Mobile Sign Shop

Peter Haakon Thompson, a Minneapolis-based artist, is bringing his mobile sign shop to Edgerton this summer. The sign shop will be equipped with sixty sign blanks, paint, and staff for the three-hour come-and-go program. The artist will instruct participants on how to ready sign blank for carving, carve their sign, and provide paint and brushes for participants to personalize their signs.

This program will be held at the Edgerton City Park.

Haaken, whose primary mediums are participation, interaction, and conversation, says the Mobile Sign Shop
(MSS), is inspired “by the vernacular of cabin name signs found in Northern Minnesota. At the beginning of
roads leading to a lake with cabins, there can often be found a collection of wooden/engraved/painted/
handmade signs bearing the names of residents, ‘The Thompson’s’, in the case of my grandparents.”
The MSS is housed on a trailer stocked with sign-making supplies and holds workshops for participants to
create their own, customized, carved wooden signs and provides guidance and prompts on how to make a
name sign along with materials, paint, brushes, etc. as well as assistance in carving out letters with a router.
More than materials, the MSS provides a location for people to converse about our stories, names, and
families.

This program is made possible through the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.