Where does the signature fit on the line between writing and drawing? Betty Edwards' "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" uses the signature as an example of drawing-that-we-do. One's signature is uniquely expressive - and often illegible.
Lynn Setterington has a project on signatures, arising from signature cloths/quilts. She says:
"My intention is over the next two to three years to work with different groups to investigate, explore and document their responses. This could range from high schools, refugee organisations, to local community health projects. Running in tandem with this will be my own cloths, a personal exploration of identity and belonging."
She also mentions the "book of signatures" by Shuruq Harb, and Harb's comment: “signatures are personal and physical inscriptions, symbolic and romantic gestures, but also visual signs that are used today as information or evidence for verification of someone’s identity”
Some years back - 2007 in fact - I compiled information on signature quilts as the basis of a project in the London region of the UK national quilter's guild (goodness, the info is still on the guild's website!). Unfortunately I can't find a picture of the finished quilt, which contained signatures of nearly 100 of the region's members - or remember whether it was raffled or is still in the region's possession.
Let's end with a "signature" drawing by Saul Steinberg (from here).
1 comment:
I'm having a vague distant memory of something from the 1950s about someone, probably an artist, who made drawings of people out of their names...or something like that.
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