Married to Comics, Sign Shows, and More Worldwide Events

By Better Letters • 29 Jul 2024

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Married to Comics is coming to London.

Welcome to my regular roundup of sign painting and lettering events. You can opt in/out of these emails here, and share your own events and exhibitions for inclusion here.

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Next month I'll be in the UK, where I'm looking forward to each of the following:

Visiting the George Biles exhibition in Bridport on Friday, 23 August. The show runs from 1–29 August. (Meet George Biles.)
Leading the Stoke Newington Ghostsigns Tour in London on Saturday, 24 August.
Attending the European premiere of Married to Comics at the Rio Cinema in London on Monday, 26 August.

Married to Comics

Justin Green (RIP) is known to the sign painting community for his Sign Game strips, and his Sign Painters appearance in front of this Cincinnati ghost sign. However, he is perhaps even more famous in the world of autobiographical comics, where his wife, Carol Tyler, is also revered for her output.

The couple, their relationship, and their impact on this artform are the topic of this feature-length documentary, Married to Comics, with Robert Crumb and Art Spiegelman among the film's contributors.

Married to Comics Trailer on Vimeo.

I'm delighted to have partnered with The Rio in Dalston to host the European premiere.

Come to The Rio

The film's Facebook page is being updated with screenings elsewhere, which, at the time of writing, include:

1 August, San Antonio Film Festival, San Antonio, Texas
2 August, Chain NYC Film Festival, New York City
24 August, Sidewalk Film Festival, Birmingham, Alabama

Shows in the Spotlight

Signs and lettering are in vogue across the globe with these featured exhibitions in Canada, France, and New Zealand.

London Recalling

London Recalling runs at Museum London in London, Ontario, Canada until 5 April 2025. More photos can be seen here on the CBC website.

London Recalling shares a host of signs from the extensive artefact collection at Museum London. The signs are mounted high on one of the museum's walls, displaying them as they would have been seen during their working lives.

London Recalling runs until 5 April 2025 at London Museum, 421 Ridout Street North, London, Ontario N6A 5H4

More Info

Unreadable

'Tropical Thunder - West', 80 x 80 cm (31 x 31 in), from Jill Strong's Unreadable exhibition.

Unreadble (Illisible in French) is a pop art exhibition by Jill Strong on the beauty of letters freed from the need to be read.

Unreadable runs until 31 August at Au Tribouli, 4 Place Digonnet, 26400 Crest

Signs Past

Signs Past is a display of original signs collected by the Ashburton Museum & Historical Society since the late 1950s, although many pre-date this period. The hand-painted signs on show range from honours boards to directional work and commercial advertising.

Signs Past runs until 22 September at the Ashburton Museum, 327 West St (SH1), Ashburton 7700, New Zealand.

More Exhibitions

Santander, Spain: Tipos de Barrio, to 9 August
Kells, Ireland: Kells TypeTrail, to 22 August
Bridport, Dorset: George Biles: King of Signwriters, 1–29 August
New York: The Anatomy of a Movie Poster: The Work of Dawn Baillie, to 8 September
New York: Wonder City of the World: New York City Travel Posters, to 8 September
Munich: Paula Scher: Type is Image, to 22 September
New York: Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols, to 24 September
San Francisco: Neon as Soulcraft, to 24 November

Workshops News

General listings for recurring workshops are now given at bl.ag/learn, so check back there to see what's coming up near you.

Visit bl.ag/learn

Mathias Truniger, aka Tafel Maler, is planning ahead with two Zurich workshops scheduled for the beginning of 2025. These will focus on sign painting basics and script and layout.

Sign Painting Basics workshop with Tafel Maler.

Those in Los Angeles have an opportunity to attend John King's latest Script & Casual workshop on 24–25 August, and there are still some tickets for the one-day beginners workshop with Gaston Castagnet in Melbourne this Saturday.

And, if you're looking for something more leftfield, then Letterform Archive are offering an online Typographic Knitting for Beginners class...

Museums, Meets, and Tours

The new wing of the American Sign Museum is now open, so there's never been a better time to take a tour. These are held at 10am and 2pm Saturdays, and at 2pm on Sundays.

Tomorrow (Tuesday 30 July) the duo behind Neon Speaks are giving a talk, in-person and online, about their work saving neon in San Francisco.

If you can get to London on 24 August, then join me for my only public ghost signs walk of the year. (The tours can also be enjoyed digitally from the comfort of your own home.)

And, Babe Walls 2024 is coming to Chamblee, Georgia, in November, with a 1 August deadline for artists to submit applications.

Babe Walls' call for artists.

More Gatherings...

Charleston, South Carolina: Society of Gilders Conference, 5–9 August
Spring Green, Wisconsin: Peace Farm Panel Jam, 9–11 August
San Francisco / Online: Neon Speaks, 7–15 September
Dublin: Letters in Design, 4–5 October
Cambridge, New Zealand: NZ Letterheads, 26–28 October
Amelia Island, Florida: Walldogs Meet, 6–10 November
Online: BLAG Meet: Inside Issue 05, 9 November*
Cincinnati, Ohio: Letterheads 50 at the American Sign Museum, final summer dates to be confirmed...

That's a wrap for this latest worldwide events roundup; back for more in September. As always, please send details of your own and others' events to sam@bl.ag.

All good things, Sam

sam@bl.ag / bl.ag / @blag@type.social