Signpainters, short cut from a documentary
February 1, 2014 10:45 PM   Subscribe

 
[I approve wholeheartedly]
[  of this documentary.  ]
[  Ours is a noble and   ]
[ overlooked profession. ]
[ Remember, we're all in ]
[     this together.     ]
[-Keeping the flame alive]
[      The Sign Painter  ]
posted by JHarris at 11:29 PM on February 1, 2014 [3 favorites]


That was good, if short. Can't wait for the Seattle screening.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:59 PM on February 1, 2014


And of course there's also Monsieur Tourette, too. [Vimeo link]
posted by aesop at 3:20 AM on February 2, 2014 [2 favorites]


Nice clip, except for the impression given in the last segment that the painters of BIG signs spend more time setting up their scaffolding and platforms than painting...

That said, you can now get the "Sign Painter" look in a collection of fonts... (I don't know how 'new' this ism but House just recently started promoting it)

And this is probably mandatory...
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:24 AM on February 2, 2014


WAT.
There's a special paint for signwriting out there? Man, why don't we have that here?

I'm a signpainter too. Unfortunately there is not much demand for freehand painted signs here.
posted by Too-Ticky at 3:25 AM on February 2, 2014


>>I'm a signpainter too. Unfortunately there is not much demand for freehand painted signs here.

I am having troubles watching this doco (probably too far away being in the southern hemisphere) but I took a leaf out of one of Heinlein's books when doing my undergrad, and had a squiz at my lecturers' theses to see if I could quote them or at the very least, find something they were passionate about to write on. It was a great detour. One of my lecturers did his PhD on the disappearance of curves based on the French Curve, and now superseded by vector based curves/ Bézier curves due to computer aided design.

It's clear that a number of skills will be lost due to technology, vinyl signs etc - and it's a pity - hand painted signs, even with their atrocious kerning have a charm and uniqueness about them.
posted by b33j at 4:10 AM on February 2, 2014


Well, I'm not so sure. Vinyl lettering has been around for decades now, and I'm still here. The market, of course, is a small one.

I'm referring to that specific freehand style, which is not known and not in demand where I am*; when I'm asked to paint a sign, there is usually a specific print font that I need to use.

* I'm in the Netherlands.
posted by Too-Ticky at 4:25 AM on February 2, 2014


My friend, Faythe Levine, made this movie. She is an amazing woman. She also made this movie.
posted by josher71 at 6:36 AM on February 2, 2014 [1 favorite]


I hope I have a chance to see the whole movie at some point. It's always fascinating to get a glimpse into someone else's world -- I pass hand-painted signs every day, but never think about how they get there.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:45 AM on February 2, 2014


I recently learned that my grandfather wanted to be a sign painter but the local union drove him out of business. He went into the navy (you should SEE the canvas military duffels he painted with his info) and then ended up in the family plumbing business. Only later in life did he get to go back to doing art.

Sign painting is such an amazing skill.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 8:31 AM on February 2, 2014


The cool. How.
On my gravestone it's gonna say, "He Died for Greater Opacity."
posted by simulacra at 9:32 AM on February 2, 2014


I grew up in my dad's sign shops. Multiple, because while he was great at painting signs he was crap at doing the books. My mom tried to pick up the slack but she had a full time job already. My dad always worked by hand, and the shops were full of rolls of thin green tape, sticks with balls of masking tape at the end, filthy bathroom sinks and a doberman we all loved. He did all kinds of stuff, vehicles, illuminated signs, silkscreen posters, working with gold leaf, spray booth, even some neon. He followed no health protocols whatsoever, and the clip of the guy leaning over a can of turps with a lit cigarette looks about right. It's a miracle he never blew himself up and he hasn't (yet) contracted emphysema. When my mom was around he'd sometimes wear one of those useless paper masks while spraying.

My favourite of the sign shops was next to a donut shop. We'd get all the broken donuts, so many that they were stored in a chest freezer at home and we all eventually got sick of them. We were perpetually short on money. When someone didn't pay their bill for an illuminated sign my dad would head out with a friend in the middle of the night, slide out the plastic part of the sign and then flip it and slide it back in so it wasn't readable. There would be very angry people. One time we were driving home in our family car - also the sign shop van, constantly stinking of turps from the dirty rags - and we were followed by someone, probably one of those angry people. I remember my parents telling me not to worry and worrying even more because I could tell they were freaked out. Don't know how they solved that problem.

Because he did most things himself it was dangerous at installation too. He'd sometimes have help but he was often hauling and balancing things that were way too heavy. One time he way up a ladder doing an installation when he fell off, shattering a bone in his arm. That was a trip to the hospital and a bunch of metal in the arm to repair the break. He still complains about the ache.

I remember sitting on the sawhorses at the sign shop with my sister, trying to ride them like real horses, stealing sugar cubes from beside the disgusting coffee pot, and our favourite, playing with the scraps of psychedelic reflective sticker material that he sometimes used in signs. His last sign shop closed years ago, in the 80s, as computer based signs and printing because more common. He lamented the change. Who knows, if he'd been a better businessman maybe he'd been able to have ridden through it like the older guy shown in the film. He does the occasional sign for a friend, did one for my son's bedroom door. He can still just whip off the lettering, really amazing stuff. Those guys are incredibly talented, it is a real art.
posted by Cuke at 10:30 AM on February 2, 2014 [9 favorites]


Sign painting! I love sign painting! I love this documentary!

I am always surprised at how modern signpainters seem to be under the radar to the general populous. Usually handlettering people are really plugged in to similar art forms in their community., but the other day my calligraphy instructor made an offhand remark about how she only knew of one signpainter in the Portland area. I'm kind of an outsider, but still know at least five or six distinct artists still working around town whose styles you can easily pick out. There's probably a good handful more who don't stand out in the crowd as much, but just looking at windows and buildings should reassure you that there are still signpainters doing business in the PNW.

It's a far cry from the old days, of course, but at least now their work seems to be valued more. I usually see handpainted window lettering on businesses that are trying to set themselves apart as purveyors of quality goods, and I appreciate that.
posted by redsparkler at 1:27 PM on February 2, 2014


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