Barns + Poetry + Art = Cool Stuff

Artist Bill Dunlap was selected recently to do a series of murals on barns across Maryland. Each mural will be a text and image piece featuring poetry. The project is organized by the University of Maryland Art Gallery in College Park, and is called “Poetic Aesthetic in Rural Maryland.”

Why barns and why poetry? Dunlap writes on his blog, “I think it’s because they go so well together. This is a chance to bring art out of galleries and urban settings and put it in rural areas where it is rarely seen. And those kinds of peaceful settings are perfect places to take in a bit of poetry as well.”

Dunlap has completed the first mural on a barn near Gaithersburg, MD. The barn is owned by a company of glass blowers called The Art of Fire. The painting is 10 ft tall and about 43 ft long and features the poem “Lost” by David Wagoner.

Dunlap plans to complete five more murals throughout 2011.