The Story Behind State Art

Once upon a time, mid-1994 to be precise, a photographer in Texas decided to travel to every county in his big ol' state and photograph the word “Texas,” wherever he could find it. A little over five years, over 400 rolls of film and well over 20,500 miles later, that photographer had visited all 254 Texas counties and amassed a unique collection of roughly 1,000 images of his subject – plus several thousand shots of anything else that piqued his interest. It was grueling, but fun, though not everyone understood why the photographer would want to do something like that – especially the photographer’s wife…

As he was covering all those miles (and his wife was tending the home fire and putting out others at the couple’s studio), he kept notes, spread word of his unique project far and wide, and even convinced a few other photographers across the country to do the very same thing in their own states – all 50 of them. Thus State Art was born. And all the photographers, including the Texas one, are still at it. As for the Texas photographer’s wife, she has come to believe that there are indeed at least a couple dozen other individuals as different as her husband…

This site soon allows visitors to share each of the State Art team member’s travel experiences, track their progress, and view and purchase their unique image collections in many forms. Please look over the State Art Directory and enjoy a few images from the completed states. New work is added every week, so check the site often. Email comments are invited and will receive a reply promptly.

Thank you very much,

Photographer for State Art | Texas