Daily Inspiration: Meet Alan Giberson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alan Giberson.

Hi Alan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I originally got into sign painting from making Christmas presents one year when I was something like 22 years old. Having always been artistic and also dropping out of art school and being a broke Cleveland skateboarder working a dishwashing job, I tried to just make Christmas gifts for people rather than spending money. One year, I decided I’d make people name plaques or relevant plaques like “MAN CAVE” for my father’s little basement lair. I was having a rough time painting the lettering, so looked online to see if there were special brushes for lettering (like how there’s calligraphy pens for calligraphy). That’s when I discovered and realized that there was an art to sign painting. It kind of sat in the back of my head for a few years, noticing old painted signs around town, dabbling with it myself here and there. I tried to find people around Cleveland who still painted signs, without really having any luck. They’re mostly old timers who are basically retired but still keep their brushes wet with one or two clients they’ve held onto. One guy basically slammed the door in my face when I told him I was interested in the trade. Anyways, I didn’t come across any younger folks sign painting around here, and I was pretty over working in kitchens, so I decided to really put more energy into learning the craft. At that time, 2014, there really wasn’t too much information online to learn from, so I taught myself through old sign painting books I rented from the library (I’m talkin’ books from the turn of the century). I started doing more serious jobs through people I knew, basically doing them for free until it sort of caught on with local businesses that there was another option around town other than slapping stickers on your windows. It just built up from there and I’m very grateful to be able to do this for a living and give storefronts, walls, etc. a more handmade touch.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
If it was smooth, I probably wouldn’t have continued doing it. I enjoy the process of trial and error. I think teaching yourself something can be more beneficial than having everything spoon fed to you. It helps you learn your materials better, how to problem solve when something goes wrong, etc. My biggest struggle in sign painting was probably just learning how to use gold leaf on glass. I had one book that I found, which explained it really well, but no one to show me in person. I would try to just make one letter on a small picture frame glass, something would go wrong, I’d have to reread the chapter and try again. Once I got that step down, I’d move onto the next, mess up, reread that chapter until I figured it out, so on and so on. However, like I said before, it helped me really understand the materials involved.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I tend to paint a lot of designs that are provided to me. Whether it be in the form of gold leaf on glass, or masonry paint on a wall. However, I do get to design a lot of things I paint as well. I tend to spend a lot more time on a project if it is something that I am designing, even if I’m not getting totally compensated for my design time, I just want the work that I put out from my own hands and mind to look good. I’m really passionate about glass gilding and feel like I have given Cleveland a special touch with a lot of storefront windows I have gilded. There’s only one or two other folks in Ohio that do glass gilding and they’re down in the Cincinnati/Dayton region. The thing that’s special about glass gilding is that it’s done with genuine gold. I usually use 22 karat gold. Gold, as a precious metal, does not tarnish or oxidize like silver and other metals. A gilded window can look the exact same for decades if properly maintained. You’ll still see old transom addresses downtown that were probably gilded in the 1950s.

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
The sign painting community has been a huge help in my career. It took a while to get to know folks personally. I did end up taking some workshops once I could afford them. Through that, I met other sign painters that I still talk to regularly and share ideas with each other. Now, instead of workshops, we have conclaves where we just meet up and work on sign projects together, sharing things we learned that year and whatnot. One I always look forward to is at my buddy Ross’ shop down in Richmond. His company is called Sure Hand Signs. He hosts a meet-up where we all work on a glass panel together, utilizing advanced gilding techniques that we usually don’t get to do because there’s not really a market for it anymore. Sort of similar to pub signs you see nowadays, like a Strohs Beer sign at a dive bar. Back in the day, those were all hand-made by glass gilding artisans.

Other than that, there’s a lot of folks that have been supportive. My parents for one. My dad has helped me out (and still does sometime) with sign install and more woodworking/hardware type of stuff.

Another huge support system is just the city of Cleveland. All of the small businesses here help each other out. It’s really such a great city to paint signs in. Not too big, not too small. I mean, some places I’ve painted signs for, I’ve probably ended up spending all of my earnings from that job by going to that establishment. We’re a small but tough city and we all gotta help each other out!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.oldsoulsignco.com
• Instagram: oldsoulsignco