Ozark Giraffes: Beyond a Home's Walls

Image: Ozark Giraffe - 421 W Persimmon Street, Rogers, AR (8”x8”) by Chuck Davis

Pinhole image on silver gelatin print – 2023

Chuck Davis and Mario Quiroz, both MFA alumni of the Lesley Art+Design School of Fine Arts in Cambridge Mass., have just hung a selection of photographs on the gate and fence at Ozark Beer Company. The images are of ‘Ozark Giraffes’ and their surrounding neighborhood in Rogers and elsewhere in the Ozarks.

What is an Ozark Giraffe? Lori Filbeck, Preservation Architect on the board at Preserve Arkansas describes them as “a vernacular construction technique in the Ozarks region of Arkansas and Missouri named for its slab stone pattern that resembles that of a giraffe’s coat.” These rock sided homes, businesses, and civic structures were a response to building projects where budgets were stretched thin. Field stones are plentiful in the Ozarks, and when stacked, make a durable siding.