Sometimes an old SignGuy has to paint an old sign.

The above mural on the Morgan Block Building was a fun project for me. After years making computer generated signage it was great to go Old School on this classic heritage building in downtown Fairhaven. Sign painting used to be an urban art form before the advent of computers. Many old school signguys were accomplished artists in their own right. The trade has a history of attracting independant minded creative people; restless personalities could travel around the country with their brushes and if they were good they could usually find work, even during the depression. Some famous creatives who also painted signs include Woody Guthrie, Duke Ellington and many more.

This historic photo shows the original signage back in the day before gentrification. I designed the “Morgan” script to mimic the original “Rainier”. I had to make the new sign smaller, under 50 square feet as per current Bellingham sign ordinance. The Morgan Block, built 1898 has quite a colorful history, check out Lanny Little’s YouTube channel for a documentary on this historic building along with many other local history documentaries: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRLwtssEDcE The building was all but condemned by the late 60’s when it was purchased and shored up by local counter culture types and became the property for the Peoples Land Trust. Known as the Good Earth building in the past, it was the original home of the Bellingham Food Co-op. There was an alternative newspaper published there in the past and also an organic flour mill on the third floor. Now this iconic structure provides afforable creative working space in gentrified downtown Fairhaven.

Many of the historic Rainier Beer signs had a pictorial image of Mount Rainier painted in the background; I painted in our own local Koma Kulshan, otherwise known as Mount Baker, facetiously named for a second lieutenant on Captain Vancouver’s exploratory expedition to the Pacific Northwest. The banner shape was artisitic license on my part. There was some debate as to the slogan inside the banner as not all studios are rented by artists; our creative collective also includes writers, jewelers. potters, actors, etc. The goup decided that the term, “Artist” was the best decription for the communal energy in the building.

Well its that time of year again for the 29th annual Whatcom Artist Studio Tour. This year we have over 60 studios participating throughout Whatcom County, check out the website here https://www.studiotour.net/. The Morgan Block Creative Community will have four open studios this year, PatternArt Studio/Gallery in #14, next to Jillene Smith in studio #13, both on the third floor. On the second floor open studios are Nancy Canyon in #6 and Martini Metalworks in studio #9. We will be working on various projects during the two weekend event. The dates for this years tour are October 7-8 and 14-15 from 10am to 5 pm.

I hope you can make it, free parking in Fairhaven on Sundays.

In addition to this years County wide art event, you can see my latest paintings at Chuckanut Bay Gallery at 700 Chuckanut Drive North, http://chuckanutbaygallery.com