Sunday in Oak Park, IL

Well, I managed to make it safely back to Mequon from Chicago. I decided to bypass some of the freeways and took the local Rt. 41 north out of the city. It was slow, but better than the alternative. I eventually had to get on the freeway and stayed in the right lane traveling at 55 in the “construction zone” 45 miles per hour speed limit. Ever car on the freeway passed me going about 70 or above. It was three lanes with cones on both sides and no shoulders. There weren’t as many trucks on the road as on Friday, so that made it a little better, but it wasn’t a very enjoyable drive.

This morning I got checked out of the hotel and then arrived at the Frank Lloyd house & studio about 10:30. I had reservations, so I picked up my MP3 player & headset for a walking tour of the area homes and then had a 12:00 guided tour of the home & studio. It was his “early work” which was mostly his pre-prairie style homes. After Taliesin and now this tour, I feel I am somewhat of an expert on his life and work. I was amused today that the tour guide didn’t mention anything about why he only lived there until 1909 (FYI- He went to Germany with Mrs. Cheney for 2 years and then when he returned started building Taliesin where he continued to live with her until her murder.) His official wife & family of course continued to live there for sometime, but then it was eventually sold. It was purchased by the preservation society in the 70’s and apparently it was in a bad state of disrepair. The society has restored it to the 1909 period when he last lived there.

I only got to drive by the Robie house yesterday on the Chicago bus tour. Sometime I will have to go back and tour that house, which is supposed to be his “Prairie Style” masterpiece. Hopefully I’ll have time on Friday to go by a church in Milwaukee that he designed. Someday I want to see Taliesin West in Scottsdale.

Well, I just have 5 more days in Wisconsin and then leave early Saturday morning to fly to Seattle to meet Katie. Maybe this week I’ll post some of my sculpture projects that we have been making in class.


The FLW house & studio in Oak Park.
Obama's house as the tour bus was passing by.
The very cool Cloud Gate sculpture. (notice the black & white photo--something on my camera got reset and all my pictures of Chicago and today in Oak Park are B&W with only some red. Very weird.
There is a big theater district in Chicago. I was thinking you you Katie!
Every bit as wonderful as I thought it would be.
This is a Cezanne I took for Nicole. Apparently this museum has a huge Impressionist/Post Impressionist collection---but I only got to see a few because of current rennovations--more bad luck.
This is a Buddah at the Art Institute. I wanted to take a picture for Brian only to reach down and realize I didnt have my camera. I went into complete panic and found the nearest security guard. It had been found on a bench where I had rested briefly. I was lucky! It seems to me I have done that before. Rouen comes to mind.....