Book Captures Traditional Handpainted Signs’ Allure

Through the years, numerous books have focused on sign design or sign-fabrication techniques. Mike Stevens’ Mastering Layout has remained a popular title for generations of signmakers looking for a fundamental understanding of how to design compelling signage, and Getting Started in the Sign Business, which was compiled by ST’s editors, provides a basic template for how those new to the industry can grow their shop.

However, far too few books have been written about signmakers and their techniques. It’s a travesty that professionals in our industry aren’t given due credit. Being a proficient signmaker requires knowledge of design, architecture, city planning, woodworking, engineering and many other disciplines. Yet, signmakers just aren’t given the same reverence as fine artists and architects. I’d love to hear about the first time an architect drafts a blueprint and gives it away free to a would-be client just looking “for an idea.”

Thankfully, a pair of artists rectified this wrong with Sign Painters (Princeton Architectural Press, www.papress.com, 184 pages, paperback, $24.95), a simple, unpretentious – putting on airs would be out of character for signmakers – book that profiles 24 signmakers or shops who still uphold the traditional craft of painting and/or gilding signage. Faythe Levine, a Milwaukee-based artist, museum curator and photographer, and Sam Macon, who was born in Milwaukee and currently lives in Chicago, also created a companion documentary.

“We pretty much worked hand-in-hand putting the book together,” Macon said. “Our interview style is very conversational, and we both asked a lot of questions while we were shooting. We literally sat right next to each other on a shared computer to ensure that book chapters [each chapter profiles an individual signpainter or shop] retained a sense of the individual subject’s personality while communicating larger aspects of the trade.”

Levine, who’s worked as a full-time artist for the past eight years, serves as curator of Milwaukee’s Sky High Gallery and coordinates the Brew City’s Art vs. Craft art fair, said, “My relationship with signmakers has spanned 15 years. I grew up with a small group of friends who wanted to work with Phil Vandervaart [a Minneapolis signpainter who’s profiled in this book] in hopes of working for him. My friends from that era all run sign-shops now, including one who relocated to Stockholm, where he’s now a distributor of 1Shot [handlettering enamels].”

She continued, “My exposure to the sign industry from a young age opened my eyes to signmakers’ dedication to tradition. Experiencing firsthand what these people can do with their hands, paint and a brush has really blown my mind.”

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“I was totally schooled about what a ‘good’ sign is,” Macon said. “I thought I had a good grasp on the concept, but, boy, was I wrong. I’m not going to claim I can pick out the perfect stroke count from a glance, but I now understand that the best sign may be the one that is the least spectacular. I thank Justin Green [the Cincinnati-based signpainter, muralist and cartoonist who drew The Sign Game, the cartoon that graced our ST Update section for more than 20 years – he’s also featured in the book] for helping me realize that the most effective advertising message isn’t always the one that screams at you.”

Levine said her primary interest in the book — as well as a film, for which she and Macon are seeking a distributor — was signpainters’ processes and how their work can influence an entire city’s image. She noted her pleasant surprise at their approachability: “We were glad to have so many signpainters who were interested in talking with us. We initially thought we would struggle to find interview subjects, but there are more traditional signmakers around than we thought. I think it will be an eye-opener to the general public as well.”

Macon said the duo’s goal was to “tell a larger story born from a series of personal experiences.” He said, “There were certainly recurring themes and career trajectories, but each story is personal and reflects the individual featured. At one time, such talented and dedicated individuals had a large part in defining the aesthetic qualities of our public space. Now … a committee or team creates a design, and that same design is replicated in every town, regardless of a location’s nuances, personality, etc. We hope to bring attention to this shift in the hopes that, the next time someone opens a business, they hire a traditional sign-
painter, because, given their commitment to quality, our world will look better as a result.”

“There is a lot of mystery to the signpainting trade,” Levine said. “We hope that, through presenting personal stories, we’ll break down that wall and make signpainting seem more approachable to the general public. We also want to make people understand this isn’t a basic skill learned overnight. It’s a long-term investment of time and training to perfect one’s craft.”

Ira Coyne, an Olympia, WA-based signpainter, was the subject of one of the profiles (and the progenitor of the book’s cover art). When he began his work in the industry about 15 years ago, he said “he had to hustle like a salesman and fake it.” Over the course of several years, he built a roster of loyal customers.
However, he laments the absence of craftsmanship from much of the sign industry: “Signs used to be painted to last a lifetime … when people started businesses, a sign was a permanent thing … a guy could pass on his business to his family. That doesn’t happen anymore.”

He continued, “In archaeology, the things that matter most are handmade: ceramics, glass, sarcophagi, paintings. The most valued objects of lost cultures are the things that were made by hand. We need to start making things with our hands again.”
 

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