Artist brings new life to '~ghost' ads in Carbondale

CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) - Where some saw a fading wall in need of a new coat of paint, Gail and Linda White saw potential in the building at the corner of Washington and Jackson Streets in Carbondale, Illinois.

They saw it as an opportunity to capture history and a chance for people to reminisce.

Town Square Market is a tenant there now, but many businesses have come and gone over the years, such as Seibert's drug store.

And, as much as many people in the community remember the drug store for its inventory, look and services, they also likely remember the advertising on the side of the building '“ promotions for Coca-Cola, tobacco products and even Kodak film.

Wanting to preserve some of these memories, the Whites, along with local artist and sign painter Christine DeShazo, are working to highlight several of the former advertisements in a collage mural on the building, which the Whites purchased in 1989.

'œWhen we obtained the building, there were fragments of the various signs that had been painted on the east side of the building along Washington Street that were still visible. We had always wanted to do an interpretation or a collage of the various signs that were painted there at different times in the history of the building,'ť Gail White explained.

'œIt is all part of the history of that building because it was the location of Seibert's drug store back in the early 1900s, back when the area was the hub of commercial activity in Carbondale,'ť White said.

From the beginning, White said the plan was not to restore just one of the advertisements that appeared over the decades, but rather merge many into a single mural. He said he wanted not a restoration, but a vintage-looking re-creation.

Deshazo, owner of Spectrum Graphics in Murphysboro, said she had wanted to work on the wall for years '“ even before she met the Whites. She called the project a 'œdream job'ť for her, but one that required lots of preparation and research.

'œIt had so many layers of paint over it and such a large area of impact, but you could no longer read anything,'ť she said. 'œEach layer of paint and primer was hiding what was below.'ť

White said that even though traces and 'œghosts'ť of previous signs, advertisements and lettering still remained, none were complete. Working as sort of amateur archeologists with DeShazo, they took photographs of the wall in various light conditions, scoured old photographs and histories to piece together some of what the wall had looked at over the years.

They discovered advertisements for businesses housed in the building and for products available at Siebert's '“ everything from flour and cigars to film and Coca-Cola. DeShazo's design of the new mural incorporates many of these ads, often in the places on the wall where they originally were.

'œEverything that's on the wall is as close to the original positioning as possible,'ť she explained. 'œLike with the Coca-Cola ad from 1937, all I found was a portion of the first C and a line that was probably no more than 1/64 of an inch wide that had clung to the wall all those years. It was like doing archeology work on the surface of a wall instead of digging in the ground. It was a project to discern all of the layers.'ť

The mural collage, which DeShazo hopes to finish this summer, takes logos and signage that would have covered most or all of the wall measuring 16 feet tall by about 80 feet wide and brings them back as a smaller part of a bigger display.

She says when it is done, she will have put almost 150 hours into the collage. She called it one of the most rewarding projects she has done.

'œIt has been so much fun to meet the residents within the community and see their expressions,'ť she said. 'œSo many of the neighbors have stopped by while I was working on it and shared with me how they remembered this or that and that would lead to stories. It's been a joy.'ť

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Source: The (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan, https://bit.ly/3gnF5W4