18x18

"Sunken Ship"

The art of making a sign is the ultimate in communication.  The artist reaches out via imagery to someone who is passing through the area, perhaps traveling a long way, perhaps journeying on a wearisome commute in this one day out of hundreds.  Then the sign catches his or her eye, and voila.  A connection is made, surely the goal of each artist who ever lived.  Through the choices of media, such as neon signs or pure Gothic font on a stark white wooden background, the sign says, “Come over here, I’ve got something to show you.”  And the sign does.  It communicates a purely natural need, such as food or drink or lodging, and tells where to satisfy it.  It communicates a need for entertainment to refresh the soul, such as a sign for a theater or bookshop.  That artists use the very public medium of the sign is a tribute to their unrepressed nature, for a sign is blatant.  It needs to be, because the effective viewing time of a sign is seconds or even split-seconds.  Certainly signs must be full of impact!  Their use of negative space is as important as anything else in a signmaker’s art.  Along with contrast for greater visibility, negative space makes the sign’s lettering or logo ‘pop out’ in order to imprint itself on the viewer’s mind.