IT’S no normal picture of the week this week, but a focus on the lost skill of fairground art, which Joby Carter has been passing on to people from over the world through his unique online courses.
The coronavirus lockdown hit travelling funfairs hard, with all their spring and summer bookings cancelled. But Joby Carter of Carters Steam Fair wasn’t prepared to sit back and do nothing over the long summer months, as our recent feature revealed.
He discovered a growing demand around the world for his evening classes focusing on traditional signwriting techniques.
Different courses run live from his paint shop outside Maidenhead have been allowing classes to learn about traditional fairground art, signwriting and coachpainting, picking up expert tips acquired through a lifetime of restoring the fair’s beautiful rides, living wagons and transport.
Traditionally everything in the fair is moved around the country using vintage heavy lorries and magnificent showman’s living wagons with their cut-glass windows, lace curtains and gleaming wood interiors.
Latest online courses have included coachpainting and fancy lettering – as well as a five-part course showing how to paint a fairground horse, like the famous Carters gallopers, which date from the 1890s.
Details of Joby’s online signwriting courses can be found here.
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