John Marsh Davis, Carmel Cliff Apartments. John Marsh Davis, Carmel Cliff Apartments, Student Project, 1952. Archival photograph of original drawings. Robert A. Bowlby Collection, American School Archive, University of Oklahoma Libraries.. University of Oklahoma Libraries.
Outré West
August 22, 2024 - January 27, 2025Eleanor Kirkpatrick Main Gallery
Admission is always free; tickets are not required
Outré West: The American School of Architecture from Oklahoma to California considered 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 demonstrated their imaginative approach to design. Through archival drawings, photographs, and ephemera, Outré West explored 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 (1904-82) and Herb Greene (b. 1929), these 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, the otherworldly archival drawings featured in Outré West show how students of the American School in Oklahoma transcended the accepted canons of Western architecture.
American School architects including Violeta Autumn (1930-2012), John Marsh Davis (1931-2019), Arthur Dyson (b. 1940), Donald MacDonald (b. 1935), and Mickey Muennig (1935-2021) realized hundreds of distinctively built works in California. From museums that exemplify organic architecture and breathtaking multimillion-dollar residences dotting the coast to affordable and prefabricated homes designed to address the housing crisis, these collected works revealed bold—and often stubborn—design talents galvanized in Oklahoma, whose ideas were exported to the West Coast.
Outré West: The American School of Architecture from Oklahoma to California brought together large-scale photographs, architectural models, and press clippings to showcase these architects and their extraordinary artistic innovations. Bruce Goff characterized the American School as one where faculty strove “to develop at least one school [of architecture] where a creative individual [could] find his sense of direction and grow.” Establishing this teaching approach that encouraged creative diversity and intellectual independence, Goff asserted, “We preach no dogma.” This exhibition illustrated 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.
Angela M. Person, PhD, is an associate professor of architecture at the University of Oklahoma (OU). She is a cultural geographer and educator whose work explores the intersections of design, community identities, and sustainability. She has published three scholarly books which explore Bruce Goff and the American School of Architecture, affect and heritage environments, and cultural institution facility management. Her award-winning work has been generously supported by the Smithsonian Institution, National Building Museum, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Graham Foundation, and recognized by the Journal of Architectural Education, Society of Architectural Historians, College Art Association, and Center for Architecture.
Stephanie Z. Pilat, PhD, is a professor of architecture at the University of Oklahoma. She is a designer and architectural historian whose teaching and research examines points of intersection between politics and architecture. At OU, Pilat co-leads a team of faculty, students and staff working to bring the legacy of the American School of Architecture to light. Pilat has been named as one of the “30 most admired educators” in the nation by DesignIntelligence magazine. Her research has been generously supported by a Fulbright Fellowship, a Rome Prize from the American Academy, a Wolfsonian-FIU fellowship, an American Fellowship from the American Association of University Women, a Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Marco Piscitelli, RA, is a lecturer in architecture and interior design at the University of Oklahoma. He is a registered architect and educator whose teaching and research explores the entanglements between building technologies and ecologies. Previously, he practiced design at several award-winning firms in New York on projects ranging in scale from urban planning to furniture design. At OU, Piscitelli advises the local chapter of the American Institute of Architecture Students. In 2023, he curated the archival exhibition Rust on a Razor Blade: Mickey Muennig in Big Sur, 1970-2000 which explored possibilities for organic architecture acting in unstable landscapes. Piscitelli’s research has been generously supported by the Graham Foundation and the Bruce Goff Chair of Creative Architecture.
Person, Pilat and Piscitelli are leading an interdisciplinary group of researchers to develop Outré West, including:
Outré West was generously funded by a Humanities and Arts in Society Seed Grant from the OU Office of the Vice President for Research and Partnerships.
This exhibition was supported by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, Allied Arts, Annie Bohanon, the Chickasaw Nation, Lila Cohen, Fitzsimmons Architects, E.L. and Thelma Gaylord Foundation, Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture Program for Research Enhancement at the University of Oklahoma (OU), Bruce Goff Chair of Creative Architecture, Home Creations, HSE Architects, Cliff and Leslie Hudson, the Kanady Family, Peggy Kates, Edward and Barbara Krei, G. David Neff and Suzanne Peck, OU Office of the Vice President for Research and Partnerships, OU Division of Architecture Professional Advisory Board, H. Russell Pitman Professorship of Architecture, George Records, Lance and Cindy Ruffel, SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital, Storij, TAP Architecture, Velocigo, Visit OKC and Laura Warriner.
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