One of the key cultural themes of the last few years has been the revival of ‘authenticity’, and the belief that where you see hand crafted lettering you see a human being. The craft of hand-painting signs has been undergoing a revival and as a result GMIT has developed a course to cater for students wishing to learn the skills of Traditional Signwriting and Hand-Lettering.
Picture Credit: John Mulloy
The new course will be at GMIT’s Centre for the Creative Arts & Media (CCAM) from September (2016). It is primarily targeted at those already in employment or seeking to expand their range of skills in design practice.
The course will provide a practical introduction to the craft, and will also cover chalkboard and other hand-lettering projects which is much in demand for tourism and hospitality businesses as point-of-sale advertising for daily specials, etc. There is also an increasing interest in hand-lettering skills among tattoo artists and surfboard painters. The skills taught in the module will also be useful for youth projects that involve mural and graffiti work, as well as the bespoke decoration of skate boards and t-shirts. The combination of these sectors will make for a course that is widely attractive, and should appeal to a diverse and eclectic group of students.
John Mulloy, lecturer in Contemporary Art Practices and Art & Design degrees, says: “The campus is currently undergoing an exciting transformation into a new School of Design and Creative Arts, and is also developing a ‘Creative Enterprise’ hub for artists, designers, makers, film and film related entrepreneurs. This course in signwriting is an integral part of this development, as the skill of hand-lettering is widely seen as an essential grounding in the fundamentals of typographic design.”
The course will be delivered over four hours, one afternoon a week, and will focus mainly on the development of practical skills related to the discipline. In addition, students will learn about the development of the alphabet and typography, the use of colour in signwriting, paints and tools, how to cost projects and the presentation of their work on social media.
The course will be taught by John Mulloy who has over 30 years’ experience as a signwriter in both Ireland and the UK. For more information about the course, please contact [email protected] The closing date for applications is Friday 3 June, and application enquiries should be made directly to GMIT Centre for Creative Arts and Media, Monivea Road, Galway; Tel: 091 770661; Email: [email protected]