Hand-Painted Sign Art Spotlight: BLAG MAGAZINE Featuring Alex Kurakake of SMART ALEX HAND-PAINTED SIGNS
- Smart Alex Hand Painted Sign Company Orange County BLOGGER
- Jan 15
- 2 min read
Some Sunday reading from the latest issue of BLAG @betterletters
Smart Alex Signs has a discount code for any of Alex Kurakake's students, Trade-Tech or anyone else following. Comment BLAG and Alex will DM it to you on his Smart Alex Signs IG Page smart_alex_signs
Alex Kurakake, Founder of Smart Alex Signs, the renowned hand-painted sign company, was recently featured in BLAG Magazine in an article titled Adventures in Sign Painting: Craft, Community & Culture. Read the article below.
Tools of the Trade: A Mighty Mahl Stick
At the formal proceedings of the 40th anniversary event at the American Sign Museum in 2015, LA Trade Tech Student Alex Kurakake (smartalexsigns.com) was invited onto the stage by Mark Oatis and the museum's founder Tod Swormstedt.
There he received what was once John G. Ohnimus' mahl stick.
Ohnimus (1865-1932) was a renowned sign artist and designer from Denver, Colorado, and author of Henderson's Sign Painter (see page 111). Before his death, he gave the mahl stick to Earl Stieglemeyer, another Denver sign legend, who then passed it on to Mark Oatis in 1995.
During the 2015 event, Oatis had observed just how fired up Kurakake was — "the picture of Letterheads enthusiasm" —and decided that the stick was due another owner before reaching its final resting place in the museum itself.
The symbolism of this 'passing of the torch' moment was, in Oatis' words:
"The acceptance and inclusion of new members into the long tradition of the sign arts. It acknowledges that one day the apprentices will become journeymen, and they welcome newcomers when their time arrives."
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