Events
Salon Series 55: A Sign Painterly Slice Through Letterform Archive
with Michelle “Meng” Nguyen, Sam Roberts , Damon Styer
A trio of guests working in and championing the craft of sign painting share some of their favorite specimens from the Archive’s shelves.
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The ephemerality and physicality of hand-painted signs means they rarely find their way into museums and archives. However, the collections at Letterform Archive are enriched by artifacts that represent the sign painting craft, including many that originated from the hands of sign painters past. These span eras and geographies, and a sampling of them is the focus of this Salon. Join three guests from the trade as they introduce some of their favorites, share how they have been inspired by them, and discuss their continued relevance for contemporary practitioners.
This event will be recorded. Please register for the event and you will receive an email when the video is available.
Michelle “Meng” Nguyen
Michelle “Meng” Nguyen is a Vietnamese American designer, illustrator, and sign painter, born and raised in San Francisco, California. She enjoys working with various mediums and surfaces, welcoming the blend of traditional methods of sign painting with what modern technologies and tools can offer. She is influenced by the talent of her peers in the industry, vintage packaging design found at thrift stores, and hand painted signage from countless countries. In addition to personal work and private commissions, she thrives on working with small businesses all over the bay area and wherever in the world the work will take her.
Sam Roberts
Sam Roberts is the editor and publisher of BLAG (Better Letters Magazine), the world’s only print and online publication dedicated to the sign painting trade. He has written numerous books and articles on sign painting, and its history, in addition to producing films and events that champion the craft. Sam’s route into it all was via his fascination with “ghost signs”, those fading remnants of advertising painted by hand on brick walls. His interest in these began in his native London, but since 2019 he has lived with his family in Sant Pere de Ribes, Catalonia, Spain.
Damon Styer
After years of artistic stagnation, in the wake of a BFA in Painting, conferred by SFAI in 1993, Damon Styer sought to instill in himself a creative work ethic, and entered into an apprenticeship at New Bohemia Signs (a shop established in the year before his SFAI graduation), in summer 1999. Before the year’s end, he had become the sign shop’s sole proprietor, and in the quarter century since, has sought to both continue his own education in sign painting skills and to provide a place for others to learn and practice the same. He has led introductory brush lettering weekend courses, monthly, for the past 13 years, and came to know Rob Saunders and Letterform Archive while attending their inaugural type design program, in 2016.
