The John W. Decas Elementary school’s sign was in sad shape – that is, until Jim Pierce recently fixed it up.

When the sign first went up, Decas Elementary Principal Donna Noonan said, it was to promote school spirit. However, the original sign was made of corrugated cardboard, which was easily destroyed outside over time.

“[Pierce] offered to make it a little more permanent for us,” Noonan said.

Pierce is a tattoo artist and a master mechanic, whose stepmother works as a supervisor in the school’s cafeteria. He said she asked him to fix up the sign, after seeing its poor condition.

“It was like a paper sign out there,” Pierce said. “She was complaining about it one day.”

Pierce redid the sign for free, and said he used his background as a sometimes-graffiti artist to transform the building’s sign from a cut-out paper one, easily damaged by the elements, to a nice, new graffiti-esque one. He said he got into graffiti art when he was much younger, and still skateboarded.

“I am forty-two now – I must have been at it [graffiti art] for 20 years,” Pierce said.

He estimated the new sign took him a couple hours to complete, and that he worked with the school’s art teacher, and a couple other staffers, to create it.

Noonan presented Pierce with commemorative plaque to thank him for his efforts Dec. 21.