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Bay Village Market, Hand carved sign, 1993
Gneal Widett (b. 1946)
Boston, Massachusetts
Wood, paint, gold leaf
25 3/4 x 51 x 17 1/2 in.
Private Collection
Photography by Jason Dowdle
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This sign originally advertised a market in a residential neighborhood near Boston's theater district. Gneal Widett, of Artistic Sign & Carving Company, has been making hand-carved signs for local businesses since the 1970s. Some of the best-known landmark signs of Boston are his creations. These imaginative signs evoke the colonial era when merchants advertised their wares and services with pictures or three-dimensional representations outside their shops, enticing a populace of limited literacy. Widett works with his wife, Janet Lomartire, who does the painting and gilding while he takes on designing and carving signs.
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