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Kent Bloomer
Kent Cress Bloomer (May 31, 1935 – October 22, 2023) was an American sculptor and ornamenter who taught architectural design in the Yale School of Architecture from 1966 to 2019. He was also Yale's Director of Undergraduate Studies in Architecture from 1974 to 1994. Bloomer considered the undergraduate major in architecture to be a subject within the humanities rather than a preparation for professional work. In 1978, Bloomer began teaching classes on the history and meaning of architectural ornament in built work and in writings throughout the history of architecture and, in 1984, he introduced his graduate seminar, "Ornament Theory and Design," that he taught until his retirement in the spring of 2019. His public works of sculpture and architectural ornament, such as the New York City Central Park luminaires and the Chicago Harold Washington Library ornament are well-known landmarks. He wrote articles on proprioception and the role of the haptic sense in experiencing architecture, on the place of ornament in architecture, and on the distinction between ornament and decoration. He was the principal author of Body, Memory, and Architecture, cowritten with Charles Moore, 1977, and author of The Nature of Ornament, Rhythm and Metamorphosis in Architecture, published in 2000 .
Bloomer graduated from St. Luke's School in New Canaan, Connecticut, in 1953. The 1953 Caduceus yearbook, of which he was editor, described 18-year-old Bloomer in the following way: "Kent is best known for three things: his art proficiency, his acid technique as a jazz drummer, and his colossal brain, usually functioning along the more abstract line." He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1953 to 1957, where he had a double major in physics and architecture. Following the advice of his M.I.T. professors, he transferred to the Yale Department of Design to study sculpture under Erwin Hauer and Josef Albers of the Weimar Bauhaus who was then the department chairman. He received his BFA from the Yale School of Art and Architecture in 1959 and his MFA in 1961.
Paul Schweikher, who had been chair of the Yale School of Architecture from 1953 to 1958, brought Bloomer to Pittsburgh in 1961 to teach basic design in the Carnegie Institute of Technology, (now Carnegie Mellon University), where he was currently head of the Carnegie School of Architecture. In Pittsburgh, Bloomer won the competition to design a bas-relief for the Rodef Shalom Temple, completed in 1965. That bas-relief represents Bloomer's first step away from his abstract-expressionist brass sculptures and his first move toward the public world of architecture and the cosmic world of ornament in architecture.
In 1966, Charles Moore, Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, brought Bloomer back to Yale to teach architectural design. With Moore, Bloomer became an integral player in the development of the Yale Building Project, working with students to design and build the critically praised New Zion Community Center in rural Kentucky.
Bloomer also relocated his studio to Guilford, Connecticut. The studio's large-scale work began with the installation of enormous aluminum "tree domes" within the WonderWall designed by Moore's firm, MLTW, for the 1984 New Orleans World's Fair. In 1995 Bloomer moved his studio to Erector Square in New Haven.
Bloomer retired from the Yale School of Architecture in May 2019 and discontinued his Bloomerstudio LLC in December 2019. Through his classes, writings, and studio work, he became influential in bringing the subject of ornament back into the discourse on architecture. He always insisted on the critical importance of including that subject in the curriculum of schools of architecture.
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Kent Bloomer
Kent Cress Bloomer (May 31, 1935 – October 22, 2023) was an American sculptor and ornamenter who taught architectural design in the Yale School of Architecture from 1966 to 2019. He was also Yale's Director of Undergraduate Studies in Architecture from 1974 to 1994. Bloomer considered the undergraduate major in architecture to be a subject within the humanities rather than a preparation for professional work. In 1978, Bloomer began teaching classes on the history and meaning of architectural ornament in built work and in writings throughout the history of architecture and, in 1984, he introduced his graduate seminar, "Ornament Theory and Design," that he taught until his retirement in the spring of 2019. His public works of sculpture and architectural ornament, such as the New York City Central Park luminaires and the Chicago Harold Washington Library ornament are well-known landmarks. He wrote articles on proprioception and the role of the haptic sense in experiencing architecture, on the place of ornament in architecture, and on the distinction between ornament and decoration. He was the principal author of Body, Memory, and Architecture, cowritten with Charles Moore, 1977, and author of The Nature of Ornament, Rhythm and Metamorphosis in Architecture, published in 2000 .
Bloomer graduated from St. Luke's School in New Canaan, Connecticut, in 1953. The 1953 Caduceus yearbook, of which he was editor, described 18-year-old Bloomer in the following way: "Kent is best known for three things: his art proficiency, his acid technique as a jazz drummer, and his colossal brain, usually functioning along the more abstract line." He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1953 to 1957, where he had a double major in physics and architecture. Following the advice of his M.I.T. professors, he transferred to the Yale Department of Design to study sculpture under Erwin Hauer and Josef Albers of the Weimar Bauhaus who was then the department chairman. He received his BFA from the Yale School of Art and Architecture in 1959 and his MFA in 1961.
Paul Schweikher, who had been chair of the Yale School of Architecture from 1953 to 1958, brought Bloomer to Pittsburgh in 1961 to teach basic design in the Carnegie Institute of Technology, (now Carnegie Mellon University), where he was currently head of the Carnegie School of Architecture. In Pittsburgh, Bloomer won the competition to design a bas-relief for the Rodef Shalom Temple, completed in 1965. That bas-relief represents Bloomer's first step away from his abstract-expressionist brass sculptures and his first move toward the public world of architecture and the cosmic world of ornament in architecture.
In 1966, Charles Moore, Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, brought Bloomer back to Yale to teach architectural design. With Moore, Bloomer became an integral player in the development of the Yale Building Project, working with students to design and build the critically praised New Zion Community Center in rural Kentucky.
Bloomer also relocated his studio to Guilford, Connecticut. The studio's large-scale work began with the installation of enormous aluminum "tree domes" within the WonderWall designed by Moore's firm, MLTW, for the 1984 New Orleans World's Fair. In 1995 Bloomer moved his studio to Erector Square in New Haven.
Bloomer retired from the Yale School of Architecture in May 2019 and discontinued his Bloomerstudio LLC in December 2019. Through his classes, writings, and studio work, he became influential in bringing the subject of ornament back into the discourse on architecture. He always insisted on the critical importance of including that subject in the curriculum of schools of architecture.