Outré West: The American School of Architecture from Oklahoma to California considers the works of a group of architects who were educated and mentored in Oklahoma in the 1950s and 1960s, and later developed groundbreaking design practices in California. Projects like the Eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the fantastical Pavilion for Japanese Art on the Miracle Mile in Los Angeles demonstrate their imaginative approach to design. Through careful studies of archival drawings, photographs, and ephemera, Outré West explores how these architects translated their American School education into practices that continue to enrich California's built environment to this day.
The American School of Architecture emerged from the University of Oklahoma in the postwar period and became known for emphasizing individual creativity and experimentation. Under the guidance of professors like Bruce Goff (1904-1982) and Herb Greene (b. 1929), students were inspired by everyday objects, the natural landscape, and the designs of Native American tribes. While other schools in the United States were heavily influenced by the European Bauhaus and Beaux Arts models, students of the American School in Oklahoma transcended the accepted canons of Western architecture. As their careers took off, many American School alumni migrated to California, where they found a cultural openness and booming post-war economy, as well as dramatic landscapes-the ideal testing grounds for their unconventional approaches to design.
Outré West considers the ways in which both Oklahoma and California have attracted ambitious, creative visionaries. Since the 1800s, both places have drawn migrants and transplants from near and far searching for opportunities unfettered by institutional norms and traditions. American School architects including Violeta Autumn (1930-2012), John Marsh Davis (1931-2009), Arthur Dyson (b. 1940), Donald MacDonald (b. 1935), and Mickey Muennig (1935-2021) realized hundreds of distinctively built works in California. The work of these architects illustrates an inspiring story of how the outré-or the iconoclastic-American School education, founded and cultivated in Oklahoma, produced an unexpected kinship between the Oklahoma and California contexts and forged a lasting impact on the architectural imaginary of the American West.
This catalog was published on the occasion of the Outré West exhibition, on view at the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts center from August 22, 2024—January 27, 2025.
Details:
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Published by: Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 2024
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Edited by: Angela Person, Stephanie Pilat, and Marco Piscitelli
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Foreword by: Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher, Helen Hilton Raiser Curator and Head of the Department of Architecture and Design at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
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Featuring contributions by: Hans Baldauf, Rachel Julia Engler, Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher, Christopher Loofs, Angela Person, Stephanie Pilat, Marco Piscitelli, and Amber Sarmiento
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Presentation: Hardcover, Smyth Sewn Binding, Custom Die-Cut Jacket
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Dimensions: 10" L x 8" W x .59" H
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Pages: 192
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ISBN: 979-8-218-47436-2