The Frank Lloyd Wright All-Star Tour

I started this post about six or seven weeks ago. I hope that too much time hasn't past to maintain interest in my travels...

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It was before dawn when Julie woke me up in the farmhouse near Fallingwater. I hadn't slept much the night before. It was sweltering in my room on the second floor where I had been sleeping all week. The house had no air conditioning, which made it an unfortunate place of retreat when high temperatures and stagnant humidity were lurking outside. There was also some sort of creature noisily inhabiting a tree by the window nearest my bed. Regardless, departing was bittersweet. I was about to leave Fallingwater, after all. And Julie was equally begrudged to see me go. We knew it might be some time before seeing each other again. But I was also excited by my next destination.

So we loaded the car and disembarked on a one and a half hour journey to the Pittsburgh airport. We shared a teary farewell and I caught my flight to Midway. From there I was to take a shuttle bus to Madison, but I had a few hours to kill and arranged with my Aunt Gail to have brunch. She picked me up at the terminal and asked if I had an idea of where she should take me. I hadn't thought about it at all so she suggested Oak Park.

Of course! (Oak Park is often recognized as the location of "the most independent Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in any one place" and home to some of the most famous of his buildings from the early part of his career. These designs are distinctive and collectively endorse his "Prairie Style" Period. (Oak Park's other famous resident was Ernest Hemingway. I've never bothered to tour his house.)

After a poignant lunch of garlic omelets, my aunt and I took a delightful stroll.

Oh and what fun to just stumble into Unity Temple. Chicago was hosting the "Gay Olympics" that week. Several of the Frank Lloyd Wright buildings were proud to show their support.

I found it particularly ironic at The Oak Park Home & Studio was decked out in gay pride (though not surprised that the good folks there would want to dispel all rumors since I recently read in a soon-to-be-released expose' biography summary that Frank Lloyd Wright thought gays were degenerates. Imagine his dismay to find out - albeit 100 years later - his home and studio would state otherwise.)

The Heurtley House next door - my favorite Prairie house.

The Thomas House - down the block.

The Winslow House - one of Wright's very first commissions, in River Forest.

At last it was time to catch the bus. I said goodbye to Aunt Gail and thanked her profusely for lunch, the nice walk around Oak Park, and for transporting me from Midway to O'Hare. I was off to spend the last leg of my vacation  in a little Wisconsin enclave called Spring Green.  By the way I never stop talking about the rolling landscape, the folks I've befriended, or the phenomenal local brews - anyone can vouch that it is hands down one of my all-time favorite places. It is also where Frank Lloyd Wright lived and started a school for aspiring young architects. This also happened to be the same school that I attended for a year though he died nearly fifty years prior to my arrival.

Although I was looking forward to pitchers of Spotted Cow, basking in the glory of a prairie blanketed with wildflowers, or visiting friends of mine I haven't seen in almost two years, this was actually going to be somewhat of a business trip. But first, I needed to endure the four hour bus ride to Madison. I learned how the pain of bus travel can be alleviated by Sarah Vowell's delectable Assassination Vacation. She is a regular contributor to my favorite NPR show This American Life.

At around 5:30pm, the bus dumped me off at the UW-Madison union. It wasn't until I hopped into Madalena Maestri's Landrover and started telling her and Ari Georges about my day, that I realized I had woken up in Pennsylvania at Fallingwater, had lunch in Oak Park (outside Chicago) amidst numerous Wright buildings, AND was now but a 45 minute drive west to Taliesin in Spring Green, WI where I would be staying the night/weekend. Consequently - in the course of less than a day, I would have been to three major Frank Lloyd Wright sites in three different states! That has got to be a world record...

Madalena had once been - to me - a bright and shining star in an otherwise dark and cloudy sky. Everyday she would come to work as our Taliesin cook and simply exude love in our direction as the our school fell apart all around us. Though her skills in the kitchen were plentiful, she was clearly over-qualified and has since been promoted to serve as the school's educational coordinator. Now she basically runs the place - and what a place it has become. It's now an astonishingly stark reversal from the prevalent despair that once enshrouded the institution while I was a student there. For the most part, the students are happy and generally fulfilled with their individually-tailored educations, the community is rich and vital, and there actually are people in charge ensuring that it all maintains cohesiveness.

