Monday, December 22, 2003
Painting advertisements on buildings rests in the hands of just a few.
READING, Pa. (AP) -- If you look closely here and there throughout Berks County and beyond, you still can see the ghosts of wall signs past. Who hasn't spotted the Mail Pouch tobacco logo or some long-defunct manufacturer's name on the side of a barn or a factory building?
Beyond their value as nostalgia or historical curiosity, however, there's also a symbolic element to these large-scale advertisements: The art of the hand-painted wall sign itself also seems to be fading away.
Though sign professionals and the man on the street alike seem united in their admiration of these towering, eye-catching works, few wall ads are being painted any more -- though, ironically, murals seem to be popping up with increasing regularity as expressions of civic pride in Reading, Philadelphia and other Pennsylvania cities.
Most sign shops no longer have the capability to paint wall signs or even have a clue to whom they can refer customers. But a few independent contractors are keeping the art alive.
Wall artist
One of the most experienced is Tim Riegel, whose very diverse canvasses include the Barbon's Tavern sign and the Queen City Restaurant signs on Lancaster Avenue in Reading, and the Fleetwood Auto Parts sign in downtown Fleetwood.
A Governor Mifflin High School graduate who attended the Philadelphia College of Art, the 41-year-old West Reading resident said he gets such occasional jobs through word of mouth.
"Wall art is not my main thing," Riegel said. "I don't go out and seek it. I just do what comes to me."
Riegel talks with the customer to get an idea of what he is interested in and sketches it out. Once it is approved by the customer, he marks a grid of equal-sized squares over the drawing.
After preparing his "canvas" with a coat of Kilz primer, he reproduces the grid on the wall, sketches the ad's features with china markers (a type of wax crayon or pencil), then starts painting using 1 Shot enamel, a durable sign-painters' brand that covers in one coat.
He uses a scissors lift where possible to get close to the wall and ladders where nothing else will fit.
Realistic landmark
Frank Barbon III of Barbon's Tavern commissioned the current wall ad, depicting his father. It covers Riegel's previous work, an exaggerated aerial view of the area with a "You Are Here" arrow pointing to Barbon's.
Barbon, clearly pleased with the work, would not divulge the cost.
"Just to see the smile on my father's face, it was worth it," Barbon said. "I think it's become something of a landmark actually."
Michele Degler, owner of Fleetwood Auto Parts, said Riegel's trompe l'oeil sign, depicting an open auto bay, was so convincing an illusion that a delivery man almost backed up into it.
"I think it just pops the whole Americana thing of the street-rod shop," Degler said. "A lot of street-rodders come down and get their picture taken with it."
Riegel sees his work as a sort of calling card.
"Each sign is an advertisement for me, too," he said. "That's the way I look at it."
Cost and insurance
Cost, technology and insurance: Those are the leading reasons why hand-painted wall signs are fading into history, owners of area sign shops say.
"The horror stories are that the longer you're in it, the more injuries you have," said Gene Wise, an owner of Wise Signs, 2603 Kutztown Road in Reading.
Wise said the high risk associated with such work has resulted in high insurance premiums.
Robert Myers, owner of Sign-A-Rama, Spring Township, argued that in many cases, a sign can be produced using vinyl that to all appearances looks like paint.
"Very infrequently, people come in and think they want paint," Myers said. "They don't realize what they're seeing on walls or vehicles is vinyl. The lines are perfect, as opposed to what you'd get if you were painting it."