaart up in Minneapolis recently did this rooftop job for the Basilica Church's Block Party.

We are really looking forward to making our way up to the 612 to interview both of them this summer/early fall.

DISCLAIMER:: we did NOT shoot this fantastic clip

Benny Gold

2010-06-25T07:59:00.000-07:00

A lot of updates about our progress will be coming really soon. For now, check out this blog post by designer Benny Gold about our friends over at New Bohemia Signs doing the lettering on his new brick and mortar space in San Francisco. We love the trend of new small businesses supporting their local sign painters. Have a similar story to share? If so, please email us and send images and we will blog about it as a part of our campaign to support your local sign painter.

Image from Benny Gold

Ira Coyne at work Sky High style

2010-06-01T18:45:00.000-07:00

Finally got the photos uploaded from Ira Coyne's visit to Milwaukee here. Please swing by this Saturday if you are in the Milwaukee area for the block party//open house gallery at Sky High (2501 South Howell Ave in Bay View) and check out Ira's work in person and check out co-director Faythe Levine's new gallery space!

Sky High & May updates

2010-05-25T07:13:00.001-07:00

I can't believe I didn't post this last week while we were shooting but Ira Coyne flew from Seattle here to Milwaukee to paint a new sign and the windows at the local skateboard shop, Sky High.

Shop owner Aaron Polansky peeling off the vinyl

Sign painter Ira Coyne

Many apologies for the lack up updates this past few weeks. Both Sam and I are constantly trying to balance our consistently overbooked schedules. I still travel a lot with my previous film "Handmade Nation" and am working on opening a new gallery here in Milwaukee on June 5th. Sam has been in a epic stretch of directing a bunch of commercial work with little time to even sleep.

However, I am very pleased and slightly overwhelmed with the amount of emails, comments, links and connections we have received from a lot of you. I am hoping to have some time to catch up and connect with everyone within the next month. If you are wondering about our production schedule, our current plan is to work on the trailer from the footage we have gathered so far. Then figure out where/when/how we are going to keep shooting this film. I will continue to keep you all updated with news, links and events surrounding research and information you have been sending me. Until then, keep names of friends, family and people you know connected with the industry coming and I'll be in touch soon!

Savannah, GA

2010-05-10T11:08:00.000-07:00

"A hand-painted sign from my point-of-view is much more of a personal touch," Miller says. "It's a style and a skill that seems to be vanishing in this day and age. And it should be preserved." - Lenord Miller, Savannah sign painter

I just returned from my first trip to Savannah, GA where I was speaking on a panel for SCAD Style 2010 "Why Handmade Matters". Although this panel was in direct reference to my last documentary Handmade Nation, the connections to my work documenting sign painters was obvious. While in Savannah, I was bombarded with such amazing beauty that included hand painted signage from all corners of the city. There was this very specific style that I was seeing everywhere & I knew we would be back to film (after summer).

iphone snapshot of the script style I was seeing around town

During my programing I caught wind of Susan Falls, an anthropology professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Although I didn't get a chance to reach out to her during my visit I have my fingers crossed we will be able to interview Susan who will hopefully share with us what she has gathered from her research.

And, as small worlds continue to get smaller, my friend Rob Walker, consumerism writer for the New York Times, who is based out of Savannah just emailed a very relevant article that ran on May 5th, while I was actually in town! The article references the script style I had noted and also interviews Susan Falls. Read "Hand Painted Signs Provoke Nostalgia" here.

I have been receiving great emails from the public about sign painters they know or have worked with around the country. Please keep the information coming so we can do our best to capture the real story of who is out there.

~Faythe Levine, co-director

Trend Central

2010-05-05T14:09:00.000-07:00

Today via Twitter I found out about an article we were mentioned in on Trend Central "The Sign Of The Times: The Art of Sign Painting Is Alive and Well". It's great pre-press for our production and talks about a lot of other great things going on out there in the industry. Check it out here.

Recap: Bob Dewherst & Jimmie "the saint" Collier

2010-04-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Bob Dewherst was our "icing on the cake" of our trip to San Francisco and Jimmie "the saint" Collier was well the super extra treat. Scott at New Bohemia recommend we call Bob upon our arrival, so Sam called him up. He was very receptive about us swinging by his place and since we had an open afternoon we did just that.

