Craft Lake City, in partnership with the Utah Film Center and AIGA Salt Lake City, are proud to present Sign Painters: The Movie. Filmmakers Faythe Levine and Sam Macon created this 2010 documentary about the time-honored art of traditionally painted, hand-lettered signs. The film explores the work of over two dozen craftsmen and painters working in cities across America who still create billboards and sandwich-board signs using traditional techniques with woodworking and paint styles, as well as giving a history lesson on the artform. Shortly after the film’s release, it was made into a book of the same name published by Princeton Architectural, taking much of its content from the film.
Faythe Levine, a photographer and DIY crafter, created a line of handmade goods called Flying Fish Design from 2003-2009, as well as founding the Midwest craft event Art vs. Craft in 2004. These ventures influenced her to write the book Handmade Nation with co-writer Courtney Heimerl in 2008, followed by the 2009 documentary of the same title, which she directed and produced with filmmaker Sam Macon.
“Levine’s Handmade Nation has been one of the inspirations behind our yearly DIY festival,” says Craft Lake City’s Executive Director, Angela Brown. “Her tireless efforts and advocacy to bring modern, locally-made crafts and artisans to public exposure has been a major influence on the handmade culture in the U.S. Sign Painters is an extension of those efforts, which we hope will inspire more people to check out DIY art and buy more locally-made goods. We’re thrilled to partner with AIGA Salt Lake City and the Utah Film Center to bring Fathe to SLC in conjunction with the screening.”
Thy Doan, AIGS Salt Lake City’s Co-President, says, “In the design world, hand lettering has made a huge revival in current trends, so it’s no surprise that we are so drawn to this film. The skill of designing type and letters by hand, while time consuming because of its slow refining process, can be far more successful than what you might find at a type foundry or online font site. But watching skilled sign painters letter with 1-shot paints, making few brush strokes to demonstrate the nuances of a letter that define that typeface, is just awesome.”
“In addition to presenting great films, part of the Utah Film Center’s mission is to create strong community partnerships throughout the state of Utah to build audiences for independent film. Sign Painters is an engaging documentary that celebrates independent artists practicing a disappearing art form. It’s great to be working with AIGA and Craft Lake City to present a screening of the film here in Salt Lake and I think the film will resonate with each organizations supporters,” said Patrick Hubley, Artistic Director of the Utah Film Center.
The film will make its Utah premiere at the Main City Library on July 2 at 7 p.m. in the main auditorium. The film is completely free to attend, and will include a Q&A session with Levine immediately following.
