Year: 2012

American Roadside sign art from Bill Martin

Bennie Frazier’s retro fashion store in Sweetwater, Texas, is an unlikely home for a collection of original artworks from Bill Martin, late resident of the same town. These depict the colourful roadside signs that once characterised American highways, often using neon and sometimes as big as the buildings they were positioned on. These were referred […]

22 Jul 2012

Salisbury Ghost Sign Restoration Project

The Salisbury Ghost Sign Restoration Project is an initiative of three enthusiasts in North Carolina. They have recently unveiled their first two restorations, both for Coca-Cola signs, so I thought it was time to catch up with one of the trio, Justin Dionne to find out more about the project. Can you tell me a […]

21 Jul 2012

Melbourne’s Ghostsigns with Finding the Radio Book

Finding the Radio Book is a fascinating piece of work being undertaken by Dr Stefan Schutt of Victoria University. It all started with a piece of paper floating in the wind and has now evolved into a research project focussed on the archival records of the Lewis & Skinner signwriting company who ceased trading in the […]

20 Jul 2012

Derek McDonald film and interview

Another signpainter profiled on film, this time Derek McDonald of Golden West Sign Arts, one of the craftsman who worked on this year’s ‘Declaration of Independence’ campaign for Jack Daniel’s. More from Derek in this extended article from Oakland North. Is it just me or do there seem to be more and more of these […]

19 Jul 2012

Signs and street scenes from Hong Kong in 1972

This photo essay on Business Insider shows photos of Hong Kong as it was in 1972, including many street scenes and various forms of signage. The photos are all by Nick DeWolf and more can be found in his corresponding Flickr set. The one above reminds me of the contemporary use of walls in Dhaka, […]

18 Jul 2012

Fort Collins and Watertown Ghostsigns

Building on the various tours and trails already published on this site, here are some more: Download a pdf of the Fort Collins Ghost Signs Tour (1) Download a pdf of the Fort Collins Ghost Signs Tour (2) Download a pdf of the Watertown Murals and Ghost Signs Tour Besides the two walking tours above, […]

17 Jul 2012

Pandora Range McClary’s Stoves sign repainted in Cambridge, Ontario

The restoration of this ghostsign in Canada is part of an effort to reinvigorate the downtown area of Cambridge, Ontario.  Read some observations on the process of restoring this sign and also this article celebrating the completion of the piece.

16 Jul 2012

Owl Cigars ghostsign mystery in San Francisco

Kasey Smith of the Perception Filter blog has just posted this fascinating piece of investigative research into the origins of the Owl Cigars ghostsign on Meacham Place, San Francisco. Can you think of any other theories that would explain its unlikely position given the evidence that Kasey presents?

15 Jul 2012

Dusty Signs doing it the old way in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Lovely video about Dusty Signs‘ Dan Madsen, picked up on Typedeck where there is more information and a gallery of Dan’s images. Dan also showcases his work on Flickr and there is a detailed interview with him on the Type Archive site [Link since expired].

14 Jul 2012

Letter-press and type setting in El Salvador

Sadly google translate doesn’t work on video yet but I used it to get the following approximation of the description of this film.  If any Spanish speakers can add anything to this after watching then please write in  the comments or get in touch. This is a short documentary, a byproduct of a study that […]

13 Jul 2012

Sign Painters book cover painted by Ira Coyne

The Signpainter Movie project have just released this cover design for the book to accompany the film. Hand painted by Ira Coyne (featured previously here) it has certainly whetted my appetite for the planned October launch date. Visit the project blog to read more about the book launch and current activities on the film. Looking […]

12 Jul 2012

The origins of painting on walls

I’ve become increasingly intrigued by the origins of painting on walls, and the evolution of the form over time, up to the current vogue for street art.  While the walls of caves were not made of brick, they did nonetheless provide people with an early canvass for their painting.  The transition from these depictions of […]

11 Jul 2012

Ghostsigns in ‘Down Your Way’ magazine

Yorkshire is the focus for this three page spread on ghostsigns in Down Your Way magazine from earlier this year.  Thank you to Mark Whitley of Country Publications for allowing me to republish this piece here.

