Outside the Pale: The Architecture of Fay Jones

by Department of Arkansas Heritage

Honored with the 1990 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal for a lifetime of outstanding achievement, Fay Jones is an Arkansas original. In receiving the medal from Prince Charles of Great Britain, Jones was hailed as a “powerful and special genius who embodies nearly all the qualities we admire in an architect” and as an artist who used his vision to craft “mysterious and magical places” not only in Arkansas but all over the world. This book accompanied a special museum exhibit of Jones’s life and work at the Old State House in Little Rock. It traces Jones’s development from his early years as a student of Frank Lloyd Wright and Bruce Goff, to the culmination of his ability in such arresting structures as Pinecote Pavilion in Picayune, Mississippi; Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas; and Chapman University Chapel in Orange, California. Through the black-and-white photographs of the homes, chapels, and other buildings that Jones has created and the accompanying captions and interviews of the architect, the reader is allowed a view into this man’s remarkable talent. Designing structures that fuse architecture and landscape, the organic and the man-made, Jones has created special places which touch their viewers with the power and subtlety of poetry. Herein we learn why. From the Foreword by Robert Adams Ivy “Fay Jones’s architecture begins in order and ends in mystery. . . . His role can perhaps best be understood as mediator, a human consciousness that has arisen from the Arkansas soil and scoured the cosmos, then spoken through the voices of stone and wood, steel and glass. Art, philosophy, craft, and human aspiration coalesce in his masterworks, transformed from acts of will into Jones lets space sing.”

Genres: Architecture

94 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1999

Reviews

[Bert Edens · Rating 5 out of 5]

From my book review blog at:

http://kickinbooks.wordpress.com/2013...

In the midst of the review copies I've agreed to read, I have to throw in the occasional "want to" book. This is one such book.

I became fascinated by the architecture of Fay Jones following my wedding in the Mildred B. Cooper Chapel in Bella Vista, Arkansas. Later, I learned of the Thorncrown Chapel near Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and many other projects of Jones's.

This book is a fascinating collection of pictures and drawings from not just the chapels above, but other buildings, both public and private, which were created by Fay Jones. There is also a fair amount of history behind Jones and how he got started in architecture.

Overall, it was a light, fun read with lots of pictures, which makes it sound like a children's book :) But in reality, it shows the creativity and genius Jones has displayed through many of his creations. I'm not sure people fully appreciate the works he has created.

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

[Jas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just re-read this book. Great drawings and pictures of Fay Jones projects. It has lots of quotes by him of his philosophies in general and about specific projects. Some biographical hist of him and his family. Commentary by the author about him and his contributions to architecture.