Bob Dewhurst & Jimmie "the saint"

Bob's company is called "Sign Language"

Bob explained that his spot didn't "really have an address" so when we rolled up to his compound I don't know why I was surprised, but I was. For over 20 years Bob has been located in the industrial Bay View neighborhood area of San Francisco. Living and working in a series of trailers and truck containers that have been beautifully modified, Bob's set-up is a scavengers wet dream.

Inside Bob's office trailer

He had invited over his friend and college Jimmie "the saint" who like Bob has also been and continues to work in the trade in the Bay Area for over 30 years.

Listening to these two guys talk shop was awesome. We interviewed them together in Bob's house that was a shipping container adorned with stained glass, wood work and antique hammered tin ceilings. Our timing couldn't of been more perfect, Bob had received his first visit from the Fire Dept after 20 years and may have to move shop after all this time, but he reminded us that he's had a good run and seemed in good spirits regardless of the potentially unfortunate news.

After interviewing these guys I can't wait for our next trip to meet more folks of the trade, our list is getting longer and longer as we receive emails about friends and relatives whom have either worked as sign painters or are still carrying on this trade.

View the photos set from their interview here .

Annnnd, that's a wrap on our San Francisco shoot, we hope to have our trailer cut within a few months. More new soon on where we will be shooting next!

Recap: Jeff Canham

2010-04-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

I had met and been to Jeff Canham's studio back in February with hope to revisit with the film crew upon my return to San Francisco. We stopped by his studio on our third day in town and had a great on-camera interview. I believe that Jeff's perspective as a graphic designer and visual artist that works with traditional sign painting is an important part of the story we want to tell with what is going on currently with the craft.

Jeff was trained at New Bohemia Signs and worked there for five years and now does freelance sign painting as well as furthering his own career. He was a part of the Sign Painter show that was up at Adobe Books last month and currently has a show up at Curiosity Shoppe on Valencia of his bird house collaboration with his studio mate Luke Bartels.

View the Jeff Canham photo set here (includes images from my first visit).

Recap: Rey Giese

2010-04-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

90 year old Rey Giese was born in 1919. He has been working out of his San Jose shop in the back of his house for over 25 years and has been lettering signs since 1935.

Sam Macon shooting Rey's endless work

When we pulled up to do his interview he was working on a job for a dentist office, in fact almost every single time Sam called to speak with Rey he was out on a job. Needless to say 70+ years of working in a single trade will not only give you skill and perspective that not many other can have. But, it will also lend to having one of the most impressive work spaces most of use will ever see in our life. The history stacked, piled and hung on the Walls of Rey Giese's studio are endless. Standing in the room listening to someone like Rey can change one's life. I feel very lucky to of come across his name while doing online research and that we had the opportunity to interview and hang out with such an amazing man.

View The Rey Giese photo set here.

Recap: New Bohemia Signs

2010-04-28T00:51:00.000-07:00

As soon as we announced that we were making a film about sign painters I received a bunch of emails in our in box about New Bohemia Signs located in San Francisco. New Bohemia is a small shop alive and kicking with work.

Ken Davis & Caitlyn Galloway working at New Bohemia Signs

The shop is owned by sign painter Damon Stye and managed by Scott Thiessen who keeps the steady flow jobs on track. There are also three other employee's who letter for New Bohemia, Josh Luke, Ken Davis and Caitlyn Galloway.

Owner Damon Styer

Ken Davis, Josh Luke, Caitlyn Galloway & Damon Styer

Lucky we stopped by on a day when everyone was there and working. We primarily interviewed Damon but also got a chance to do quick interviews with Josh, Ken and Caitlyn as well.

I suggest checking out their beautiful website for examples of their work. Perhaps you caught the recent sign show that happened at Adobe books in San Francisco that included work by all four New Bohemia sign painters along with Jeff Canham.

View the entire photo set of our visit to New Bohemia Signs here.

San Francisco & San Jose bound!

2010-04-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

"It's a craft as old as commerce, and an art indelibly linked to human scale and mass appeal."

