Ohio Bicentennial Barns

June 11, 2013 10:18 AM

In September 2002, Scott Hagan completed a five-year project to celebrate Ohio's bicentennial by painting a logo on a barn in every one of Ohio's 88 counties (although he had to paint at least 90: one was destroyed by a tornado and one was torn down for a gas station). And Hagan is still painting barns.
posted by skynxnex (12 comments total)

I guess I can understand painting a flag on a barn, but a painting of a postage stamp of a flag?
posted by stopgap at 10:55 AM on June 11, 2013

My favorite bit of the story is that he grew up near Barnesville. (it's a tiny little place, pretty much in the middle of nowhere southeast Ohio... we used to joke about all the barns in and around Barnesville)

I moved away from the state 20 years ago, but it is and always will be "home" to me. Mom still lives there, so I head up once a year or so and it always fills me an odd little sense of Americana pride when I stumble upon one of the bicentennial barns.
posted by imbri at 11:14 AM on June 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Very cool. I see this one all the time, but never knew the story behind it. There's also this beautifully restored and painted barn I pass every day on my way to work. We Ohians have a thing about barns.
posted by slogger at 11:23 AM on June 11, 2013

I love old barns. That is a particularly large and ugly logo, though.
posted by BlueHorse at 11:44 AM on June 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

These are neat, though I wish (not having to do them, of course) that each had been a little different, maybe reflecting the county they're in a bit.

I guess I can understand painting a flag on a barn, but a painting of a postage stamp of a flag?

"One nation, under god" is pretty fucking creepy, the more I think about it. Though it does tell you everything you need to know, in a nutshell, so it has economy going for it.
posted by maxwelton at 11:53 AM on June 11, 2013

Ohio's 88 counties - Previous Ohio county fun
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 12:07 PM on June 11, 2013

although he had to paint at least 90: one was destroyed by a tornado and one was torn down for a gas station

Damn hipsters with their barnwood accented gas stations.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 1:08 PM on June 11, 2013

Indiana's Bicentennial is 2016, new project right next door.
posted by Hoosier Prospector at 1:43 PM on June 11, 2013

The world needs more '90s logo designs painted 3 stories tall. And the world needs more government bureaucrats turning folk art into advertising billboards.
posted by charlie don't surf at 2:32 PM on June 11, 2013

We just drove through Ohio, and I caught glimpse of one of these -- I was trying to figure out the arrangement (e.g. private barn + public message). Now it makes sense!
posted by spiderskull at 3:32 PM on June 11, 2013

Via this post, I spent a while recently learning about Mail Pouch Barns and the people that storm for them.
posted by knile at 4:14 PM on June 11, 2013

but a painting of a postage stamp of a flag?

Oh, that's witty!

Wisconsin has had a number of groups promoting barn quilts (basically murals using a quilt-like design, originally very imitative of specific quilt techniques).

My mom was project manager on a mural painted with state arts money back in the 1970s; she chose to do a wonderful depiction of a circus, since the area around here had several of them back in the 19th century. Unfortunately the owners hated it and painted it over the instant the contract ended.
posted by dhartung at 4:20 PM on June 11, 2013