Year: 2011

Stoke Newington Ghostsigns: History Pin Tour

After discovering the ‘Ghost Signs of Louisville’ Tour on History Pin I couldn’t resist having a go myself. The preliminary result is my first tour, ‘Stoke Newington Ghostsigns’. I reckon the walk would take a couple of hours depending on how long you stop to photograph the 18 featured signs and former locations of signs. […]

18 Dec 2011
Ghost Signs of Louisville

Following last week’s post about Phil Baines’ London lettering tour I came across this ‘Ghost Signs of Louisville’ tour. It has been created by the University of Louisville Photographic Archive (in particular their Ghostsigns collection) using History Pin. I’m keeping a list of all the tours and trails I discover and these are listed in the […]

16 Dec 2011
The Signpainter Movie

Over the last couple of years I’ve been following developments at the Signpainter Movie project in the USA. It is an independently produced film that will chart the history and work of America’s remaining craftsmen (due for release next year). They have been diligently cataloguing their primary research interviews on their blog as they’ve journeyed […]

16 Dec 2011
Peter Hardwicke and Tracy Emin International

Videos of Peter Hardwicke painting the letters ‘N’ and ‘A’ from the Tracy Emin International shop in Spitalfields, London. Steady hand!

10 Dec 2011
Public Lettering in Central London: Phil Baines’ Walking Tour

This well know Kings Cross palimpsest features in Phil Baines‘ updated walking tour of public lettering in London (thanks to Geraldine Marshall for the link on the Facebook page). He’s now created this as a ‘Map Tale’ which can be viewed below or in full screen here [Links since expired]. This adds to a handful […]

10 Dec 2011
Signs of Cambodia

Over a year since I first wrote about hand painted signs in Cambodia I thought it was time for a brief update. First are some examples from my travels around the country, followed by some other pieces of signage that amused me in one way or another. First to Kep, a nice use of the […]

25 Nov 2011
Ghostsigns in The Biochemist

Press coverage for the project sometimes throws up surprises and I was delighted to see that the October 2011 edition of The Biochemist labelled my site as among the ‘Best of the Web’. Katy’s photo once again caught the editor’s eyes in this very nice write up. Thank you to Executive Editor Mark Burgess at […]

25 Nov 2011
Ghostsigns Research from Laura Carletti Scoops Award

Congratulations to Laura Carletti who took home an award for her presentation of the most recent paper on the Ghostsigns Project at the Digital Engagement conference in Newcastle. The paper is available for download here, with the following note regarding copyright: “Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work […]

20 Nov 2011
Laura Carletti Abstract

Following the recent survey which is part of a larger research project, Laura Carletti has kindly given permission to publish the abstract of a paper she presented to the Digital Resources in the Humanities and Arts conference held back in September. The full title is: “Enhancement of niche cultural and social resources through crowd-contribution: the […]

12 Nov 2011
Fading Ads of New York City

The eagerly awaited release of Frank Jump’s ‘Fading Ads of New York City’ book is almost upon us. I was fortunate enough to be offered a sneak preview by Frank himself so here are some reflections on the book to whet your appetite and hopefully encourage you to get a copy as soon as it’s […]

4 Nov 2011
Love Local Landmarks and the Hackney Society

To protect or not to protect? As I’ve discussed before, my interest in Ghostsigns started in my home borough of Hackney in London. The concentration of specimens in Stoke Newington intrigued me and I had to learn more about them. I was soon finding and photographing great examples not only in Hackney but across the […]

29 Oct 2011
Painted Ad Site

Wm Stage is back and this time he is taking his work online with the launch of his new Painted Ad website/blog. For those unfamiliar with Stage’s work then you should read a bit about his latest book, and also know that he authored the single most comprehensive volume about hand painted wall advertising back […]

10 Sep 2011
Signpainters Don’t Read Signs

Via their Facebook page, The Sign Painter Movie project alerted me to this rare, out of print book by Syl Ehr. Signpainters Don’t Read Signs is a great read and recounts umpteen anecdotes from Syl’s life as a jobbing signpainter in the USA (signwriter to those in the UK). These include incidents directly relating to […]

25 Aug 2011
49 New Signs

Since handing over day-to-day responsibility for the archive to the History of Advertising Trust there has been a steady influx of new material. 49 new signs have been uploaded to the online galleries and this means that c.750 are now documented through the collective efforts of photographers across the country. I’ve listed the codes for […]

5 Aug 2011
Ghostsigns World Tour

Perhaps being in Cambodia has sensitised me to the world of Ghostsigns beyond my home shores. Or maybe awareness of the project has encouraged those from around the world to make contact. Whatever it is, I thought it was time for a round-up of what’s landed in my inbox and surfaced on my internet radar […]

21 Jul 2011
Ghostsigns Survey

[THIS SURVEY IS NOW CLOSED, see the results here] Just over a year ago we launched the History of Advertising Trust Ghostsigns Archive. From start to finish the project took exactly one year and this was made possible largely due to the use of online tools such as Flickr, Youtube and Facebook. I always meant […]

8 Jul 2011
Adzookie

The History of Advertising Trust Twitter stream recently brought this initiative to my attention from mobile advertising firm Adzookie. Essentially they will pay your mortgage if you agree to have this garish design slapped onto the external walls of your home. However, in the current downturn, and with people struggling to avoid repossessions, they may […]

4 Jun 2011
My Leicestershire Digital Archive

Colin Hyde from the Centre for Urban History at Leicester University sent me an email with a fascinating link today. It is to a project he has been curating over the last couple of years which features an unrivalled collection of Ghostsigns from the county of Leicestershire. What is most interesting about the c.250 images in […]

16 May 2011
The Painted Ad

Twenty-two years on from publishing the definitive Ghostsigns book, William Stage is back. ‘The Painted Ad: A Postcard Book of Vintage Brick Wall Signs’ builds on his own professional work in the postcard industry. He has pooled 25 of his best Ghostsigns images to create a book of cards which can be used to send […]

10 May 2011
Fresh lick of paint

I received an email this morning from a mural artist with an interest in working to restore/repaint Ghostsigns in the UK. She found me via a great project being run by the London Mural Preservation Society. I started drafting a response and then realised I’ve never written specifically about this topic and thought a blog […]

7 May 2011
Geoslideshow

I’ve been slowly pursuing the Ghostsigns Worldwide idea and, in the process, came across a new web application being developed. It’s called Geoslideshow and, in response to my suggestion, they’ve cracked the code to generate a map of all geotagged photos in a Flickr group. Click here for the application of this to the Ghostsigns […]

9 Apr 2011
Haggai Osewe

I always enjoy a video with some signwriting, so I was chuffed to find this from Kenya, through Charlie, and thought I’d share. Alongside my discoveries in Cambodia it just goes to show that the art and craft is still alive and kicking in much of the world. It would be great to include some […]

17 Mar 2011
Brad Blackman

(PA)RK (H)ERE Oil on canvas, 5 x 7 inches © 2011 Brad Blackman It’s been a while since I’ve come across a new artist using Ghostsigns as a springboard for their own work. Today, one came into my inbox, this time from Brad Blackman in ‘music city’, Nashville, USA. It is part of a series […]

24 Jan 2011