Halperin & Christ

as demonstrated by all the photos it has been a most exciting day! we went on a treasure hunt through three alabama counties: hale, perry and tucaloosa in search of rural studio buildings. there was a lot to be seen.

we have been consistently met with gracious southern hospitality everywhere we have gone. yesterday it started at the civil rights memorial in montgomery. the operations assistant, aviva, had a lively chat with us about race, tolerance, hate crimes, raising unbiased children and the state of the world in general. we didn’t solve any major issues but it was a great conversation.¬†we did add our names to the wall of tolerance which is quite a moving experience if you haven’t seen it. you type your name into a computer and a few seconds later it appears on a large screen in front of you along with hundreds of other names. as you stand there your name floats down the wall several times. apparently there are more than 300,000 names on the wall so far. all alabama school children eventually visit the memorial and museum.

from there we took the historic path between montgomery and selma where the famous 1965 voting rights march took place with dr. king leading the way.

about 20 miles or so past selma we turned off the main highway, through uniontown to newbern, home of the rural studio. even though we arrived during business hours the place was shut down so we went into newbern’s post office. frances, the post mistress could not have been more friendly or helpful. she assisted us in running down the rural studio map tour and set us up at a b & b for the night. at the general store the owner gave us the keys to the firehouse across the street(designed by the rural studio) and let us wander through it on our own.

our b & b was in an old nineteenth century house that had been restored to its original grace. we had the place to ourselves. we walked up main street, greenboro, yet another example of a beautiful downtown that has been deserted for the outer ring of fast food, big supermarkets and big box shopping. there were a few examples of rural studio renovations in town.

this morning after an incredibly sumptuous breakfast at the “muckle house” b & b, we began our hunt. equipped with three less than stellar maps we made our way from town to town, grunting up gravel driveways, shyly knocking on doors, befriending local kids…..anything that would get us close to and possibly inside the buildings.¬†without fail everyone was friendly, helpful, talkative and excited about the rural studio. in akron, at the former boys and girls club we met a whole group of interesting people: a student and teacher at the rural studio, daniel and mark, a letterpress printer and artist, amos paul kennedy jr. who gave us some of his fabulous artwork, and an¬†emeritus professor at university of alabama and his photographer wife, glenn house sr. they gave us many good steers, in particular the animal shelter in greensboro which is a gorgeous barrel vaulted, wood framed structure with aluminum cladding over a box shaped series of kennels and offices.

another beautiful project was at perry lake park. there were a series of bathrooms, a pavilion and a bird watching tower (bridge) that had used spectacular and unusual detailing and were all very creative in both form and material.

the students at rural studio use whatever materials are donated to them so there are houses made of carpet tiles, rammed earth, license plates, compressed shredded cardboard blocks and rubber tires. each material makes for an unusal and unique structure.

one of the areas that has been graced by many rural studio homes is mason’s bend, one of the poorest areas of the country we have seen to date. we spent quite awhile there admiring three young boys’ basketball skills as well as the uniquely varied and innovative structures scattered among defunct mobile homes, lived in school buses and decomposing shacks. the level of poverty in mason’s bend was striking and sobering¬†but¬†it was clear that samuel mockbee’s vision that everyone deserves a decent place to live was at least being attempted.

we have finished this day at an archaeological dig site in moundsville with mixed emotions: enthusiasm for the innovative design and sadness over the conditions that many are forced to live in.

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