About Pasaquan
Pasaquan is a seven-acre art environment that looks as if a forgotten civilization landed in rural Georgia and began decorating every available surface. Bright walls, striped towers, concrete figures, ceremonial spaces, and faces with elaborate hair surround an 1885 farmhouse. The colors and symbols form a visual language unlike anything else in the region.
The compound was created by Eddie Owens Martin, a self-taught artist who called himself St. EOM. After leaving Georgia as a teenager, Martin spent years in New York City and supported himself partly as a fortune teller. He returned to the family property near Buena Vista in the 1950s and began transforming it into the homeland of an imagined people called the Pasaquoyans.
Martin said supernatural beings had revealed Pasaquoyanism to him during visions. Its imagery blended memories of ancient cultures, Asian architecture, pre-Columbian forms, futuristic costumes, and Martin’s own obsession with hair as a source of power. He worked for decades with concrete, masonry, paint, found materials, and occasional hired help, building a personal universe rather than a conventional gallery.
Six major structures and roughly four acres of painted masonry walls fill the site. Human figures appear as guardians, musicians, dancers, and otherworldly citizens. Narrow passages suddenly open into rings and courtyards, while repeated colors and geometric patterns make the entire property feel connected. The work rewards slow exploration because small faces and symbols hide within larger compositions.
After Martin’s death in 1986, preservation groups struggled to maintain the outdoor artwork. The Kohler Foundation partnered with Columbus State University on an extensive restoration from 2014 to 2016. Conservators stabilized concrete, studied original colors, and revived surfaces faded by the Georgia climate. Columbus State now stewards the property and uses it for education, exhibitions, and special programs.
Pasaquan is most powerful as a complete environment. Every wall, figure, gate, and path contributes to St. EOM’s claim that this was a real place with its own inhabitants and spiritual rules. It is both deeply personal and strangely monumental, making it one of the most original visionary art sites in the United States.