36 April / May 2023 - Issue 246 www.signlink.co.uk Sign Painters: Ten Years Later On March 30th, 2013, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC hosted the world premiere of Sign Painters. The feature-length documentary went on to be screened in cinemas, bars, lecture halls, and sign shops across the globe. Its impact has been far reaching, and it helped to usher in a new generation of sign painting aficionados and professionals alike. The film in context The film (and companion book) came at a moment when there was a hankering after the hand-made in the face of cookie-cutter aesthetics emanating from digital and print technologies – sign painting itself had suffered years in the doldrums following the arrival of vinyl plotters into the market. Faythe Levine, co-director of Sign Painters, had already observed the turning tide in her 2009 book and film, Handmade Nation. The juncture was exemplified by two of the sign painting courses featured in Sign Painters. One of these, at Boston’s Butera School, is shown closing down on the DVD extras, while the Sign Graphics Program at Los Angeles Trade Technical College (LATTC) was kept going by its lead instructor Doc Guthrie. Following the film’s release, his course saw enrolments more than double, requiring new instructors to meet demand. While some directly credit the film for sign painting’s resurgence over the last ten years, I’ve always thought of it as a catalyst, accelerating a process that was already underway. That is not to underestimate its impact, which was significant – one of its stars, Forrest Wozniak, notes that it “brought sign painting to a broader audience, most notably the art world”. An invitation to paint In addition to reaching new audiences in the art, design, and advertising worlds, Sign Painters also inspired people around the world to take up sign painting – it opened their eyes to the fact that this could actually be a vocation. One of these was Barcelona’s Adrian Peréz who was working as a digital graphic designer when the film presented him with a path better aligned with his passions. He “bought some paint, and a brush, and started filling sheet after sheet with lines and lines of practise strokes”. Peréz is now one of Spain’s pre-eminent sign painters and gilders, and has also taught the craft to others. Georgina Tozer in Bristol had just started her own lettering journey when the film came out, and credits it with “widening my view of what being a sign painter could mean”. It was also a turning point for Dan Ricketts in St Louis: “I never thought I would be able to support my family through art, but I’m doing it and it feels great”. A chance encounter with the book in Portland Oregon prompted Nami Oh to think to herself, “Sign painting is a thing?”. She then saw the film and promptly enrolled onto Guthrie’s course at LATTC before eventually turning her back on her fashion industry career to paint signs fulltime. And what of the stars? The film itself grew out of conversations between Levine, Macon, and Levine’s friend and sign painter, Ira Coyne. He recalls that “at the time sign painting was A decade after the release of feature-length documentary, Sign Painters, Sam Roberts speaks with those that appeared in it, and whose lives were changed by it, as they reflect on its pivotal role ADVENTURES IN SIGN PAINTING WITH SAM ROBERTS ▼The cover of the companion book to the film, designed and painted by Ira Coyne Sam Roberts is the editor and publisher of BLAG (Better Letters Magazine), the world’s only print and online publication dedicated to sign painting. He has written numerous books and articles on the craft and its history, and first became interested in the topic via the fading ‘ghost’ signs around London. SignLink subscribers can sign up with a special discount to the publication via bl.ag/signlink While some directly credit the film for sign painting’s resurgence over the last ten years, I’ve always thought of it as a catalyst
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjM0NDIxOA==