-New Bohemia Signs website

One of my new favorite things is having the Internet as I fly, so here I am blogging from the plane heading towards San Francisco. Upon landing we (Sam, Travis and I) are promptly due at New Bohemia Signs in San Francisco. This is our first stop of a solid line up of interviews over the next few days. I still have few loose ends to tie up and my fingers are crossed that we will be able to connect with a few old timers that are a bit hard to get a hold of.

Regardless, we are all really looking forward to visiting New Bohemia Signs whose work speaks for itself. Check out this flickr set of their work to get some eye candy of the signs coming out of their shop.

Tomorrow we head to San Jose to talk with Rey Giese. He is the 90 year old legend who has been lettering since he was 14 and is still hitting the pavement daily. I will report on that visit a.s.a.p. I am amazed that this guy continues to work after 70+ years. Sam has actually had a hard time getting him on the phone due to the fact that he is often out working jobs every time we call.

We will also be doing a proper studio visit with Jeff Canham who I met on my last trip out to San Francisco and get an interview on camera this round. Per usual, I'll do my best to keep you all updated on the blog, but you can always get instant gratification by following us on twitter @signpainterdoc & make sure to "fan" us on facebook.

From the up in the air heading west -FL

Let the filming begin!

2010-04-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

We spent 4 days shooting last week in the Seattle and Olympia area and got massive amounts of great footage with sign painters Sean Barton, Ira Coyne, Japhy Witte, Vince Ryland, Mack Benek & Ernie Gosnell. All six sign painters are still working, have unique stories and styles and range in age from 30-60+

I just posted a ton of production photos to our flickr account from the trip with details and stories. It is so inspiring to see what work is happening out there. Below are some highlights with links to individual photo sets at the bottom. You can also roll over each photo for details.

Back soon with more updates ~FL

More photos, details & stories here:

Sean Barton photo set
Olympia photo set
Vince Ryland photo set
Show Cards photo set
Ira Coyne photo set
Mack Benek photo set
Ernie Gosnell photo set

Pittsburgh Sign Project

2010-03-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

"...the eye is strongly drawn to the text and symbols of the signs that comfort with familiarity, that irritate you with their distractions, that please you with their symmetry, or that illustrate the economic condition of a neighborhood. Signs are always trying to say something. Signs make our spaces a mongrelization of type-styles, graphics, and fashions: The futuristic becomes the modern becomes the dated becomes the retro. The passage of time provides the subtexts of rust, faded paint, and delamination. Signs are necessarily brash, democratic, and confessional." -from www.pittsburghsigns.org

My friend Jennifer Baron recently sent me a copy of a book she worked on that you just may have to add to your library. Pittsburgh Signs Project: 250 Signs of Western Pennsylvania is a crowd-sourced book of photographs documenting and celebrating the visual landscape of the region through its signs, past and present.
Visit the website for more details. ~FL

The Flop Box

2010-03-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

Illustrations by Ken Davis

I often get zines from The Flop Box and was super excited that on March 14th they released a 26 page, 8.5″ x 5.5″, offset printed, black and white, thick card stock, 70p matt cover & limited to 30 copies. Get one while they last!

*All above images are from The Flop Box site

"Just give me the letter O"

2010-03-12T09:30:00.000-08:00

I felt compelled to share this article from Print Magazine today even though it's not specific to hand paintings signs but so obviously a part of the same mindset. "Once upon a time, the film industry people asked the design people to create their movie poster but to make it like a logo--you know, for posters, merchandise, and branding. "Just give me the letter O, the design people answered. "

Those aware of letters, type and design is also aware of a good concept. This photos set put together about the use of the letter "O" in movie posters is awesome. Read the Print Magazine article here that includes a slide show of the 129 examples of movie posters all utilizing the letter "O" within their design. The photo set is also viewable on flickr here. I picked out my top five to share, they all happened to be older movies even though there are a lot of contemporary posters featured as well. Images from the collection of Mirko Ilic via flickr.

Bonus poster (Can't WAIT to find this movie):

Have a good weekend & thanks Print Magazine ~FL

Mack Benick + Rey Giese + Sky High

2010-03-11T13:39:00.000-08:00

This morning Sam made some really exciting calls reaching out to sign painters Mack Benick based out of Seattle and Rey Giese, a 90 year old sign painter who's be working longer then most of us stay alive. Mack will be doing an interview when we head west in a few weeks and we have our fingers (double)crossed about meeting up with Rey. I am plotting our trip to San Jose where he lives to hopefully hear about his 75+ year career in sign painting. Totally nuts.

