Structures of Utility

144 pages, (11 x 11), with over 75 duotone photographs Cloth, ISBN: 1-890771-62-7,

A Great Valley Book.

Packing sheds, grain silos, wooden tank house outbuildings, and mine elevators have been eloquently captured by David Stark Wilson’s keen, appreciative, and knowledgeable eye. Using a large format view camera, Wilson has elevated these architecturally underappreciated structures of pure utility that dot our rural landscape and given them consequence, meaning, and a haunting beauty. This daringly designed book reflects upon the functionality, allure, and extraordinary presence of these often unobserved and overlooked buildings.

Wilson explored the back roads of California’s Great Central Valley and the Sierra foothills, becoming increasingly captivated by the agricultural buildings that punctuate the landscape. The vertical forms of grain elevators are equaled in eccentricity by oversized storage sheds housing lanky, intricately evolved agricultural machinery. Structures of Utility makes apparent the value and role of these buildings in guiding contemporary design and development, and explains something about them that we all see but often ignore, or fail to appreciate. These everyday buildings, which are frequently used for just a few months in a given year, are transformed by Wilson’s photographs, opening our eyes to the simplicity and rich textures of our country roads and highways.

The text of Structures of Utility is a quiet yet passionate meditation on Wilson’s dedication to "pursue in the natural landscape a reprieve from urban existence." In both words and pictures, he captures the disquietingly abandoned landscape that is the beating heart of California.