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Screen Painting

The Art of Screen Painting

Screen painting is painting on window screens. It is a folk art form originating in immigrant working-class neighborhoods in Baltimore, Maryland, in the early 20th century.

The wire screen section of a screen door is typically painted with bucolic landscapes, still lifes, or other subjects of interest. The artist paints the scene directly onto the screen, making sure to remove excess paint from the screen’s holes so the screen retains its ability to ventilate. The scene painted on the screen prevents the eye from focusing past the image, giving residents privacy without limiting their ability to look outside  

While screen painting is now mostly regarded as urban kitsch, authentic examples can still be seen in Baltimore neighborhoods such as Hampden or Highlandtown.

Screen painting was invented by the Czech immigrant William Oktavec to restrict the sunlight entering his produce store.  The technique was later taken up in other neighborhoods by other artists.

It is estimated that as many as 100,000 painted screens in Baltimore once adorned the rowhomes. As of 2014 there were only 1,000 screen paintings left. Wikipedia

Now we’ve made this type of art available to you for display in your home, cabin or business. 

Our screens are painted with a variety of techniques using only the highest quality paints. Painted screens can be used in windows or the screening can be framed allowing the painted screens to be displayed as decorative art.

Contact us today to learn how you can get your own Screen Painting by Screencraft.

SHACK
SHINGLE

Say something with a piece of history

One weekend a year, England Prairie Pioneer Club cuts wooden shingles using a shingle mill patented in 1872 by N.H. Bolton Machine of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

 

The shingles are then lightly sanded and a clear coating is applied to preserve the wood.

 

Then the various phrases are hand applied.
You can choose from our list or create your own for a more personal “Shack Shingle”

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of every “Shack Shingle” goes to help support the England Prairie Pioneer Club.

Sample Gallery

Explore the samples of Screen Painting and Shack Shingles by clicking on the images in the gallery below.

Screen Painting for your home, lake home or cabin.

Say it on a shingle and hang it in your favorite place.

Contact us

Commission the Artist

If you have a memory that you would like incorporated into your own location you can make arrangements to commission the artist for custom work. We would be happy to discuss how your memories can become part of your window screens or screen doors. Screens can be painted at your business, cabin, lake home, job site or at our studios located in central Minnesota.

Please contact us for more information.

    Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.

    Salvador Dali

    Another original web site from TC Design, a Seventh Son Marketing company.