Octavia Art Gallery is pleased to present Urban Visions by Tulane University architect and artist Grover Mouton. The exhibition presents a compendium of drawings created as part of the design process in a series of projects throughout China and the United States. The drawings were included in master planning documents and final presentations. Acting as a catalyst to explore design concepts, they demonstrated a humanized scale by assisting clients to understand larger urban design concepts.

Mouton began to study drawing while in Rome at the American Academy, having been awarded the Rome Prize (1972-3). “In contrast with rigid digital imagery, I found the use of hand drawing enabled clients to engage with designed qualities of the overall site rather than specific, small-scale details.” states Mouton. “My drawings were used to speak about density, walkability, and scale in a way that also expressed a real sense of place.” Mouton’s drawings depict concentrations of people on the street, park settings, high speed transportation, local landscapes, and historic landmarks.

Grover Mouton has served as Tulane University’s Adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture for 25 years, and is the founder and director of the Tulane Regional Urban Design Center (TRUDC), housed within the School of Architecture. The TRUDC conducts community outreach design initiatives for cities and towns throughout the Gulf South Region. The center also collaborates with the American Planning Association on large-scale urban design projects throughout China. Grover currently teaches Design Urbanism, a seminar that exposes architecture students to the urban design discipline through participation in real-time community outreach initiatives.

Mouton's drawings, formatted in environmental installations, have been exhibited at the Hirshorn Museum, Washington DC; the Drawing Center, NY; the New Orleans Museum of Art; the University Museum, Houston, TX; Tulane University, New Orleans, LA; Venice Biennale; Documenta, Kassel, Germany; and Marlborough Gallery, NY. His works are included in public institutions such as the Guggenheim (NY) and the New Orleans Museum of Art, and private art collections including Agnes Gund, Barbara Jacobson, & Phyllis Lambert.

This exhibition has been made possible with generous support from the Dean’s Fund for Excellence (Tulane University School of Architecture).