"For the first time in memory, states - not the U.S. Mint - are designing their own coins. The results are not encouraging. Most of the designs, usually chosen by a state commission appointed by the governor, are boring, timid, and cluttered - evidence of all that can go wrong when art is created by committee. They are also surprisingly revealing about the peculiar, parochial ways that states view themselves. "

The State Quarters - Why are they so ugly? A slide show. By Carol Vinzant