Of course Madalena didn't do all this single-handedly. She had help from new FLLWSA Dean - Victor Sidy, and a slew of others who I've been told all came together at the right time to make it all come to fruition. However, I credit Madalena for keeping her overwhelmingly positive presence on the front line to combat the chaos.

Madalena's companion Ari, had been with the school in the past and has recently been rescued from his Grecian homeland to resume his work with the institution. Another administrator - Wanda Baker had been hired as the Director of Assessment and we happened to be on our way to a community barbecue at her residence on the Michel's Farm adjacent to Hillside.

Arriving at the dinner was somewhat strange. Reacquainting myself with everyone was repetitive, but endearing. Things like listening to Frances talk about her new book or Minerva acting bizarre and passive-aggressive about your guest accommodations are qualities that almost come across as cute when you haven't experienced them in a while. It was a pleasure to tell everyone my Tom Hanks story from Fallingwater which was still fresh.

It was great that Madalena's family were there too -  Rhiannon, P.A., and Peter (top), are her daughter, brother, and father respectively. Sister Gia and Mom Maggie sit atop the car. I adore them all, even the one's not pictured - brother Michael, and I think grandpa was staggering about too.

After the BBQ, I quickly settled into my room at Hillside and was whisked off to a Spring Green Friday night tradition - karaoke at The Shed. The Shed is a great bar. My friends and I used to satiate our thirst for delicious brews there often. Sometimes we would opt not to go there because the other local bar had a great outdoor seating area.

But in my two year absence, this former dive of a bar up-scaled itself with the addition of a splendid back patio! And to top it off, Tim Wright, a grandson of you know who, offered to buy my first drink!

Slowly, my old friends began to filter into the place which was also filling up with actors from the local company - American Player's Theater.

As expected, the theater kids were mic hogs...

Until Charles Allen Wyman - but don't ever call him that - Chuck, was unleashed.

At some point I returned to Hillside where all too soon morning found me.

Hillside Home School - is where much of the day to day activities commence like meals, classes, studio work, or play practice. Its also where many of the apprentices have rooms as I once did.

It was there that I stumbled upon an old friend. The Kazuki Tea House model - that I constructed for final box circa September 2004 - in my absence had collected quite a thick layer of bat poop on its copper roof. I dusted it off and played with it until I coaxed current apprentice Michael Desbarres into sharing coffee with me at the Spring Green General Store.

There, at my favorite little cafe, we ran into half the town including Kevin Dodds who works on the preservation team at Taliesin. It was great to catch up, but I was especially thrilled to run into him because he let me know that our friend Adrienne would be performing a solo show there later that day! What a fantastic coincidence for her to have a performance the same day I happen to be in town. I was very excited.

We returned to Hillside. I wandered around the drafting studio and scoped out the work on people's desks. Some of it seemed very exciting. Several of the apprentices were working with a Mississippi architect to design a sustainable community for Hurricane Katrina survivors. They were just about to construct a rather large model. There was actually alot of hustle and bustle going on that morning because that evening was one of the bi-weekly Taliesin Formals. I really chose a weekend to visit that was full of activity.

I wandered around some more - above is the windmill Romeo & Juliet. It was erected in 1896 with much controversy as many speculated it would fall apart. Yet it remains standing today and is one of the oldest Frank Lloyd Wright designs still with us.

After lunch, I sat down with dean Victor Sidy. Part of the reason I had come all this way was to meet with him. We proceeded to have a very productive dialog regarding my potential return to Taliesin to work on a special project. If the planets all align (and they still have yet to do so entirely, six months later) I will begin researching the Taliesin West desert shelters in October so that eventually I might begin writing an extensive publication about these unique structures.

When our meeting concluded a few hours later, I borrowed someone's car and raced back to the General Store to catch the second set of Adrienne's show.

Adrienne Cole normally is accompanied by her band Dear August (formerly Box Elder). She even played the Earhart song all about driving to San Antone just for me.

I like this one - if you look closely at the stained glass window behind her, it says "Spring Green General Store."

Dan O'Brien - the other lead singer of Dear August (and Taliesin cook) was there too. Such a delight!

After the show, I made my way back to the compound and got ready for the formal. I knew it was early, but I wanted a chance to take a good walk around before the evening's festivities began.

The landscape was particularly beautiful throughout my rambling about the estate. I could tell by the humidity index that it was going to rain. Diffused through the clouds, the light was of a resplendent quality, It made for some really great photos.

The upper court at the house.

