Artist Carson Howse starts on the lettering for her painting of The Gift Shop business sign.

THOMASVILLE, Ga. — Customers will soon be able to get a blast from the past with their coffee at Grassroots Coffee Company.

An art exhibition called “Sign on the Times at the store at 116 S. Broad St. will focus on Thomasville’s economic history. Four artists will recreate business signs from Thomasville’s past, some dating as far back as 1927. The Thomas County Historical Society has provided the artists examples of the signs.

All four artists are part of the Thomasville Artist Collective. Carson Howse, Lizzie Jones, Chris Lovelady and Hillery Richards will rotate on a weekly basis through the end of July.

The exhibition is in its third week. Howse is the artist currently on duty. She is recreating the sign for The Gift Shop in downtown Thomasville.

“I have reinterpreted it myself,” Howse said. “There is an image of quail and then there’s old black letter lettering, which is more of my background, more than moralistic painting. So, I combined the two so I can do both on one.”

The quail has already been painted, Howse said that she has the lettering left and that she may add a border to add more effect to the painting.

“I was really excited to see that ‘Sign of the Times’ was coming and that sign painting is becoming less of a lost art,” Howse said.

Howse said that each artist has interpreted the signs in different ways.

“I like that it’s bringing back the historic elements of Thomasville and bringing back the importance of the fact that there is a small town in Georgia that cares about keeping its history going is rare,” Howse said. “I love that. I’m very nostalgic myself, so that is definitely huge for me being a part of this particular project.”

The exhibition is run through the Thomasville Center of the Arts and is in partnership with Thomas County Historical Society and Grassroots Coffee Company. The exhibition started on June 6. and will continue to be displayed at Grassroots until Aug. 28. At the end of the exhibit, the signs will be given to the appropriate business or the sponsor. For more information on the artists or the project, visit thomasvillearts.org.