“Monk Signs” is the unofficial moniker of Stephen Monkemeier, Chicago artist and sign painter. 

I specialize in custom hand painted signs on virtually any surface with a vintage aesthetic and a designer's flair. I work on site around the city, and I also create signs in my workshop which can be shipped, delivered, picked up, or photographed for reproduction in digital or print media.

I have a fine art background and training with digital design software, and have spent the last 15+ years honing my vintage lettering and illustration style.

After finishing my undergraduate degree in studio art, I spent 5 years as a chalkboard artist in Chicago and New York before deciding to embark on a career in sign painting. I established my practice in 2013 under the tutelage of master sign painter Stephen Reynolds, and by 2014 I was self-employed full time. I spent the following 4 years working alongside Stephen Reynolds on his projects until his retirement, logging over 2,000 hours together—an informal apprenticeship which has proven invaluable.

In the years since, I have continued to expand my knowledge and experience in this near-forgotten craft through relationships with other sign painters all over the country, as well as the world. Through workshops, forums, meetups, and correspondence, I am part of a renaissance of artists determined to restore this overlooked art form to its former glory.

Evidence of the human hand used to be everywhere you looked.

In our age of advanced technology, one of the most basic forms of human communication — drawing — has languished almost to the point of extinction. My mission as an artisan is to recapture some of the beauty and excitement that once permeated the world of signs, when human mark-making was integral to the process of sign making. My belief is that when letters are lovingly crafted by human hand and brush, a deep sense of kinesthesia is activated in the human brain. That is, the person reading the sign can imagine themselves wielding the brush, if only subconsciously. Beyond the allure that harnessing this connection can bring to a business, the end result is also a built environment that feels more human, making this a truly pro-social art.

If you want to be a part of this effort, I would love to collaborate with you. View my Instagram to see what I’ve been up to recently, or you can get a quote here.