Outré West – The American School of Architecture from Oklahoma to California
Last night we celebrated the opening of the exhibition Outré West at the Oklahoma Contemporary in Oklahoma City.
“Critics have called them renegades, iconoclasts, radicals, and even outlaws. In the mid-twentieth century, a group of architecture students at the University of Oklahoma developed an unprecedented range of visionary projects. Mentored by architects Bruce Goff, Herb Greene, and others, these students were encouraged to develop their individual creativity and taught to prize originality. This program became known as the American School of Architecture, because it departed from the prevailing style of European teaching. Instead of a singular aesthetic, the American School was defined by a set of shared values: contextualism, experimentation, and material resourcefulness.
This exhibition explores the work of a group of American School architects who established groundbreaking practices in California: Violeta Autumn, John Marsh Davis, Arthur Dyson, Donald MacDonald, and Mickey Muennig. These architects, and many others from the American School, realized hundreds of distinctive works in California. In cities from Sausalito and San Francisco to Big Sur and Fresno, these architects found a booming postwar economy, cultural openness, and dramatic landscapes – the ideal testing grounds for an unconventional design approach born in Oklahoma.”
The exhibition was curated by Dr. Stephanie Pilat and Angela Person of the University of Oklahoma School of Architecture. I was the section curator for the work of John Marsh Davis.
Dr. Stephanie Pilat
Angela Person
One enters through a construction of columns that were design by Mickey Muennig that frame a video of the Pacific Coast taken by the Photographer, Bruce Damonte who was one of the principal photographers of my book, Design Legacy of John Marsh Davis – Early Career Wood Expressionism, on the day we photographed the Weissman House.
After a section on Bruce Goff and the pedagogy at the University of Oklahoma under Goff in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, there is a section on student work. The wild originality of Goff’s work as shown in the model for the Bavinger House and in the student projects, including an apartment building designed by John Marsh Davis for a cliff side site in Carmel – make clear that Goff’s pedagogy was radically different from that of the Beaux Arts or the International Style. Here, students are preoccupied with site, organic materials and a highly individualistic sense of creativity.
John Marsh Davis is the first of five architects presented. Here for the first time, I present the Weissman/Hamilton House – one of the masterpieces from the second half of his career – which was outside of the scope of my book. The house has recently been meticulously restored by the Hamiltons.
John Marsh Davis' Work
John Marsh Davis' Work
Adjacent to the presentation of John’s work is that of Violeta Autumn. Violeta worked with John as is shown in the renderings of his projects that she did. One of the first female graduates from the Architecture School, Violetta is shown as a dynamic individual, who not only was an architect, but also a deeply involved with Sausalito politics, a furniture designer and artist as well as a cook book author.
Donald MacDonald known to many for his design of the eastern span of the Bay Bridge, also began his career in the Bay Area working with John Marsh Davis. The exhibition shows the many different aspects of his work that range from temporary housing for the homeless and large scale housing projects to bridge design.
Donald MacDonald's Work
Arthur Dyson’s work in Fresno, California presents an equally diverse body of work from houses of worship to residences and homeless shelters.
Chris Loofs - Section Curator for Arthur Dyson
Mickey Muennig’s dramatic Big Sur projects include the Post Ranch Inn and reconstruction of his studio built overlooking the coast in 1971.
Marco Piscatelli - Section Curator for Mickey Muennig
Reconstruction of Mickey Muennig's Studio
The exhibition is beautifully presented with both drawings, models, photographs, as well as full scale reconstruction.
I look forward to returning on October 17th as part of a symposium at the Oklahoma Contemporary.
Click here to read Oklahoma Free Press' article to learn more about the exhibit and opening night.
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