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Driven to Create | George Washington Pop Art for America’s 250th
At Built American Equipment, we’re Driven to Create. From time to time, we step away from our everyday equipment builds and use the tools and capabilities in our shop to create something simply because we enjoy making it.
For a fun weekend project celebrating America’s Semiquincentennial and 250th anniversary, we created a 3' × 3' George Washington pop art piece combining metal fabrication, powder coating, spray paint, and action drip painting.
From Sheet Metal to Pop Art
The project started with sheet metal that we laser cut and formed on our press brake to create a 3' × 3' × 1.5" metal canvas.
Rather than starting with a traditional canvas, we wanted the piece itself to reflect what we do every day at Built American Equipment. Fabricating the canvas from metal gave us a rigid, dimensional surface while allowing us to incorporate several of the processes and tools we use in our shop.
Once fabricated, the metal canvas was powder coated in Prismatic Powders Soft White Texture (PTS-4456) to create the base for the artwork.
Creating the George Washington Artwork
To build the different layers of the George Washington design, we laser cut a series of metal templates that could be positioned over the powder coated canvas.
These templates were used to spray each painted layer individually, including the Ben-Day dot background that gives the piece its classic pop art influence.
The artwork was created using Montana BLACK spray paint in:
Power Blue
Power Red
White
After the primary artwork was complete, we finished the piece with action drip painting, adding another layer of movement and texture to the finished design.
The combination of the textured powder coated metal, layered spray-painted artwork, Ben-Day dots, and drip painting gave us exactly what we were looking for: a bold piece of American-inspired pop art created using the equipment and fabrication processes found right here in our shop.
Celebrating America’s 250th
With the United States celebrating its 250th anniversary in 2026, George Washington felt like the perfect subject for this Driven to Create project.
The red, white, and blue color palette brings in the Fourth of July, while the pop art style gives the familiar image of George Washington a completely different look.
It was also an opportunity to bring together several different processes—laser cutting, press brake forming, powder coating, stencil work, spray painting, and action painting—to turn a simple sheet of metal into a finished piece of artwork.
Materials & Finishes
Finished Size:
3' × 3' × 1.5"
Metal Canvas:
Laser-cut and press-brake-formed sheet metal
Montana BLACK – Power Blue
Montana BLACK – Power Red
Montana BLACK – White
Check it out here on our Youtube page:
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Driven to Create
Built American Equipment is known for building American-made curing ovens and spray booths, but manufacturing is also about creativity.
Driven to Create is our opportunity to share some of the projects that come out of our shop when we take our fabrication capabilities and use them in a completely different way.
Sometimes there doesn't need to be a bigger reason to build something.
Sometimes, we just want to create.
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