10 Jul 2012

The restoration of the Brixton Windmill mural

Check out this photo essay from the London Mural Preservation Society documenting their project to repaint Brixton’s Windmill mural.  It is a fantastic achievement and a vibrant and colourful result at the end of this undertaking which involved many people from the community and beyond. Bravo!

9 Jul 2012

Fuller, Smith & Turner: Chiswick Ales & Stouts

This new hand painted sign on the building housing the Union Tavern was sent to me by regular correspondent Ross Corben.  It is advertising the famous Fuller, Smith & Turner brewery from nearby Chiswick and has clearly been produced to have a dated look, in keeping with some of the ‘faux’ ghostsigns discussed previously.  It […]

7 Jul 2012

Flamboyant calligraphy from Luca Barcellona & Francesca Biasetton

In a slight departure from painted lettering here is a film by Marco Puccini showcasing some flamboyant examples of inked lettering using a variety of calligraphy tools.  While on the subject, it is also worth checking out this film profiling master calligrapher Paul Antonio on the Guardian.

6 Jul 2012

Unusual Hovis Ghost Sign in New TV Commercial

This new TV commercial features a ghostsign at around 00:56.  It is unusual because it is advertising the farm as a supplier to Hovis, rather than the well know bakers being supplied by Hovis.  To what extent this is authentic I can’t say.  It seems unlikely that Hovis would have used this as a form […]

5 Jul 2012

Declarations of Independence campaign from Jack Daniel’s

Today is Independence Day in the USA.  Last year, to celebrate, Jack Daniel’s worked with letter-press experts Yee-Haw Industries and the team at Colossal Media to first produce poster designs and then to scale these up into large scale pieces of hand painted advertising around New York.  The videos at the end of this post […]

4 Jul 2012

Signwriter Bruce Buckley profiled in 2007 Signcraft magazine

This article about signwriter Bruce Buckley of the Chicago Sign Company is worth a read.  (Thanks Andrew Cordani for this link to this page which led me to the article.)  More press about the Chicago Sign Company can be found on their website and here is the home page of Signcraft magazine.

3 Jul 2012

Faux ghostsigns

Sometimes hand painted signs on buildings are created to look old and weathered intentionally.  The example pictured (original photo on Flickr) was produced in 2003 for the Disney film, ‘Miracle’.  (Does anyone have a clip showing where and how it features in the film?)  Another Disney example is this sign for the ‘New Orleans Trading […]

1 Jul 2012

Ghostsign building wrap from the culture+typography blog

I’ve just started following the culture+typography blog which is a regular source of interesting observations on lettering and signage in the public sphere.  Above is an image from blog author Nikki Villagomez from this post about an entire building wrapped in a ghostsign for Liberty Tire.  It is a great discovery from Cincinnati, and could […]

30 Jun 2012

Melbourne’s Milk Bars and the signs that adorned them

This is one of the shop signs found in this article which profiles the decline in Melbourne’s Milk Bars, retail outlets that once dotted the streets.  The article features a collection of 22 other shop signs and fascias and was spotted by Stef on the investigatory Finding the Radio Book blog.  The comments suggest that […]

28 Jun 2012

Joseph’s Hat Shop sign threatened in Austin, Texas

This great hand painted sign for Joseph’s Hat Shop in Austin Texas is set for demolition ahead of the construction of a new Marriott hotel.  Another photo showing the entire sign can be found here on the Glyn Lowe Photoworks website.

27 Jun 2012

Lead lettering from Caroline’s Miscellany

Photo: Caroline Derry A fascinating new form of public lettering (at least for me) on this blog post from Caroline’s Miscellany.

26 Jun 2012