Signs in Media
Books, articles and video relating to ghost signs.
-
Frank Jump on the Leonard Lopate Show
Listen to Fading Ads on the Leonard Lopate Show by Wnyc, New York Public Radio. A 15 minute interview discussing the ‘Fading Ads of New York City’.
11 Jan 2012
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
Ultrabold, Summer 2010
The Summer 2010 issue of Ultrabold, the journal of the St Bride Library, features an article by me on the launch of the HAT Ghostsigns Archive. You can view a pdf here, or subscribe to the journal by becoming a friend of St Bride here. My previous Ultrabold article can be found here with other […]
8 Oct 2010
-
Telegraph
A nice feature in this Sunday’s Telegraph documents many jobs that are gradually disappearing, including that of the advertising signwriter alongside rag and bone men, matchgirls and airbrush artists (pre-photoshop) among others. Written by Peter Lyle the signwriting piece focuses on Wayne Tanswell, contemporary signwriter, and a brief quote from me about the habit that […]
22 Aug 2010
-
Anchor
Photo: Creative Review Photo: Creative Review Creative Review and a few others have spotted this new outdoor campaign for Anchor Butter. When I first saw the photos I assumed they were genuine hand painted ads but they are actually printed billboards which, in the case of the press shots, are cleverly cropped to suggest otherwise. […]
5 Aug 2010
-
BBC Ghostsigns
I’ve just got round to posting the proper quality copies of the two biggest pieces of BBC coverage of the project. These are the One Show piece with correctly synched audio (below) and, more recently, the piece on BBC Radio 4’s Making History program. In print, there was this in the Guardian.
12 Jul 2010
-
ARC Magazine
> The latest issue of ARC magazine from the Society of Archivists features this two page article on the Ghostsigns Project.
8 Jul 2010
-
New Hovis Commercial
Rank Hovis kindly sponsored the work with The History of Advertising Trust in getting the archive off the ground and now their sister brand, Hovis, have featured a Ghostsign in their latest TV commercial. You can catch a glimpse at about 00:10 in the clip below. Incidentally this sign isn’t in the archive so any […]
7 Jun 2010
-
Making History in Bath
Press interest in the project continues and on Thursday last week I travelled to Bath to be interviewed for the BBC Radio 4 program Making History. The resulting feature will be broadcast at 3.00pm on Tuesday, 15th June and will also be available after this on iPlayer. [Update: Listen to Ghostsigns on Making History.] Bath […]
6 Jun 2010
-
BBC Radio Nottingham
This short piece was broadcast on BBC Radio Nottingham on the morning of 18th May 2010. It features an interview with historyanorak and was accompanied by a photo feature on their website. Coming soon will be another piece on radio, this time BBC Radio 4 featuring an interview with me in Bath for the Making […]
4 Jun 2010
-
Design Week
Nice piece from David Bernstein published in Design Week, 22nd April 2010, full text pasted below. PRIVATE VIEW APRIL 2010 “‘There stands the ghost of a great name’ wrote Lucan, the Roman poet. He was referring to Pompey. Not the football club but the general who also lost regularly – to Julius Caesar. Lucan’s invocation […]
1 May 2010
-
UP THERE
This is fantastic, the final film ‘UP THERE’ produced over the duration of Stella Artois’ ‘Ritual Project’ in New York in collaboration with Colossal Media. I’ve already talked at length about this work and my admiration for Colossal Media so I won’t cover the old ground again here but what I love about this film […]
27 Apr 2010
-
One Show & the Guardian
[Update: better quality video here.] Here’s the piece that was broadcast on the One Show, BBC1, on 12th April 2010. To see it full screen on youtube click here. On the same day, by pure coincidence, the Guardian did a write-up in their G2 section. Read it in full here or here.
25 Apr 2010
-
Archive Press
Me with our sponsors from Rank Hovis and Roy Jeans of IPMPhoto: Trevor Liberson More event photos in this Flickr Set. Following last week’s launchI’ve had a busy time with follow up activity. Some of this has been from press interested in writing up the story and I’ll give some more updates soon, especially after […]
26 Mar 2010
-
Jericho, Oxford Update
It seems that the threat to a couple of iconic signs in Oxford has passed, for the time being (see the story in the Oxford Mail). Following the tip off from Isisbridge late last year I talked briefly about the signs on the old blog. The lobby that galvanised around preserving the original building appears to […]
10 Feb 2010
-
Liverpool Ghost Signs on TV
This was broadcast on ITV Granada on Sunday, 31st January and featured Caroline & Phil Bunford who have added their collection of signs from Liverpool to the archive. This follows up the piece on the BBC Liverpool website. Well done Caroline, look out for more coverage of the project in the coming months. [Update: Liverpool […]
2 Feb 2010
