Chain Letter: Meghan McDermott
The Dublin mural by Vanessa Power that inspired Meghan McDermott to become a sign painter.
‘Chain Letter’ invites a sign painter or lettering artist to share a piece of lettering that has influenced or inspired them, before passing the baton to someone else, in a never-ending chain.
In the last one, Guido de Boer nominated Miranda Ensink, who has passed it quickly on to Meghan McDermott. Meghan is a painter of signs, murals, and sets, and is now living and working in Ireland again after a two year stint in The Netherlands.
What have you selected?
I’ve chosen a mural by Vanessa at Signs of Power. Vanessa is a sign painter and mural artist from Dublin who also works in stained glass and mosaic. (See some of Vanessa’s adventures in mosaic making in BLAG 06, and here at bl.ag online.) The line on this mural — ‘Me Aul Flower’ — is an Irish term of endearment, especially in Dublin where it’s located.
How did it inspire you?
I used to walk past this mural on the way to my barista job in Dublin city during that stressful post-art college ‘What do I do now, am I actually qualified for anything?’ phase. I was working as a TV makeup artist (which I was qualified for) as well as a prop maker/scenic painter/oil painter, alongside the standard issue art grad coffee job. (Shout out to Proper Order Coffee for being the only one paying me properly.)
I mentioned the mural to my boss one day and he said that Vanessa had actually painted their shop signage, menu and A-board. “She’s a signwriter”, he said, which was something I had never heard of. Cue a lightbulb moment and a flurry of creeping through Instagram profiles and following all these new signwriter people.
Vanessa’s style in particular, with its blend of modern aesthetics and traditional techniques, really stuck with me. I loved how big, bold and playful her work was, and I continue to keep this in mind when my designs get a little stodgy or fussy with traditional looks.
One final (laughably awful) makeup contract and a pandemic lockdown later, I figured I may as well give it a go and took Liane Barker’s intro to signwriting workshop over Zoom. If I hadn’t walked past that mural every week, I probably never would have discovered signwriting, and the community that goes with it. Thankfully, Vanessa took it well when we finally did meet and I blurted all this to her within about four seconds.
Who would you like to see next in the Chain Letter?
I'd like to pass the chain to Vanessa Power.
Meghan McDermott / mcdermottdesign.ie
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