^{Auburn University Rural Studio, Yancey Chapel, 1995, Sawyerville, Hale County, Alabama. Photo: Timothy Hursley.}

Samuel Mockbee (1944-2001) was an idealist and an underground hero of the architecture community. He opposed today’s system of celebrity architecture and believed that good design should improve the lives of everyone. Affectionately known as “Sambo,” Mockbee was beloved as an architect and teacher and much admired for his high moral imperatives. He was firmly committed to civic engagement, the use of recycled materials and community participation. In 1993, Mockbee left a lucrative practice to start the renowned Rural Studio at Alabama’s Auburn University, intending to give students practical building experience and to use architecture to improve the lives of others. He and his students put into practice one of the most innovative, most humble and most admired programs in the country. The Rural Studio designs and builds homes, community centers and other public structures in Hale County, Alabama--which has long been among the poorest communities in the United States (portrayed by Walker Evans and James Agee in the Depression-era classic Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, 1941). In 2000, Mockbee was awarded a “genius” grant from the MacArthur Foundation, an indication of The Rural Studio’s growing recognition. He died prematurely in 2001 at the age of 57 and was posthumously awarded the American Institute of Architect’s coveted Gold Medal in 2004.

Organized by David Moos, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Birmingham Museum of Art, Samuel Mockbee and The Rural Studio: Community Architecture is the first comprehensive traveling exhibition to survey Mockbee’s work at Rural Studio. The installation features six large-scale paintings by Mockbee, a selection of his notebooks, eleven models, over 80 photographs of completed projects and two built structures--a temple constructed from recycled carpet and a pavilion assembled from hay bales. Viewers will be able to enter both of these structures, which also double as display vehicles. Following its premiere at the Birmingham Museum of Art, the exhibition was shown at the National Building Museum, Washington, D.C. The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art is the only venue in the southwestern United States for this important show.