"I don't want to go to 50 states and see the same strip mall."
-Faythe Levine, Co-Director of "Sign Painters"
Artist Faythe Levine has called Milwaukee home for the last 11 years and says that preserving what makes a city unique is very important to her.
Levine, an advocate for local and independent artists, has done her part in the last decade to help make Milwaukee unique. She started (and still runs) Art vs. Craft, approaching its 10th Anniversary this November. She ran Flying Fish Gallery in Riverwest, Paper Boat Gallery in Bay View, and currently curates the Sky High Gallery in Bay View.
She is an artist, photographer and documentarian. Her previous book and documentary "Handmade Nation", focusing on the resurgence of D.I.Y. and handmade goods, sent her traveling around the world.
Her new project (Co-Directed by Sam Macon)"Sign Painters" just premiered at the Oriental Theater and is scheduled for Summer screenings across the U.S. and as far away as Singapore, New Zealand and Istanbul.
"Sign Painters is about the tradition of hand paint which is all around us," says Levine. "Sam and I traveled around the country to try and get a different perspective regionally from a lot of different types of people." She continues, "The conversation we have in the film is about what sign painting was, what it can be and the future of where it's going within our cities and within our visual landscape."
To watch the trailer for Sign Painters, check the screening schedule or read the book, head to signpaintersmovie.blogspot.com.
