quilts & barns: a beautiful partnership

Celebrating a traditional artform and the architecture of farm buildings

Finding the artist
When the Miami County barn quilt project was launched, the visitors and convention barn quilt committee needed someone who could paint the squares on the barns. Ruben Pelayo, co-owner of El Sombrero Restaurant, a local eatery in Piqua and Troy, suggested that Rafael Santoyo was the man for the job. Santoyo, a native of Villa Modera, Mexico, has been painting murals for 12 years. When Pelayo asked him to come to the United States to paint murals on his restaurant walls, Santoyo wasn’t certain he could do something so large, but Pelayo reassured him and the muralist was born. Santoyo has painted pictures nearly all of his life but never had any formal training. He doesn’t recall what made him begin painting but just knows that he wanted to make things more beautiful.

The barn owners were able to pick the design of their choice within the scope of four to seven designs made available to them from the barn quilt committee, based on the committee’s feelings about what designs would be most appropriate. “Then with almost very few exceptions, the artist selected the colors,” Thompson said. Santoyo painted the barn patterns free hand, with a picture of the pattern as his only guide. He said he loves working on the barns, being outdoors and thinks the patterns are “fantastico.” He said he is fascinated by the fact the quilt patterns were made in cloth by women, saying it must have been their way of making beauty.

Some examples
A lovely example of barn heritage can be found east of Troy on state Route 55. The Bank Barn, adorned with the “Texas Star” pattern, is an oblong frame structure on a stone foundation, built of oak and ash timber, wooden pegs, handmade nails, hinges and doors. It was built in the early 1840s when the farm was established and the land was cleared and has maintained its original shape and size. An interesting historical marker is found at the west end of the barn – a 1959 National Geographic Geo-physical year elevation marker, which records the property as 1,052 feet above sea level. Legend has it that if water reaches that mark, it will be to the hips of the statue on the Miami County Courthouse in Troy.

East of Troy on state Route 41, another beautiful barn, this one with the “Card Trick” pattern, sits off the road, down a quarter-mile country lane. This Pomeranian style, Sweitzer Bank Barn, built in 1827, was originally constructed of wood.

The barn locations were decided partly by the visitor’s bureau barn committee and partly by barn owners volunteering to be included.

The timing of the Miami County VCB project, which began in spring 2006, coincided with the Miami County Bicentennial in 2007, and each of the original barns to be painted can carry the Bicentennial designation. Along the driving tour, visitors will find historic communities such as Piqua, Tipp City, Troy and Covington – each featuring its own quaint downtown offering unique shopping and dining experiences, as well as historical and heritage attractions and quality accommodations. Funding for the project was secured through local business sponsorships, along with generous donations from the Troy Foundation and Miami County Foundation.

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