Jeff Pierson

I know I have already talked about signs as massive displays of public art, but here we go again.

Jack Pierson. He is mentioned only once in our art history books, on page 190. As I read this book, I find I have to be by an Internet connection so I can look up images for any artist I am not familiar with.

If I had a studio and the means to be collecting these lit channel letters and an electrician on my staff to wire them together, this would be my kind of art. But since Jack already did it, how do I take it one step further? I think these are truly incredible pieces of art that clearly speak to my professional work history. I would pay money to see a Jack Pierson (and that says a lot, considering I am poor/thrifty/cheap - pick your favorite adjective).

I just can't get enough of these images. They are saved everywhere I can think to put them. I have a paper copy that I use for my bookmark in my art history text book.

I don't know if I am capable of making art with the same impact. I want to see them in real life. I want to know if he altered some of the letters with paint, so they are different from their original "sign" intent. My guess is that they must have been. In 27 years in the sign business I never once sold polka-dotted letters. I would have loved to, but it never happened. I have salvaged some sets of letters off of different signs that were being torn down, or bought them when I saw them at business auctions. It was my intent to resell what I could to new sign customers, and I did that with a lot of them. In reality, I have hoarded the rest of them and kept them squirreled away - with the intent of making art projects with them.

I had one large set of red, 24" tall plastic molded letters that I bought from one of the Des Moines Public Library sales they used to have at the old downtown branch on the river. Once a year they would sell books they had taken out of circulation, but they also sold furniture and framed art - just things they didn't need anymore. One year I saw a washing machine-sized box with giant red letters sticking up out of the top. $5. I drug it to the cash register and was ready to pay $5 per letter. It was $5 for the whole box, and the nice lady told me they spelled out "NORTH SIDE LIBRARY". I practically danced the rest of the way home.

I have had those letters for almost twenty years now. It was my plan to use the letters that spelled LIBRARY in my library. If I wanted to split them up between windows and doors, I could have done that, but that layout did not appeal to me. I used the letters SALE and attached them to a piece of plywood and used it in my front yard when my neighbor and I had our annual yard sales. That really attracted attention.

When I got serious about emptying my house this past summer, I put the letters out. I had been seeing them used in decorative ways in people's homes. Now that it is a fairly common and even trendy way to decorate, I no longer want to use them. They were the hit of the sale in that it kept my neighbor and myself occupied in spelling different things. Her front yard has enough of a slope that people in cars could read the letters as they drove by. It wasn't until we spelled out "I HORNY BRIT" did I sell most of the letters (for $5 each). I kept my SALE sign, and also the letters R and D. I gave up on the LIBRARY idea and have decided to put up READ.

I like the way he has used the letters in a ransom note kind of way. I like the mixed up feeling, the chaos involved. I like the simple fact that I have found a like-minded individual that appreciates these items for the pop-art gems that they really are.