Then, as I was doing research the darnedest thing happened. First, I stumbled across this video from a few years back when the social media company Colossal did some hand painted brick wall ad's for a Dewer's campaign and put together this great video. I think this clip shows a lot of what I find important about hand painted signage, including the really important aspect of the public being entranced by the process and realizing that there is a hand behind those letters.

BUT the crazy part of my afternoon was when I went to the Colossal website and I saw this:

To most of you this means nothing, but to myself and those in Milwaukee (where I am based) Sky High is the name of a skate shop that has been here since 1988. It also happens to be owned by my boyfriend and the location of the new gallery we are opening in the back of the existing shop this Summer.

Synchronicity at it's finest. ~fl

Signs, the most useful thing we pay no attention to

2010-03-02T11:25:00.000-08:00

My friend Jennifer Baron just sent me a link to this article "The Secret Language of Signs: They're the most useful thing you pay no attention to. Start paying attention." The article is focusing on "the kind [of signs] we see on city streets, in airports, on highways, in hospital corridors" but has some really interesting points and worth the quick read.

I am particularly fond of the part of the article where they talk about the guy in LA who took it upon himself to "fix" the poorly marked junction of the 110 freeway and the 5 freeway-- it stayed there for 9 months before anyone noticed.

According to the the article the city then replaced it with their own similar signage realizing his "improvement" was in fact, an improvement. This of course appeal to the part of me where people sneak around and get away with stuff, but it is also the perfect example of, as writer Julia Turner put it how "bad signs can send perfectly ordinary citizens into spirals of obsession." My personal spirals of obsession surrounding signs are focused on documenting all the good old signs before they are gone & replaced with vinyl. So I can totally relate. ~FL

"By examining how signs have evolved and how they help us now, we can determine whether signage's golden age is ending or just beginning." -Julia Turner

It's A Sign: March 4 - April 3, 2010

2010-03-01T16:48:00.000-08:00

IT’S A SIGN

New Bohemia Signs group exhibition

Featuring hand-painted signs by:
Caitlyn Galloway • Damon Styer
Jeff Canham • Josh Luke • Ken Davis

Exhibition Dates:
March 4 - April 3, 2010
Opening Reception:
Friday, March 12, 2010
7:00 - 9:00Pm

Adobe Books Backroom Gallery
3166 16th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

adobebooksbackroomgallery.blogspot.com
newbohemiasigns.com

Electric Company + Jay B Sauceda

2010-02-25T14:01:00.000-08:00

Meighan O'Toole from My Love For You sent over a heads up last week about photographer Jay B Sauceda that she just posted about. He has a great section on his site of painted brick walls:

"Before there was vinyl printing there were big brick walls and craftsmen who covered said walls with their commercial artwork. This is my ever growing collection of those that I find while on the road."- Jay B Sauceda

And this Electric Company clip, well it speaks for itself....

~FL

Bread, Cold Cuts & Hair

2010-02-18T11:17:00.000-08:00

I'm in love with this lady head so beautifully painted on the crumbling smashed out Amana Market only one block from my old house in Riverwest. ~FL

Photo by: Faythe Levine
Corner of Holten & Burleigh, Milwaukee WI 2010

You need this book

2010-02-17T11:14:00.001-08:00

Book description:

"A Love Letter For You - Brick Valentines On The Philly Skyline" documents the art and the neighborhood that inspired this ambitious public art project.

I'm sure most of you are already familiar with the "A Love Letter For You" project. If not, I suggest reading up on it. The entire idea of this insane concept that was pulled off beautifully blows my mind. I love it in every way. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon the book that had come out & I got a copy of it for my dude for Valentines day. You need one.

