Signs in Media
Books, articles and video relating to ghost signs.
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Hamburg Alphabet by Chris Campe
Hamburg Alphabet by Chris Campe is a delightful expose of one German city’s signage and public lettering. Featuring 220 images it catalogues these examples in alphabetical order according to the word spelled on the sign. The pages are visually striking, offering both similarities and sharp contrasts between different signs. This is testimony to Campe’s work […]
29 Aug 2012
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Dana Forrester, ghostsigns and classic cars
Work on my book means that I haven’t been blogging as diligently as usual so this is getting back to it. Through William Stage (author of ‘Ghost Signs‘) I became acquainted with American watercolour artist Dana Forrester. Dana is an artist who uses ghostsigns in his original works, alongside a number of other artists who […]
22 Aug 2012
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Cover for ‘Hand Painted Signs of Kratie’
Here is a preview of the hand painted cover for the ‘Hand Painted Signs of Kratie’ book. You can also see some photos and video of the work in progress on this. Sadly when I went back to see some more painting in action I was, instead, presented with the finished piece. For a glimpse […]
10 Aug 2012
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Walldogs, Ghost Signs and Slappy Hooper
In 2009 the Colorado Gambler published an article by Cathleen Norman called ‘Walldogs, Ghost Signs and Slappy Hooper’. It packs a surprisingly large quantity of material about the history of painting signs on walls in the USA into a very short piece. However, the opening sentence of the main body might be one for the […]
10 Aug 2012
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Creating the cover for Hand Painted Signs of Kratie
Today, after three weeks of checking back on an almost daily basis, I caught Kratie signpainter Chouk Rachana at work on the cover for my forthcoming book, ‘Hand Painted Signs of Kratie’. It has taken a bit of back and forth to get towards a common understanding of what I’m looking for and I think […]
7 Aug 2012
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Sample pages from ‘Hand Painted Signs of Kratie’ book
Here are some sample pages from my forthcoming book, ‘Hand Painted Signs of Kratie’. It is a study of the hand painted form in a small provincial capital in North East Cambodia, currently my home. (Read more blog posts about hand painted signs in Cambodia.) The book is set to be about 100 pages long […]
4 Aug 2012
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Mark Spurgeon’s Preserve project in ProDesign
I’ve just come across this article in ProDesign magazine which profiles Mark Spurgeon of the Preserve project in New Zealand. I’ve written about Mark’s work before and how there are parallels with my own interest in ghostsigns. This article reinforces those similarities. You can visit Mark’s site at www.preserve.co.nz, it is a real treasure trove […]
3 Aug 2012
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Cities at night from space
Photographing ghostsigns and other street scenes provides insights into the culture, society and history of places around the world. Ghostsigns are more prevalent in urban areas, due to their role as industrial and economic centres. This role of cities also leads to another key feature which is lighting at night. The above video offers a […]
1 Aug 2012
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The International Walldog Mural & Sign Art Museum
Walldog is the nickname given to those that once roamed the USA painting signs and slogans on brick walls, roadside barns and any other surface capable of providing a canvass for their advertising art. The International Walldog Mural & Sign Art Museum is a celebration of their work, located in Pontiac, Illinois, The city also houses a […]
31 Jul 2012
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Eddy’s Bread ghostsign restoration in Helena
A preview of the planned restoration of this Helena ghostsign later this year with some interesting debate on preservation issues and the history of the sign itself.
30 Jul 2012
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Signpainters of Detroit
Detroit blogger John Carlisle showcases some of the hand painted signs on walls from the motor city and meets the men who make them. It is interesting that many of them only use the signpainting to supplement their incomes or to support their other artistic endeavours. Note the slogan on the picture above, taken from […]
27 Jul 2012
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Following Ghostsigns and a New Mailing List
I’ve just set up a new mailing list for Ghostsigns as part of the overall update to the site. You can sign up here or by entering your email address in the side panel to the right. This mailing list will be used to send out occasional emails and perhaps a newsletter in the future. […]
22 Jul 2012
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
