My daughter has been taking skating lessons at the Agrodome this fall, and although my main reason for bringing a camera to her practice was to document those wonderful moments of her learning something new, I admit I also felt the need to photograph the seats:

The black sans-serif numeral situated within a wood-stained oval, surrounded by a field of red, reminds me of the heels of vintage bowling shoes. But while these seats are uniformly numbered, the numbers themselves are not uniform at all. It appears they are hand-painted. All three-thousand of them.

I’m quite certain that it takes more than simple dedication to paint so many numbers, and to keep the strokes, weights, and curves as consistent as possible. In an age where multiplicity with precision is achievable for anyone with a desktop computer, this display of handicraft is really a treat.

I so love to see the edges of the numeral or its surrounding oval where the masking has allowed for inconsistencies. Each number is also battling deterioration uniquely. I wonder if some of the decomposition is related to the application of paint — perhaps the paint is thinner in some areas and more apt to wear out faster. There is something rather warm and inviting about seeing this hand-crafted aesthetic — I don’t think I would feel the same way a more uniform or assembly-line approach.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite