Issue Jan 10th 2024  January 10th 2024

Martin House Creative Residency

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House (Buffalo, New York) is pleased to announce a call for applications to its Creative Residency Program. The residency provides individuals from multiple disciplines a thought-provoking environment in which to produce new works of the imagination inspired by one of the great examples of 20th century architecture.

Applications to the 2024 season will open on January 15 and close on February 16. They will be accepted in two distinct categories. The Artist Program supports the development and presentation of creative works. The Researcher Program provides opportunities to conduct research that will lead to published texts or projects in various fields, specifically as they relate to Frank Lloyd Wright and the Martin House.

Creative makers who are selected to participate will generally spend 2-4 weeks onsite either consecutively or incrementally within the residency term: June - October, 2024. Residents are also expected to deliver a free public program, performance, exhibition, or other creative presentation in order to share their Martin House-inspired work with the larger public.

Residents will receive a stipend of $5,000. Travel expenses of up to $1,000 will also be provided to residents who are from outside the Buffalo-Niagara region. The Creative Residency Program is an opportunity for the Martin House to respond to and engage with our community. We anticipate that it will lead to more robust interpretations of Frank Lloyd Wright, the Martin House, and the people who once lived and worked here so as to expand the dialogue as to what great architecture is and why it matters.

Further information and application materials are available here.

Click for more details: archdaily.com  

A Brief History Of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Relationship With Florida Southern College

If you’ve spent any time in Lakeland, you’ve likely seen Florida Southern College’s campus. In 2020, the school was rated “Florida’s Most Beautiful Campus” by the Princeton Review, and the accolades don’t stop there. For over a decade, Florida Southern has been listed in the Princeton Review’s list of “The Best 386 Colleges,” which takes into account campus beauty and architectural heritage.

And for that, the college (and Lakeland) can thank one Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright.

Wright’s work, which covers 80 acres of the campus, prioritizes sustainability and harmonious environmental design, referred to as organic architecture. The plans Wright oversaw included Annie Pfeiffer Chapel, the Buckner Building (previously known as the Roux Library), the Polk County Science Building, the Watson-Fine Building, the Three Seminars (the L.A. Raulerson Building), the Esplanades, the Ordway Building, the Danforth Chapel, and the Water Dome.

So, how did an architectural legend make his way to Lakeland?

In 1938, Ludd M. Spivey, the college’s president, extended his vision for the school to the architect in the hopes that Wright could bring the dream to life. In his now-famous telegram, Spivey proposed a “great education temple,” and as they say, the rest is history.

In 1938, 70-year-old Wright visited the campus, an inoperative citrus field, and was surprised to find such a non-traditional Floridian landscape. The 80-ft hill beside Lake Hollingsworth, groves of citrus trees, and completely undeveloped campus inspired Wright to refer to the imagined design as “a child of the sun.” With that, the vision was born, and plans for the Annie Pfeiffer Chapel were presented soon after.

The Annie Pfeiffer Chapel took three years to complete and work ceased in 1941. As construction was being done in the chapel, headway was being made on smaller buildings including the Three Seminars, which were completed by 1942. Shortly thereafter, the E.T. Roux Library (now the Buckner Building) was finished.

Subsequent buildings to reach completion in 1948 were the Emile E. Watson + Benjamin Fine Administration buildings, as well as Wright’s largest water feature in the world: the Water Dome.

Buildings were rising during World War II, so accommodations had to be made. Student laborers were employed to construct five of Frank’s buildings, and with most young men off to war, construction crews were made up of mostly women.

The 1950s brought The Lucius Pond Ordway Industrial Arts Building (Wright’s personal favorite, completed in 1952), the William H. Danforth Chapel, (featuring Wright’s final completed stained-glass window, finished in 1955), and the Polk County Science Building (completed in 1958), which was the final project completed before the architect died in 1959.

Throughout his 20-year commission with Spivey and Florida Southern College, Wright presented 18 building designs. The unique working relationship was the longest of his career, and is also his only completed design of a college campus.

The National Park Service of the US Department of the Interior dubbed the campus a National Historic Landmark in 2012. The distinction was given to the campus due to it boasting the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture on a single site in the world.

Ready to see for yourself? The Sharp Family Tourism and Education Center is open for tours. Check out the different ways you can experience this collection of historic architecture.

