Hexafoo onYou!

^{E ric Claypoole sees ghosts and brings them back} to life. His specters are not from the grave; they

are pale outlines of once-bright barn stars that adorned

the sturdy barns of German immigrants known collec-

tively as the Pennsylvania Dutch. He revives the sym-

bols before they fade into obscurity and, in so doing,

keeps a tradition alive with his paintbrush.

Claypoole learned his sign-painting skills from his fa-

ther, beginning some 30 years ago. His dad, the late

Johnny Claypoole, was a world-renowned hex sign

painter whose work can still be seen on barns in Berks

County, Pennsylvania, as well as on the elephant house

at the Philadelphia Zoo. Today, 48-year-old Eric is the

country’s only professional barn star painter, restoring

old stars and creating new ones—mostly on weekends.

(During the week, he works as a carpenter, restoring and

renovating old buildings.) His canvases are the sides and

gables of old barns; his “ghosts” are raised patterns in

wood that once bore a painted star, created perhaps

more than 150 years ago. The paint, long since faded,

protected the wood from weathering. This preserved

wood, which sometimes stands as little as ³⁄ 16 of an inch

in profile, defines the original star pattern.

Working on a ladder or perched on a plank stretched

between two ladders, Claypoole paints in freehand, true

to the folk art’s origins. Each star begins with four coats

of white base paint. Then, using a level and square, he

marks out the pattern. He applies the colors one at a time,

eliminating the need to balance multiple brushes and

paint containers. He lets each color dry before adding

the next one; a single 5- to 6-foot-diameter star may take

him 8 to 10 hours to finish, depending on the complex-

ity of the pattern. The oil-based enamel lettering paints

The star on this stone barn in

Lenhartsville, Pennsylvania, is

the oldest yet restored by Eric