Western Neon Celebrates 33 Years of Lighting Up Seattle with a New Art School
Custom sign maker Western Neon shines the way to making its primary medium available to all
By Gwendolyn Elliott May 9, 2018
This article originally appeared in the May 2018 issue of Seattle magazine.
This article appears in print in the May 2018 issue. Click here to subscribe.
From the marquees of Seattle’s museums to the city’s favorite restaurants, you’ll find the trademark glow of custom sign builder Western Neon wherever you look. Cast your net wide: The company’s well-known clients include Li’l Woody’s, Filson, Rainier Beer (that famous “R”), Cupcake Royale, Caffe Vita, Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream and Easy Street Records (not to mention instantly recognizable brands such as Seattle City Light and Elephant Car Wash). From Ballard to Beacon Hill, there’s no denying the 33-year-old company’s influence among the signs dotting Seattle streets.
LIGHT CRAFT: A Student of the new Western Neon School of Art practices the bending technique. Photo by WNSA
Western Neon’s creative director, visual artist Dylan Neuwirth, has been working with the medium for decades in a merging of the applied and fine arts (he’s the creator of one of Seattle’s most popular selfie backdrops, the 2014 Occidental Park light installation “Just Be Your Selfie”). Late last year, with company president André Lucero and neon artist Kelsey Fernkopf, Neuwirth launched the Western Neon School of Art, a nonprofit trade and art school that will focus, he says, “on a new wave of neon artists exploring light, space and interactive technologies.” Students learn how to work with noble gases, electrify components, and bend and fuse glass tubing. Held at the Western Neon studio in Sodo, winter quarter classes filled up within 48 hours; the forthcoming spring session already has a waiting list.
Why neon, why now? Perhaps it’s the medium’s nostalgic flair and nod to enduring brands, a natural partner for our Instagram-obsessed culture (just step into the company’s lobby, a veritable church of neon, and try not post your pics). Neuwirth, who has exhibited his creations around the world and is on a first-name basis with Dale Chihuly, his former employer, takes a more mystical view. “What is light? How do you work with it? And what can you do with it?” If his students are successful, the rest of us might just see.
WEB EXTRA: See more photos from around the city here:
Follow Us
Ferry Tales: Eight Indie Bookstores Worth the Ride
Plan a summer day around these bookshops in Seattle, Bremerton, Bainbridge Island, Kingston, and Poulsbo.
Independent bookstores tend to be cornerstones of the communities in which they reside, and Seattle is no exception. In addition to helping customers discover their next read, these neighborhood hubs host weekly gatherings and events, like publication release parties, author talks, and book clubs. Many of them have cafés and reading tables that encourage lingering…
Rearview Mirror: Seattle Art Fair is Back, Nordstrom Throws a Block Party, and a Must-Try Ice Cream Sundae
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
SEATTLE ART FAIR RETURNS The buzziest event of the summer (well, aside from the World Cup), is returning next week. Now in its 10th edition, the Seattle Art Fair will once again take over the Lumen Field Event Center, packing it to the gills with art from 101 local, national, and international galleries. This year,…
Studio Sessions: Jennifer Leigh Harrison
Seattle artist Jennifer Leigh Harrison uses layers of paint and abstraction to explore what we carry beneath the surface.
Jennifer Leigh Harrison’s paintings are dense with movement. Color and texture gather into mosaic-like fields, as if they have been fractured and reformed. There are places in the work where a frenetic buzz seems trapped between the canvas and the first layer of paint. That energy runs through Patterns of Belonging, her current exhibition at…
ENHYPEN’s Jay Has K-Pop Stardom and a Seattle Heart
The Federal Way-raised singer talks hometown memories, Ivar’s clam chowder, and how it feels to perform in the place he grew up.
Long before he was performing in sold-out arenas around the world and representing brands like Prada, ENHYPEN’s Jay called the Puget Sound region home. Born Jay Park (not to be confused with the other famous K-pop star of the same name, who is also from Seattle) in Seattle and raised in nearby Federal Way before…