Issue 62 September 13th 2017

Announcements

Registration Opens Soon For 2017 Wright Society Virtual Summit!

For the past two years we've hosted the Wright Society Virtual Summit each spring. This year, however, we're making some changes—like rolling out our annual online event in October!

Free registration begins next week on Wednesday September 20, 2017 — with the actual event itself taking place October 20-22, 2017. Sessions will open at 9am Eastern.

To celebrate the sesquicentennial of Frank Lloyd Wright's birth, the Summit theme will be FLLW 150: Legacy of Inspiration. Of course we'll discuss the man himself and the lasting impact of his genius in the 21st-century, but we'll also be taking a look at some of the apprentices who studied under Wright.

Stay tuned and watch for specific details in your email inbox next week!

The Headlines

Rethinking Frank Lloyd Wright: Thoughts From a Trip Through the Rustbelt

After visiting MoMA’s retrospective of Frank Lloyd Wright in July, Hannah Wood from Archinet dealt with surprising and unexpected thoughts from the show during her subsequent month-long journey through the American Midwest. She postulates that Wright was both a pioneer of radical experimentation and a deep-rooted member of the status quo, drawing from many cultural histories that can be divisive. Read more.

Elevation: The Rise of Beverly/Morgan Park

“Elevation: The Rise of Beverly/Morgan Park,” a major exhibition that opens on Sunday, September 17, at the Beverly Arts Center (BAC), 2407 W. 111th St. Chicago, Illinois, captures how the impressive elevation of the highest hill in Chicago came to be, and how it continues to inspire the architecture and culture of the community.

Using large architectural installations, maps and photographs, “Elevation” will illustrate how massive glaciers literally shaped the community that, millions of years later, provided an inspiring palate for renowned architects including Frank Lloyd Wright, H.H. Waterman, Walter Burley Griffin, George W. Maher, Edward Dart, and many others. Read more.

Stuart Graff Talks Historic Homes

Stuart Graff, who is president and chief executive officer of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation believes the best way to preserve a historic home is to make it a living legacy to the values of those who created it. He was at the Ellis-Shackelford House, designed by local architect R.A. Gray and now home of Arizona Humanities, located at 1242 N. Central Avenue Phoenix, Arizona. Graff talked about the best ways to present historic homes for public education, and compared a well-designed and preserved historic house museum to the beating heart of the owner who built it.

Graff’s impassioned lecture on Wright’s home, Taliesin West and the Ellis-Shackelford House, shows a love for these structures that are often overlooked and undervalued. Read more.

UTSA Architecture Students Win National Competition

Honored for their documentation of the original dining room at Taliesin West, a team of University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) students instructed by Sue Ann Pemberton, FAIA, assistant professor in practice at the UTSA College of Architecture, Construction and Planning, has been named the first place winner of the Charles E. Peterson Prize—a national student competition of measured drawings. The award is given annually for the best documentation of a historic building submitted by an accredited school of architecture in the United States or its territories. Read more.

Documentary Focuses on Wright's Bradley House

"An American Home", a riveting documentary film intended for PBS play, premiered before a crowd of about 200 at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Kankakee, Illinois. Produced, written, and directed by Tom Desch, the film is a history of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed B. Harley Bradley home located on South Harrison Avenue in Kankakee. The film delves into much more than the home itself. It is a fair, but direct look at the life of Wright; the rise, fall, and rebirth of Kankakee; those who sacrificed to save, preserve, and rebuild the structure; and the many tragedies, murders, and suicides that have surrounded the home. Read more.

The first public screening of "An American Home'' will be shown at 7pm September. 20, 2017 at the Classic Cinemas Lake Theatre in Wright's early hometown of Oak Park, Illinois. To purchase tickets, visit AnAmericanHomeFilm.com.

You can also financially support the film and the B. Bradley House in Kankakee by visiting the aforementioned website and at WrightInKankakee.org.

Footprints on the Desert: Frank Lloyd Wright in Arizona

In celebration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s 150th birthday, Scottsdale Public Library, Scottsdale Public Art, The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and other Arizona entities are collaborating on an exhibition and lecture series coined “Footprints on the Desert: Frank Lloyd Wright in Arizona.”

The city of Scottsdale has accepted a $36,000 grant from the Arizona State Library, using the Library Services and Technology Act, which will be used for the upcoming program about beloved Arizona architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. The exhibition will look at how Mr. Wright came to Arizona, creating a new approach to building and living in the Southwest desert. The funds will be used to create the exhibit of unique memorabilia using artifacts loaned by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, and for a lecture series for adults and hands-on programming for children.

The exhibit and programs are to travel among three venues: Scottsdale’s Civic Center Library, Tempe History Museum, and Arizona Heritage Center at Papago Park. It will also provide an educational experience throughout the communities of Scottsdale and Tempe. Read more.

Photographing Wright

Mark Hertzberg recently posted a slate of photos he took of various Wright sites visited as part of a Road Scholar architecture tour throughout Wisconsin in Racine, Milwaukee, Madison, and Spring Green. Enjoy looking at some of the details he's shot over at his blog, Wright In Racine. Read more.

Frank Lloyd Wright and Housing Modern Society

Architectural Digest reports that Columbia University’s Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery will host a new exhibit opening September 9, 2017 titled “Living in America: Frank Lloyd Wright, Harlem, and Modern Housing”. It's aimed at exploring the fascinating connections between Wright’s work and public housing developments in the Manhattan neighborhood.

On display will be Wright’s iconic Broadacre City model along with drawings and photographs from the Harlem River Houses, a now-famous public housing project from the same era built to house working-class African-Americans in a highly segregated urban environment. The exhibit runs through December 17, 2017, so don't miss it. Read more.

Revisiting Wright's Vision for "Broadacre City"

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation's The Whirling Arrow has reprinted an article revisiting Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision for “Broadacre City”. Although it was never fully realized as seen in the iconic model, Broadacre still provides a framework city planning concept that challenges notions of man’s relationship to the built environment. Read more.

An Afternoon With Frank Lloyd Wright: 2017

The Friends of Cedar Rock will be holding their annual event, "An Afternoon With Frank Lloyd Wright", this year on October 14, 2017 from 1-4pm at the American Legion Hall, 101 S Water St, Quasqueton, Iowa. Speakers include Lon Arbegust, President of the A.D. German Warehouse Conservancy and Mark Hertzberg, Author and retired Director of Photography at Racine's Journal Times. Read more.

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