Jon & Karen have been creating sculpted brick signs for over twenty years.
However, brick sculpture goes back to the days of Babylon, around 600 B.C.
This speaks well for its beauty, long-life and durability.

Sierra Ridge (Nor'wood) Colorado Springs

2 sculpted brick walls - 1997

This entry monument for "Sierra Ridge" subdivision, part of Nor'wood Development in Colorado Springs, was named "Best Housing Development Sign" by the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph.

The wall, 8' high by 44' long, features a "life-size" brick sculpture of a "early Colorado gold-miner and his pack burro." The name's letters are 28" high; the S & R letters protrude above the top of the wall. The letters are colored with a bronze glaze.

The "mountain peaks" and sides of the sign were carved separately and coated with a white engobe to represent snow-capped mountains.

With the primary entry wall on the right side of the street, a smaller but similar wall, without the sculpture and name, is on the left side, forming a background for an authentic ore cart, sitting on rails.

close up view of "miner & burro"

at six feet tall, they are "life-size"

Nor'wood's web-site

The "miner & burro" are colored with clay slips, called engobes, and then are scratched through the slip to the clay in a technique called "scrafitto." When the brick are fired in the kiln to over 2,200 degrees F., the colors are permanent. For a model of the "miner," Karen used her son, Justin. To study and photograph models for the burro, she went to the zoo.

Deep River Corporate Center - Greensboro, NC

Honorable Mention - Signs of The Times 1989

Deep River Corporate Center, Greensboro, NC
This double-sided major entry monument is 12 feet high by 42' long and features two eight-inch bevels on each side, which travel the length at varying angles from 45 degrees to 90 degrees and back to 45 degrees. The lettering for the name "Deep River" were incised into the brick and highlighted by inset bronze letters. Designed by Jan Lorenc Design of Atlanta, Georgia, (now Lorenc-Yoo) this sign won an Honorable Mention in the 1990 "Signs of The Times" national sign design competition.

Montgomery & Steward Funeral Directors

Pueblo, Colorado 1989

Designed and carved by Jon & Karen Ritchey, this double-sided sign for these funeral directors in Pueblo, Colorado, reflects the architecture of their primary building, built in the 1920s. Measuring 6' high by 8' wide, and completed in 1989, the sign features the company logo of a butterfly on each side, and highlighted with glazed colors.

Bridle Pass (Nor'wood) Colorado Springs 2003

one of four entry walls (2 walls with name)

From carving the first sculpted brick sign for Nor'wood in 1985, we completed the latest four walls for "Bridle Pass" (also a Nor'wood subdivision) in early 2003.
At each of two entries into this new neighborhood, the "horse" sculpture wall is featured on the left side of the street and the name "Bridle Pass" is found on the right side. The sculpture of the "horse" and background hills, measures 5' high by 8' wide on the 18' long wall.
The name "Bridle Pass" on the opposite wall, measures approx. 13' wide, with 19" high lettering, which are highlighted with a bronze glaze.