Imagine that it’s the depression, you are a great architect with a big ego and with no clients, and you have a vision of organic architecture and you want to create it in the Arizona desert. Frank Lloyd Wright did something brilliant—he started a school, an apprenticeship or fellowship at Taliesin West. Students came and learned and they did ALL OF THE WORK for no pay! No electricity, no bathrooms, no housing except for tents for many years. The fellows (men and women) made cement from the river sand, used the huge boulders to make walls, they did everything. The woman who did most of the landscape architecture there is still alive, and she still lives there. The place is spectacular.
We went on a three hour tour, “Behind the Scenes,” which was great. Our guide was very knowledgeable and we also met with two men who had been fellows at Taliesin—one man, Arnold Roy, is on the board and was a fellow under Wright, told us about the early days at Taliesin as he had experienced them. Pretty amazing!
It was about 115 degrees when our tour ended at noon. Dry heat. Yes.
Students who come to study at Taliesin West nowadays have it a bit easier. They pay $30,000 a year, which includes everything, including food and a place to live. Well, they live in a tent the first year. It’s not SO bad. The whole school moves to Taliesin East, in Wisconsin, for the summer. Sophomore year, you can build your own shelter to live in—you design it, and they give you $1000 to spend on materials. People spend 4-6 years studying there, for a bachelor’s or a master’s degree. They can’t really stay for the next 50 years, like some of the old folks have done. They have to actually get a job….
 |
| Birds in the cactus |
 |
| Petroglyphs shlepped into place by fellows, years ago |
 |
| FLW was not at environmentalist |
 |
| Lots of these Japanese pieces that FLW bought in a Tokyo department store! |
 |
| I love this fountain! |
No comments:
Post a Comment