The Art Box – Episode 331 - Signs, Stanzas, and the Sound of Birds: A Day with Bob Dewhurst

Welcome to The Art Box Podcast! This is the fourth of five special episodes recorded on the road in Goldfield, Nevada, a place where creativity meets resilience in the heart of the high desert. Our featured guest is Bob Dewhurst—known locally and lovingly as Sign Painter Bob. With over 50 years of experience painting large-scale signs across San Francisco and the vast stretches of Nevada, Bob shares stories that stretch as far and wide as the landscapes he’s worked in. But his artistry doesn’t stop at the brush—Bob is also an accomplished and published poet, weaving together the visual and the verbal in uniquely Western ways. We recorded this episode right in Bob’s own yard, where a chorus of birds provided the perfect soundtrack and jets from nearby Nellis Air Force Base occasionally roared overhead—reminders of both the serenity and intensity of life in the high desert. Join us as we talk with Bob about art, poetry, the history written in hand-painted letters, and what it means to create a life of expressive work in Nevada’s wild and weathered places. Special thanks to the Nevada Arts Council for supporting this remote location visit, and to Main Street Goldfield, Radio Goldfield KGFN 89.1, Rusty Cove Boutique, Bob's Signs, Sharon Artlip's Rock Shop and the Goldfield Miners Camp RV Park for their warm and generous hospitality.