Jack Riley Barn Star Collection – Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center

W.C. “Jack” Riley Barn Star Paintings

Wilbur Clifford (W.C.) “Jack” Riley was a history instructor and football coach at the Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. He coached from 1935 until 1952, when he suffered a heart attack during a game. On Sundays after football games, Riley would drive through the rural landscape of Montgomery, Berks, Lehigh, and Bucks counties with his wife, Helen Herzog Riley, and look for decorated barns. He sketched the barn stars he saw and then painted them as a release from the stress of coaching.

Although Riley did not record the locations of the barn stars that inspired his paintings, several of the paintings match barn stars that are well documented in the region. The following images represent selections from 50 paintings donated to the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center by Riley’s grandson, Jack Moyer.

Six-pointed white rosette with a blue circle in the center. Red background with borders of yellow and red. Outer border is white.

The central hub is a green circle. A four-pointed, flywheel design in red and white is has a yellow background. The design has white and red solid borders.

A white six-pointed rosette is surrounded by a black six-pointed star inside of a red circle. The design is bordered with a white sawtooth border, solid black border, solid red border, solid black border, and a white solid outer border

White flywheel pattern inside of a red circle with a white outer border.

A yellow five-pointed star is enclosed in a black circle with a yellow border. It is surrounded by a red, yellow, and black pinwheel, or wheel of fortune design, with a yellow border, black border, and yellow outer border.

The center is a green circle with an inner border that the artist did not fill in and a green outer border. There is a white four-pointed star on a red background articulated with white raindrop shapes. The design is surrounded by three borders: a white border, a green border, and an outer white border with a sawtooth design.

A red circle with a white border is enclosed in an orange and blue pinwheel, or wheel of fortune design, surrounded by an orange and blue twelve-pointed star with a red background and white outer border.

A red and yellow starburst pattern with a white background enclosed in a green outer border.

A yellow, red, and blue starburst design with a yellow circle in the center and a solid blue border.

A black heart inside of an orange circle is surrounded by a white five-pointed star with a red background. The design is enclosed with a solid white border, a solid black border, and an orange scalloped outer border.

A blue circle is in the center of a narrow, white, eight-pointed star with a red background. The design has white and blue solid borders with a white sawtooth outer border.

The central hub is a black circle with a white border. The center is surrounded by a black and white pinwheel, or wheel of fortune, design bordered with a black and white interior scallop design.