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Labor Day: Time to Walk the Mackinac Bridge

Reading Time: 4 minutes A photo I took of the Mackinac Bridge on a day when there wasn’t a Walk. I spent three Labor Day weekends in Mackinaw City, Michigan with my old boyfriend, his mother, sister, and brother-in-law. Michael’s sister and BIL had a summer home up there. FYI: “Mackinaw” in Mackinaw City is pronounced the same as […]

Black and white photograph looking southwest in Taliesin's living room. Taken by Maynard Parker in 1955. In view: wooden furniture, plaster on walls, artifacts on tables.

Here’s another change at Taliesin:

Reading Time: 5 minutes Maynard Parker took the photo at the top of the post. It’s Taliesin’s Living Room and he took it 1955 for House Beautiful magazine’s issue devoted to Wright. In this post I’ll be writing about the horizontal wood shelf in the center of the photo. FWIW: if I haven’t told you already, I’ve never tried […]

Photograph by Mat Kauten at Taliesin in 1944. Property of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation (The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York).

Gertrude Kerbis – an architect because of Taliesin

Reading Time: 5 minutes Photographer (and apprentice) Mat Kauten took this photograph looking at Taliesin’s Garden Room in 1944. I think Gertrude Kerbis might have seen Taliesin at the same time of year that Kauten took his photographs. Here’s the story: a while ago, I received an email from Elizabeth Blasius, an architectural historian and co-founder of Preservation Futures.1 […]

Photograph of Keiran with a tour group on Taliesin's Hill Crown. Keiran has white pants on.

Tour guides and trust

Reading Time: 6 minutes A photo of me on Taliesin’s Hill Crown while giving the Loving Frank Tour in 2008. I’m wearing white pants. When people on tours would ask me how long I’d worked there, sometimes I’d say, “Since I dyed my hair for fun instead of covering up the gray.” I was definitely covering up the gray […]

Black and white graphic of the Hill Tower at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin.

A recommended book: At Taliesin

Reading Time: 5 minutes The graphic at the top of this page is one of the designs created by the Taliesin Fellowship for their weekly “At Taliesin” newspaper articles that ran from 1934 through late 1937. Architect Randolph C. Henning found these “At Taliesin” articles and put them into a book that I want to write about today. The […]

This is drawing number 4930.006 in the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Library, Columbia University, New York).

I found another Taliesin drawing

Reading Time: 6 minutes This is drawing number 4930.006 in the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Library, Columbia University, New York). Two years ago I wrote here about when I found a Taliesin drawing of bunkbeds for a room at Taliesin in 1911. srsly: someone needs to give me a commission for […]

Photograph of Keith McCutcheon outside at a stone wall at Taliesin, c. 1932.

Letters from Keith McCutcheon to Franklin Porter

Reading Time: 6 minutes A photograph looking (plan) northeast at, apparently, Keith McCutcheon (1904-1968) in the Garden Court of Taliesin. The stone wall to his right was built while Wright reconstructed Taliesin after its second fire. Wright removed it in 1933. Since we are close to Gay Pride Day, I thought I would write about: an employee of Frank […]

The Chicago Day Book December 21, 1911. In the public domain.

Was Mamah Borthwick the love of Frank Lloyd Wright’s life?

Reading Time: 5 minutes Drawing of Mamah Borthwick. People have asked me this question about Mamah former wife of Edwin H. Cheney, and the woman for whom Wright first designed Taliesin south of Spring Green, Wisconsin. And who was murdered on August 15, 1914. Since Mamah’s birthday is June 19, I am addressing this question in this post.1 Or […]

Photograph taken in Taliesin's living room on Frank Lloyd Wright's birthday. Wright is with 5 others, including his wife, Olgivanna (standing), and daughter, Iovanna (seated closest to him).

Frank Lloyd Wright’s birthday

Reading Time: 5 minutes Frank Lloyd Wright was born on June 8, 1867. If you’re in the Wrightworld you know this. Read my post, “Keiran don’t try to correct the internet“, about how people originally thought he was born in 1869. In today’s post, I’m going to write about traditions within the Taliesin Fellowship connected to Wright’s birthday. In […]

Photo of artist Wafaa Bilal with photoshopped yellow paint blotches. In part by Keiran Murphy.

Memorial Day, Wafaa Bilal, and art:

Reading Time: 6 minutes This is a screenshot with yellow paint blots. I wrote “I support Wafaa” at the bottom of the photo. He’s the man I wrote a lot about, below.  This post isn’t going to be about Frank Lloyd Wright. Today I want to write about a work of art and how it made me appreciate Memorial […]

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