Shawn Giheeney’s eye-catching handiwork can be spotted all over Providence.
His company, Providence Painted Signs, has left a bold mark across the cityscape with striking handcrafted signs and murals, carefully blending the brushstrokes between advertiser and artist.
The Trinity Repertory Theatre mural on Fountain Street? That was him. The iconic Olneyville New York System neon sign? Dutifully replicated by Gilheeney.
Since 2012, Gilheeney’s company has worked with the city’s most distinguished stores and businesses. From the mural at Narragansett Brewery to the elegant signage on The Avery and Frog & Toad, his signs are basically advertisable art.
Everything is custom and hand-painted, the Coventry native said. Nothing is mass produced. His signs evoke the spirit of true craftsmanship, just like the old master painters.
“Fine art feels like it’s only observed in museums and galleries these days,” Gilheeney said. “This sign business was my way to change that and bring art to the outside, everyday world. Signs can be art, too.”
And after 13 years in business, Providence Painted Signs’ throwback style is now widely celebrated as a part of the city’s character. The Trinity Rep mural above Trinity Brewhouse, completed in 2016, has earned attention not only for aesthetics but for historic and architectural preservation, as noted by the Library of Congress’ documentation of its location on the historic theater.
Even still, it’s fine art on a near-manufacturing level, especially for a one-man team. Although Gilheeney is the only employee on the books at the moment, he said he works on 20-30 projects at any given time.
Each project typically takes four to eight weeks from deposit to completion, said Gilheeney, who is a printmaking graduate of Rhode Island College.
Gilheeney said he was first introduced to hand-painted signs while working at a high-end commercial print shop in Seattle in the early 2000s.
At the time, he was mostly doing screen-printing on skateboards, a creative progression born from a youthful hobby.
When Gilheeney returned to Rhode Island in 2004, he found a community of other young artists interested in traditional lettering and design. Eight years later, Gilheeney officially formed Providence Painted Signs with two other local artists who are no longer with the company.
“It was the one viable way I could scratch that creative itch,” he said.
Providence Painted Signs’ first major commission came from Julian’s restaurant, which hired the company in 2012 to hand-paint its giant double-decker “Omnibus” food truck.
The project cost $4,500 – more than $1,000 less than a digital wrap – and helped the studio establish a strong foothold in Rhode Island’s growing food truck scene.
A year later in 2013, the company was commissioned for its largest and highest-profile job yet, the interior and exterior signs for the renovated Arcade in Providence’s Financial District.
Providence Painted Signs’ most recent work can be found at Sawyer’s Market, which opened last month on the corner of Broadway and Almy Street.
The forest-green and cream-colored hand-painted sign, adorned with classic serif lettering, is part of the reason passersby are stopping in to shop on a whim, according to the market’s manager, Lydia Emmons.
“They had a good vision ... and we came up with something that fit the feel of the market and the West Side neighborhood it’s in,” Gilheeney said.
OWNER: Shawn Gilheeney
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Sign painting
LOCATION: 5 Marvin St., Providence
EMPLOYEES: One
YEAR FOUNDED: 2012
ANNUAL REVENUE: WND