The Blue Room of the Wright Living Quarters - Aside from Cornelia (the sweetest of 93 year olds who have lived at Taliesin since 1934), I was the most fashionably early, which was perfect. I got to snap a few more pictures inside amidst the brilliant lighting of rainy sunset and did not have to wait long for a stiff drink from the bar.

Here is another one of Frank Lloyd Wright's bedroom.

Me and Rhiannon.

The Living Room full of formal attendees.

The Garden Room - Notice that its showering outside.

At the sound of the bell, we all braved the weather and ran over to our cars parked by the orchard. It was there that I turned back toward the house to notice it was being framed by a double rainbow. Perhaps a more delicate nod to the gay community?

We all arrived at Hillside for dinner. The theme for the formal was all things China. Lang - the sole Chinese member of the Senior Fellowship, cooked rather impressive Chinese fare. She had several of the new Chinese apprentices to help her.

After Dinner, we retired to the theater where two of the Artists-in-Residence conjured up a very interesting slide show of their impressions from a recent visit to the SW of China where they studied the practice of Japanese drumming on Chinese drums. Unfortunately, the presentation did not feature any drumming, but instead we experienced translated Chinese poetry read by the Chinese apprenti.

After the presentation we waited for all the old people to file out and, at last, the real party began. Michael Desbarres, one of the apprentices had a few of friends over from Madison for a spin table extravaganza! I was pretty amazing - despite the abundance of capable DJ's in the house - there wasn't alot of dancing (even though the actors from APT stopped by and you'd think that they would have been especially inclined). Tim Wright, FLLW's very hip grandson who must be in his 60's complained. Not for any other reason than NO ONE WAS DANCING. Tim Wright rocks!

Chuck and Renee.

Asa and Kyle.

In the morning - I took another nice walk. I cannot stress enough how devastatingly beautiful this special slice of earth is. The Midway Farm creamery tower.

At Midway - inside the dilapidated silo.

Looking up - in the aforementioned dilapidated silo.

Taliesin - Shining Brow.

Marius - one of the visiting artists - working in his studio, formerly the canning room.

Cellar door - to the old root cellar.

This is one of my favorite spots up at the house - the front walkway to the entrance loggia.

The guest wing entry portal. I did go down to the guest wing and the rooms down there are in terrible condition. It's sad, but its the portion of the house that has received the most damage from eroding moisture. They are almost beyond preservation...

The yard outside Hillside. I waited here to be picked up for the Sunday evening Romeo & Juliet performance at APT. My date was Madalena. The American Player's Theater is an amazing outdoor amphitheater-style company. The showcase Shakespeare and other popular classics. I had forgotten how sad R&J is. The first half of the play is so much fun too. Later that evening, I went with a few apprentices back to the Shed for pizza and drinks. It was pretty cool to bump into the actors there and commune with them a bit more having just seen them perform.

The next morning, I woke up bright and early for community gardening. This was a real treat because a) I used to be in charge of the activity for my seasonal maintenence when I was an apprentice, and b) I felt like I was really contributing and giving back the community who had been such gracious hosts to me during my stay.

I helped Effi Casey transport and wash the impressive harvest up at the kitchen.

Then I made sure to do something I really wanted to do before leaving in a few hours - I climbed atop the prairie remnant that I am so fond of. It was there that I designed a teahouse two years prior and spent some time reseeding for landscape practicum.

It's such an awesome view!

Life doesn't get much better....

I went back up to the house to the house to find my ride back to Madison.

Madalena and Ari - in the Education Office.

Tim Wright.

I returned to my room at Hillside to pack and say goodbye. In doing so I made acquaintance with some kind of creature.

The trip was amazing, though the trip back to Madison - Chicago - San Antonio was long. A nice unexpected treat was to have a rather nice wait ahead of me at Midway between getting dropped off by the coach and my flight. Fred happens to work at and around the airport so we ended up having a brief, but delightful dinner at a dive pizza joint. It was great! And I finished my Sara Vowell book somewhere along the way. The Frank Lloyd Wright All-Star Tour was a success - giving way to thoughts of one day returning to my former home to pursue greatness like so many who came before me.

Comments

[Sharon]

Glad to have read the conclusion of that journey, Ben. The photo of the post-rain double rainbow is one of my favorites you've ever taken!
And I'm so excited that you liked that Sarah Vowell book! It's so great!