ANNOTATED TABLE OF CONTENTS; Acknowledgments; Foreword: artist Ed Rucsha (former sign painter)--to be confirmed; Preface: authors Faythe Levine and Sam Macon; Introduction: Glenn Adamson, deputy head of research and head of graduate studies at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A); 1. Rey Guise; 2. Steve Powers; 3. Caitlyn Galloway; 4. Justin Green; 5. Bob Dewherst; 6. Ira Coyne; 7. Sean Barton; 8. Jeff Canham; 9. Ernie Gosnell; 10. Norma Jeanne Maloney; 11. Keith Knecht; 12. Colossal Media; 13. Mark Oatis; 14. Rose Oatis; 15. Ralph "Doc" Guthrie // LA Trade Tech; 16. Nick Barber; 17. Gary Martin; 18. Bob Behounek; 19. Mike Myer; 20. John Downer; 21. Forrest Wozniak; 22. Phil Vandervaart; 23. Steve Powers; 24. Josh Luke; 25. Damon Styer; 26. Sean Starr; Illustrated Glossary reprinted from Wagner School of Sign Arts; Contributor Biographies: Faythe Levine, Sam Macon, Josh Luke, Ira Coyne, Travis Auclair; Resource Index.
Foreword by the painter Ed Ruscha (former sign painter); First anecdotal history of American sign painters; A rich collection of typography and process images; Second book by Faythe Levine, the author of the successful Handmade Nation.
Since graduating from High School Faythe Levine hasn't stopped working on project after project. Her interest in outsider communities, artists and the stories and people whom often get overlooked have propelled her to travel extensively. The constant in Faythe's 20 years of creative work is her dedication to documenting her day to day life and travels through photographs and correspondence (once handwritten letters, now more commonly through social networking sites). This dedication has allowed her creative community to have an international reach full of a variety of both famous and infamous people of all types. Sam Macon is a ?lmmaker. He directs television commercials, music videos, short-form documentaries and Web-based video content through production company Radar Studios. He also helms commercial projects in Paris through Cosa Productions and in Moscow with Bazaleves Films. He is currently working on the feature-length documentary Sign Painters. In addition to directing, Sam has taught video production at the Chicago Portfolio School and has been a guest lecturer at DePaul University and Syracuse University.
"Every now and again, a book comes my way on a topic that is
utterly and completely unexpected. Faythe Levine and Sam Macon's
Sign Painters is the sort of artistic celebration that should be
commonplace on the shelves...this is graphic design at its best;
these signs command attention, enliven the landscape, and bring
customers in... good stuff, and damned inspiring." -- Bookslut
"A lovely paean to a vanishing art... Ms. Levine and Mr. Macon have
hopscotched the country, interviewing many of the best remaining
old-school sign painters and printing their best work... This book,
with an introduction by the artist Ed Ruscha, is a funky and
necessary work of preservation." -- New York Times
"Artist Clark Byers may not be a household name, but if you've
lived or traveled in the southeast U.S., you're probably familiar
with his work. Byers, whose death in 2004 was commemorated with an
obituary in the New York Times, painted the advertising slogan,
"See Rock City," on the roofs of more than 900 barns from the late
1930s until the 1960s. Byers' and other artists' signs inspired
filmmakers Sam Macon and Faythe Levine's great new book, Sign
Painters, an homage to the craft and its craftsmen (and a great
gift for the Americana-lover on your holiday shopping list)." --
Reader's Digest
"As lovingly hand made as the signs it celebrates... What comes
across clearly is the respect for good work, letter by letter, that
helps their clients' businesses succeed. This book captures the
renaissance of the sign painter." --- Juxtapoz
"Full of stunning full-color shots of finished signs and
works-in-progress of folks from San Francisco and Iowa City to
Mazeppa and Boston. Even artist Ed Ruscha gets in on the action."
-- Fast Company
"Sign Painters is a great source of inspiration about this
often-overlooked industry, and a good reminder to pay a little
extra attention while out in the city, on the highway, or wherever.
Beautiful hand-painted signs are everywhere." --
Smithsonian.com
"This is not only a wonderful book, a delight to take in, rich and
telling in its details and a visual pleasure with its gorgeous
photography. It's an important book that captures a largely untold
story." -- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"With hand-painted signs rapidly going the way of the film camera,
documentarians Levine and Macon offer a welcome look at some of the
remaining artists and their work, which adorns storefronts, walls
and billboards. New Yorker Stephen Powers began as a graffiti
artist; Las Vegas painters Mark and Rosie Oatis met in sign school;
Ernie Gosnell, in Seattle, learned the trade as a teen from a
sign-painting lady wrestler who "tattooed a little bit on the
side." It's a toss-up as to what's better - these characters or
their art." -- New York Post
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