#710 Heigh-Ho Heigh-Ho

Heigh-Ho Heigh-Ho

It's back to work I go.

Since November, I've been working as the interim librarian at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR.

Librarianship has been very good to me - taking me around the world (as in my previous job) or as in this case, opening doors to the world of art.     

The Crystal Bridges library is in an amazing setting on the top floor of a Moshe Safdie-designed masterpiece overlooking the pond created by Crystal Spring.   

Even in winter, the view from my office window is magnificent.   Through my floor-to-ceiling windows, I can see a Frank Lloyd Wright house to the far left, Safdie's museum spaces in the foreground, and the Arkansas woods and water connecting it all.

This is a place where magic happens. 

Yours in enjoying the magic of librarianship,
Mary Jo

#699 Sharing the Bachman-Wilson House

The Bachman-Wilson house opened to the public on 11/11/2015 and Kelly has been giving tours ever since.

 As a volunteer house guide, he donates much time and energy to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR, about 1.5 hours south of our home.  The benefits are many:

• EDUCATION.  Kelly has been studying Frank Lloyd Wright and his designs for decades. To learn all about the Wright house that was moved from New Jersey to Bentonville, Kelly was required to pass an intensive 5-month training program, complete with lectures, readings, writing assignments.  He loved it.  
• INSPIRATION.  We are often inside this Usonian home and enjoy the designs that make it so special.  We especially like built-in light fixtures and built-in furniture, open floor plans, and common motifs that tie rooms together such as consistent lighting or continuous flooring.  We are inspired in the renovation of our own home.
• SHARING WITH FRIENDS. The biggest benefit of all is that the Bachman-Wilson house is a draw to  friends.  Of the 49,000 people who have visited the house since opening day, .05% are our friends who have come from afar to go on one of Kelly's tours.  And if we are really lucky, they come back home with us for a longer visit. 

We don't have a photo of everyone who made the trip, but the flags on the map below represent the home towns of those who joined us in Bentonville.  (Unfortunately, Brooklyn, NY had to be omitted from the map for purposes of scale.)   

 

Yours in sharing the Bachman-Wilson house with friends,
Mary

#681 Arkansas Architecture

Frank Lloyd Wright's art inspires us.  We also look to his student, the regional architect Fay Jones for art in architecture. We travel across the state line to Arkansas for some of that Fay Jones inspiration.

On our agenda are the Thorncrown Chapel and the Stoneflower Cottage.  We are inspired indeed.
Stoneflower Cottage was built first in 1965 and served as a model for Thorncrown Chapel built 15 years later. 

Stoneflower Cottage in the woods near Heber Springs

Thorncrown Chapel in the woods near Eureka Springs

"I've always felt that the details, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, are more than just nice things to notice.  They are manifestation and expression, a kind of measure of the intensity of caring." - Fay Jones

Jones clearly cared about the Stoneflower Cottage, a place of physical rest.

loft in Stoneflower Cottage

And he cared about the award-winning Thorncrown Chapel, a place of spiritual rest.

interior of Thorncrown Chapel

Yours in learning what we like from Mr Jones,
Mary

#515 Moshe Safdie - Wow!

Sometimes a building just makes me say Wow!

A few days ago I watched Charlie Rose interview architect Moshe Safdie.  I was shocked to learn how many Wow! Safdie buildings we've recently encountered in our travels without knowing their common architect. 

Singapore: Marina Bay Sands

National Mall: Unites States Institute of Peace

 Arkansas: Crystal Bridges Museum of Art

Kansas City: Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Montreal: Habitat '67

all images: msafdie.com

Architecture, it's my one weakness.  And maps.

Yours in enjoying the Wow! and the maps,
Kelly