Whether it's for a gift (get this for your sweetheart they will be hyped) or for your own collection this book at $19.95 is a must have as far as I am concerned. Get it here.
~FL

A studio visit with Jeff Canham

2010-02-16T20:13:00.000-08:00

Jeff Canham

Last week I took a quick trip to San Francisco for a screening of Handmade Nation. I had emailed Jeff Canham the day before my trip just two days after this blog launched. We had never spoke before, so I feel quite lucky that this meeting worked out. I took the MUNI from the Mission down to Jeff's studio near the ocean. It's right near Mollusk Surf Shop and the newly opened General Store.

Jeff shares his studio with Danny Hess & Luke Bartell. I love walking into a space where there is a lot going on, that feeling that shit is getting done, ideas flowing, work happening. We walked through the wood shop and upstairs through all these amazing wood surf boards into Jeff's studio.

Danny Hess (far left)

I was there without much of an agenda besides introducing myself and talking about the plans and our vision for the documentary. It was super nice to just hang out and see what Jeff is working on. Both his sign work and the bird houses he collaborates on with his studio mate Luke were beautiful. It was the perfect first outreach meeting for this new project. I can't wait to go back this summer with a crew to shoot a proper interview with him.

View the full photos set here.
~FL

San Francisco + picture messages + Jeff Canham

2010-02-11T22:09:00.000-08:00

I arrived in SF this morning for a screening of Handmade Nation tomorrow in Oakland. As usual when I travel, I am trying to cram too much into a short visit somewhere you can spend weeks exploring and connecting with amazing people.

First on my list today after dropping off my bags was to meet sign painter Jeff Canham for the first time. It was sunny and warm and I hopped on the Muni out to his studio to see what he was up to, tell him about this film and photograph him in his space.

In perfect time, on my way out to meet Jeff, Ira Coyne was having lunch with Vince in Olympia and sent me a few picture text's of their lunch time sketches:

At Jeff's studio I took a bunch of photos of his new work, met his awesome studio mates and got really excited for my next visit with Sam when we can interview him on camera. I'll put the photos up from my visit when I get home this weekend. I did snap one quick sneak peek shot on my phone:

On my way back to Lisa Congdon's where I am staying, I stopped at Gravel & Gold, a store not to be missed if you are in the Mission. On my way I passed this Valentines window. I'm a sucker for painted hearts.... tis' the season.

From San Francisco ~FL

BLOW ~for~ Service

2010-02-10T12:07:00.000-08:00

One day live and already the amount of stories, contacts and ideas people have sent are AMAZING!

Today my friend, ceramicist Diana Fayt messaged me a story about her grandfather. "My grandfather began doing it in Hungary and then when my family escaped (in 1956) he emigrated to Sweden. I know he taught my uncle the trade but not sure about his history with it. My mom and her brother (my uncle, the sign painter) came to Los Angeles after the family escaped. My uncle traveled throughout the U.S. painting signs in towns he passed through to make a living." She also mentioned she recently inherited his brushes.

Something that has always been interesting to me as an artist is the "creative gene" that some families seem to have. My great-grandfather Harry Levine was a sculptor in New York, some of his busts can be seen in the permanent collection in the Brooklyn Museum. I wonder how many of our sign painters will of come from families with creativity in their history.

Thanks everyone for the positive response to this project so far. It's exciting but I am overwhelmed (in the best way possible) already with the stories that I can only imagine are going to come out of this project.

Laters ~FL

Photo by: Faythe Levine
Milwaukee, WI 2004

New Project, Ready GO!

2010-02-09T11:18:00.000-08:00

This is the official start. We have been talking about making this documentary for quite some time and it's really happening. Our first trip is being booked today. Sam Macon (co-director), Travis Auclair (director of photography) and I will be heading out to Seattle and Olympia to shoot for 3 full days with Ira Coyne, Sean Barton and Vince Ryland.

Over the course of the production this blog will be used in a number of ways while shooting this film. We will be documenting where we are shooting. Sharing stories and photos from along the way. We are also very interested in sharing older photos that we have shot as well as photos our friends (whom some of you we don't know yet) have taken of hand painted signs of all types. Ideally these photos would include at a minimum the location and any other information and stories that go along with them. They will be added to our flickr account too.

Also, if you have stories and know anyone who paints signs please do pass along our information we are still figuring out where this documentary is going to take us.

More soon ~FL

Photo by: Faythe Levine
Baltimore, MD Summer 2009