Click for more details: 6amcity.com  

Dale Chihuly Shares His Favorite Architect And Beloved Collections

A master of glass, Dale Chihuly was first introduced to the material while studying interior design. “I started incorporating glass shards into woven tapestries while studying interior design at The University of Washington in the early 1960s. I loved its translucent qualities,” Dale said. “Purely by chance, I decided to melt stained glass in my basement studio and with a metal pipe, I blew my first glass bubble. That was the moment I was hooked. I spent the next decade studying and experimenting with the material and teaching glassblowing.”

After graduating, Dale enrolled in the first glass program in the country, at the University of Wisconsin. He continued his studies at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he later established the glass program and taught for more than a decade.

In 1968, after receiving a Fulbright Fellowship, Dale went to work at the Venini glass factory in Venice. There, he observed the team approach to blowing glass, which is critical to the way he works in the studio today. In 1971, Dale co-founded Pilchuck Glass School in Washington State. With the international glass center, he’s led the avant-garde in the development of glass as a fine art.

“In 1976, Henry Geldzahler, curator of contemporary art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, acquired three of my Cylinders for the museum’s collection, and that gave me the confidence to give up teaching and to focus full-time on my art,” he shared.

"Frank Lloyd Wright’s work was ubiquitous when I was growing up and it left a lasting impression on me, especially as I started studying architecture and interior design in the late 1960s. I was honored to present my work at Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter laboratory in Arizona, in 2021-2022 and be in dialogue with such an iconic example of modern architecture.

Dale’s work is included in more than 200 museum collections worldwide and has been shown in solo exhibitions at museums the world over. He’s been the recipient of many awards, including two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and 13 honorary doctorates. The glass artist has created more than a dozen well-known series of works, as well as celebrated for large architectural installations.

Click for more details: design-milk.com  

Taliesin Beckons Tourists To Learn About Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright built an 800-acre estate called Taliesin in Iowa County, Wisconsin.

Tour guide Dan Sommer said he knows every nook and cranny of the iconic property, which includes buildings from nearly every decade of Wright’s career. Taliesin showcases the evolution and nuances of his work overtime.

“His residence, his offices, his studio and a fully functioning farm all in one building here,” said Sommer, as he led a tour through the property. “When Frank Lloyd Wright decided to build Taliesin, it was because of that hill he so enjoyed as a young teenager in this area.”

Wright’s focus and fascination with land, water and nature is evident in his architecture. There are trees built into the home.

Sommer described how Wright loved to contrast wide open spaces with confined areas. It was a way for him to induce different sensations whenever someone walked through the rooms.

“He brings the ceiling down on your head so you can almost feel the weight of the building on your head,” said Sommer. “He wanted you to move quickly through that space and feel uncomfortable, then when you came out of it, the room opened up and you would get a positive physical sensation.”

Sommer said Wright’s goal was always to inspire other artists and creators to be unique.

“He used to say the big money or country club money never builds a Wright home,” said Sommer. “He said the artists and freaks build a Frank Lloyd Wright house, because it’s so different and so creative.”

Preserving the restored Taliesin estate takes a lot of work and money. It was built 112 years ago and has a storied past.

It survived financial strains, fires and a major crime. In 1914, a man who worked at Taliesin set fire to employee living quarters and murdered seven people.

Taliesin attracts more than 25,000 visitors from all around the world to Spring Green, Wis., every year. But Sommer said he is always surprised that they don’t see more Wisconsinites tour the property.

“This gem is just not recognized locally enough,” said Sommer.

Guided tours, school field trips and workshops at the property will be offered again starting in April. The property shuts down to visitors for the winter.

Click for more details: spectrumnews1.com  

Support The Documentary Film "Schindler Space Architect"

The first feature-length documentary about the life and works of R. M. Schindler titled Schindler Space Architect needs your help! There's a crowdfunding campaign underway to raise the last remaining funds necessary to complete the film.

This documentary explores Schindler’s richly complex work, with its influences from the turn of the 20th century Vienna, the early work of Frank Lloyd Wright, the pueblos of Taos and the 20th century realities of Southern California. It is an investigation into Schindler’s philosophy of Space Architecture as contrasted with the International Style that ruled modern architecture during most of the architect’s life.

The film reexamines Schindler’s complicated relationship with his mentor Frank Lloyd Wright and his rival Richard Neutra. The story asks key questions about the importance of domestic architecture in creating a national culture and as a living entity that shapes humanity. The film affirms the singular genius of one man, and the eternal challenge every artist faces to stay true to their vision in an effort to leave a lasting impact.

Find out more information on the film and help support its successful completion here.

Click for more details: indiegogo.com