| John Calvin Womack
is a native of Springdale, Arkansas, where he graduated from high school in 1968. Earning
a Bachelors of Architecture degree and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Arkansas
in 1973, John entered the office of architect Euine Fay Jones in Fayetteville, Arkansas,
where he worked for the next ten years. During his time with Fay Jones he worked on many
awardwinning projects, two of which were the acclaimed Thorncrown Chapel and the Roy Reed
Residence, both winners of National Honor Awards by the American Institute of Architects.
Starting his own architectural practice in 1983, John continued designing projects in the
organic tradition of Fay Jones and Frank Lloyd Wright. One of his first residential
designs appeared in Fine Homebuilding’s
Special Issue on Houses in 1988. His drawings and renderings have won awards in both
architectural and art circles and have been published in various publications worldwide.
In 1987 John began teaching in the University of Arkansas’s School of Architecture as
an adjunct professor. This exposure to teaching developed in him a passion for teaching
and led to his obtaining a Masters of Architecture degree in 1994 from Oklahoma State
University, which subsequently led to his joining the School of Architecture faculty at
OSU in that same year. In the summer of 1994, John and his family moved from Fayetteville,
Arkansas, to Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he continues to teach, draw, paint, and practice
architecture.
About Once Upon a Highway
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“Route 66 and Oklahoma are so much a part of each other you can hardly talk about
one without mentioning the other,” says John Womack of Stillwater, author and
illustrator of a new book, Once Upon a Highway: Route 66 in Oklahoma. “Route
66 began right here in Oklahoma in the mind of Tulsan, Cyrus Avery. It was Avery who
selected the location of the highway and even gave it the numbers ’66.’ There
are also more miles of Route 66 in Oklahoma than in any other state,” he adds.
Womack’s book, published by New Forums Press, contains over one hundred and fifty pen
& ink and watercolor illustrations of
various sights along the old highway in Oklahoma. Along with commentaries by the artist
(plus a Foreword by Gailard Sartain) the illustrations provide a remarkable portrait of
the old highway through depictions of gas stations, bridges, barns, houses, motel signs,
and many of the Route’s more famous spots like the Coleman Theater in Miami, the Blue
Whale in Catoosa, and the Round Barn in Arcadia.
A native of Northwest Arkansas, Womack has been a professor of architecture at Oklahoma
State University in Stillwater since 1994. “My parents moved to Edmond in 1970 while
I was attending the University of Arkansas. My summers in Oklahoma and subsequent visits
following graduation, allowed me to become fairly familiar with a lot of central Oklahoma,
including Route 66. When we moved to Stillwater the transition was rather easy. I’m
proud to now be from Oklahoma,” Womack says.
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| Each copy of the new book's first printing is individually signed
and numbered, as a collector's editorn. |
Womack’s Route 66 project began in the fall of 2000 as a reaction to his deep
interest in Oklahoma architecture. “As an architect I was of course interested in
Oklahoma buildings and I had become quite impressed with the quality of design and
construction of many these structures. Many towns in Oklahoma have a number of
architectural ‘gems’ and I became interested in how I might record some of these
in order to shed some light on the cultural and historical value such structures have for
the people of Oklahoma and elsewhere. As I looked for a general theme or concept for such
a study, the idea of doing something involving Route 66 gradually developed. I discovered
that Route 66 provided a unique way of linking together so many sights and places in
Oklahoma—from the eastern to western edge of the state, and I quickly became hooked
on the subject—I loved it!”
Over the next five years Womack traveled the entire Oklahoma section of Route 66,
recording various buildings and other structures in photographs, notes, and sketches.
Several of the scenes illustrated in the book no longer exist. “I was amazed, and
disappointed, to see how fast certain sights were disappearing on the old highway. In some
instances it was literally ‘here today, gone tomorrow.” he says. As a result,
Womack’s work has become a unique historical record of Route 66 in Oklahoma, and Once
Upon a Highway has been endorsed by Oklahoma’s State Office of Historical
Preservation and the Oklahoma Centennial Commission.
Accompanied by detail photographs, the drawings in the book display the skillful hand of
someone who obviously loves to draw. “To me drawings allow the viewer more freedom to
imagine the place being illustrated. Drawings also allow for some selective editing, like
when a power pole is in the way, or the shadows need changing,” says Womack, adding,
“I have been drawing for as long as I can remember, yet I am always evaluating my
technique and whether or not I’m getting it ‘right’ or accurate.”
Womack’s many awards for his drawings and watercolor paintings attest to ability to
‘get it right.’ One of his watercolor paintings was recently awarded ‘Best
of Show’ by the Oklahoma Watercolor Association.
“It is extremely satisfying to develop a series of drawings and paintings that focus
on my adoptive state of Oklahoma,” says Womack. “We have such a fascinating
history here, with some of the best buildings in the nation—and certainly some of the
best people on the planet.” What’s next for Womack? “The next study will be
another addition to New Forums Press’ Centennial series and is entitled, Once Upon a
Cattle Drive: Along the Old Chisholm Trail. This will be similar to the Route 66 book but
will focus on towns, cities, and places along the north-south route of Oklahoma’s
Highway 81. I’m really looking forward to it,” he says. So are we.
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