About This Stamp
In 2022, the Postal Service issued Flags on Barns, four Presorted Standard stamps sold in self-adhesive coils of 3,000 and 10,000, intended for use by bulk mailers.
The illustrator used pencil and watercolors on watercolor paper to create the original stamp art. Each stamp features a barn with a large American flag painted on one side. The striking colors of the flag make a bold statement against the weathered wood of the buildings. The barns are set in landscapes inspired by the seasons and different regions of the United States.
The flag is a symbol of endurance and hope, while barns are reminders of the farming culture that allowed the country to grow and thrive. The combination of these two icons forms an irresistible image of rural America, representing the best of our country's past and future.
Painted flags can be found on barns in almost every region of the United States. People find many reasons for painting flags on barns, houses, and other structures, including patriotism, encouragement in times of national crisis, public acknowledgement of the heroics of local veterans or first responders, or simple enjoyment of the beauty of Old Glory adorning a vintage building. Some painted barns have even become tourist attractions, famous to visitors from around the U.S. as well as from other countries.
Antonio Alcalá was the art director. Illustrator Stephanie Bower designed the stamps and created the original art.
Stamp Art Director
Antonio Alcalá
Antonio Alcalá served on the Postmaster General’s Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 2010 until 2011, when he left to become an art director for the U.S. Postal Service's stamp development program.
He is founder and co-owner of Studio A, a design practice working with museums and arts institutions. His clients include: the National Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Phillips Collection, and Smithsonian Institution. He also lectures at colleges including the Corcoran College of Art + Design, SVA, Pratt, and MICA.
In 2008, his work and contributions to the field of graphic design were recognized with his selection as an AIGA Fellow. He has judged international competitions for the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, AIGA, and Graphis. Alcalá also serves on the Smithsonian National Postal Museum and Poster House Museum’s advisory councils. His designs are represented in the AIGA Design Archives, the National Postal Museum, and the Library of Congress Permanent Collection of Graphic Design.
Alcalá graduated from Yale University with a BA in history and from the Yale School of Art with an MFA in graphic design. He lives with his wife in Alexandria, Virginia.
Stamp Designer, Stamp Artist
Stephanie Bower
Stephanie Bower grew up in Texas and earned a degree in architecture from the University of Texas, Austin, and a graduate degree from Pratt Institute in New York. She worked as a licensed architect in New York City before moving into professional architectural illustration and concept design.
Bower taught drawing in the architecture and interior design departments at Parsons School of Design for many years before relocating to Seattle, where she continued to teach at the University of Washington and Cornish College of the Arts. Currently, she has two online sketching classes and teaches workshops on perspective and watercolor around the world. She is a blog correspondent for Urban Sketchers, an international nonprofit dedicated to fostering a global community of artists who practice on-location drawing and painting.
A signature member of the Northwest Watercolor Society, Bower is the author of several books: The World of Urban Sketching (Quarry Books, 2022), The Urban Sketching Handbook: Understanding Perspective (Quarry Books, 2016), and The Urban Sketching Handbook: 101 Sketching Tips (Quarry Books, 2020), and co-author of The Urban Sketching Art Pack (Quarry Books, 2017) and The Complete Urban Sketching Companion (Quarry Books, 2020).
Awards include the prestigious Gabriel Prize in 2013, a grant awarded by the Western European Architecture Foundation for the study of architecture and landscape in France, and a Civita Institute fellowship to study and work in Italy in 2014. Bower has received four awards in the Dallas AIA’s Ken Roberts Memorial Delineation Competition including two for “Best Travel Sketch.”
Flags on Barns (2022), four designs for the Presorted Standard stamp issuance, is her first project for the U.S. Postal Service. Bower observed that her father, an avid life-long stamp collector, would be so proud of her work for USPS.