Bruce Goff: A Creative Mind

09.10.2010 - 02.01.2011

555 Elm Ave, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, Norman, Oklahoma, USA

Bruce Goff: A Creative Mind is a collaborative exhibition invloving the FJJMA, Price Tower Arts Center in Bartlesville and the OU Colleges of Architecture and Engineering, with animation and 3D renderings created by Skyline Ink Animation Studios.

Using Goff s original working drawings as a primary resource, 3D construction models and cinematic photorealistic computer animation will bring to life projects previously seen only in developmental stages, renderings or historic photographs.

This exhibition will encompass a survey of architectural designs by Goff that were never realized or were demolished. Utilizing state of the art modeling and animation technologies, Goff s designs will be reproduced in stunning detail to explore his theories of organicism and use of materials.

The exhibition also will show original drawings and renderings and will include a catalogue of a group of essays on different aspects of Mr. Goff s sense of creativity. The projects selected include the Cowboy Hall of Fame, the Ignacio Perez House, the Viva Hotel, several Joe Price commissions and other exciting buildings. The realized Bavinger House also will be included in this exhibition.

Goff designs reproduced in the exhibition: Crystal Chapel, Norman, Okla., 1949, Bavinger residence, Norman, Okla., 1950, Garvey residence, Urbana, Ill., 1952, Perez residence, Caracas, Venezuela, 1953, Price Studio, Bartlesville, Okla., 1953, Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity, Norman, Okla., 1955, National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, 1956, Circle Tower Apartments, Bartlesville, 1957, Allen residence, Bartlesville, 1959, Viva Hotel, Las Vegas, 1961, Price residence, Bartlesville, 1974 (destroyed by fire in 1996), Shin enKan Museum, unspecified location, 1978.

About Bruce Goff: Legendary architect Bruce Goff was born in 1904 in Kansas but came to Oklahoma with his family at the age of 2. He was just 12 when a Tulsa architectural firm took him on as an apprentice in 1916. He completed his first design project at 15. Goff had no formal education beyond high school, but was widely recognized for his creative genius and, along with Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan, he is considered among the pioneers of the organic design movement. In 1947, Goff accepted an invitation to teach at the then OU School of Architecture. A few months later, he became the school s chairman, serving from 1947 to 1955. He brought almost instant national and international attention to OU. The school and its students, who came from around the United States and world to study, flourished under Goff s influence. Following his retirement from OU, Goff was in private practice in Bartlesville, Okla. Kansas City, Mo. and Tyler, Texas. He died in Tyler in 1982.

The opening of the exhibition (October 9, 2010) features an exciting symposium with special guest speakers, a panel discussion and opening reception.The FJJMA has the privilege of being the opening venue for the exhibition that will then travel to three yet to be determined international museums before closing at the Price Tower Arts Center in Bartlesville in 2012. At the time of this proposal, discussions are ongoing about exhibit sites in Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, and London. This exhibition also will provide a fitting segue to the World Creativity Forum, which will be hosted by Oklahoma Creativity in November 2010. The World Creativity Forum s annual meeting will be held in Oklahoma, the first state in the United States to host such a conference. Oklahoma Creativity encourages and supports creativity and ingenuity in the multiple areas of culture, commerce, and education.