We are reminded that this year’s Los Gatos historic homes tour is coming up this weekend (Nov 3 & 4, 2007). A $30 ticket (a tax deductible donation to the History Museum of Los Gatos) gets you an all-day (10 am – 4 pm) tour of six outstanding historic houses in Los Gatos’ historic district. If you live in the Bay Area, this is quite a treat; the small and very well maintained historic community may not be well-known outside of the Peninsula, but it should be – this neighborhood has some of the prettiest historic homes in Northern California.
exhibits / events
“The Connection” – October 26-28 2007 on the Roycroft Campus
Last week, Sandra Starks sent us a press release on an upcoming conference at the Roycroft campus:East Aurora, NY – The great minds of the turn of the 20th century is the theme of this intimate gathering of Arts & Crafts enthusiasts. It is the International Arts & Crafts Movement and the great men and women who espoused its philosophy that changed the world a little over one hundred years ago. From the 1860s to the 1920s, this historic social and artistic eruption that turned against the Industrial Revolution and embraced a human connection to our material surroundings was meant to discover a better way to live.
The Arts & Crafts Revival, now approaching the same number of years as the original wave, has also become a phenomenal reaction to intellectual progress i.e. the electronic world. This revival and the education it offers is another opportunity to balance life for the future with the hand and heart!
All of the Roycrofters celebrate our treasure of Arts & Crafts sites in Western New York and we recognize that, as it was then, we are all connected to the rich legacy of Arts & Crafts worldwide.
For more than 20 years, the Roycroft Campus has intermittently hosted long weekend conferences with a focus on brining together top-notch scholars to emphasize the wealth of knowledge and share it with colleagues and friends from near and far.
art by Raymond Knott, from the conference’s identity
historic window workshop in Sacramento, CA
Sacramento’s Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association and the Sacramento Bungalow Heritage Association are fighting a winning battle against cheap, unsightly and – in the long run – inefficient and environmentally damaging vinyl, aluminum and composite windows. Their solution? Fix your old wooden windows before switching over to something that seems like a good deal – but actually isn’t.
This coming October 6 and 7, they’re offering two workshops on the basic repair, maintenance, weatherization and repair of historic wood windows.
Volunteer instructors from the community will demonstrate how they worked on their own windows, preserved the character of their historic homes, and saved their pocketbooks! Historic windows were made to be taken apart and repaired, and with basic guidance, anyone can make their windows work as they originally did – with ease of operation and weather tight – and beautiful!
We ran a short piece about these workshops and the woman behind them two years ago; again, much thanks to Janice Calpo not only for the heads-up, but more importantly for making Sacramentans aware of the benefits of our old homes’ original windows!
Arts & Crafts Home: newsletter #68
Mark Golding – owner of Brighton’s Arts & Crafts Home shop and aficionado of all things Arts & Crafts – released the 68th edition of his electronic newsletter this past weekend. As usual, the newsletter is jam-packed. In addition to ads for interesting new items at the shop itself, Mark’s loaded the newsletter with a calendar of interesting events all over the UK & elsewhere – open houses, gallery shows, lectures, special events, and plenty more. Mark also includes many useful "trade secrets" for antique collectors in this issue.
Woodland CA home tours: September 8, 2007
Woodland is a small bedroom community just outside Sacramento, and several of my colleagues live there and commute in to the Capitol and other downtown offices. I was gratified to hear that the city is hosting a home tour – I’ve always been very impressed with the number of beautiful old Craftsman homes in the city’s core (although, unfortunately, much of Woodland is now being subsumed by suburban sprawl, identical tract homes in very uninviting gated and anonymous "communities" that are anything but).Several free guided walking tours of the town’s several historic neighborhoods, house tours of a number of important houses in the area, music, a pancake breakfast and plenty more (including guides in period costume) are all part of this year’s "Stroll Through History." Home tour tickets are $25 and may be purchased online. Hopefully events like this will revitalize the historic neighborhoods and maybe even teach developers that there’s a market for well-built, non-cookie-cutter homes with quirky inconsistencies, color, and warmth.
Frank Lloyd Wright & the house beautiful
From June 28 through October 8, the Portland Museum of Art is presenting a new exhibit showcasing "Frank Lloyd Wright’s passion for creating a new way of life for Americans through architecture."
In particular, the exhibition focuses on his legendary skill in
creating harmony between architectural structure and interior design
while fulfilling the needs of a modern lifestyle. Featuring
approximately 100 objects, the exhibition includes furniture,
metalwork, textiles, drawings, and accessories from the collections of
the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and other public and private
collections. Curated by Dr. Virginia T. Boyd, professor at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Frank Lloyd Wright and the House
Beautiful conveys the methods through which Wright implemented the
philosophy of the “house beautiful.” The exhibition explores how Wright
sought to develop a modern interior reflective of a uniquely American
spirit of democracy and individual freedom, illustrates his development
in integrating the space with furnishings and architectural elements,
and shows his experiments with bringing these ideas to the homes of
average Americans.Several podcasts and audio programs relating to the exhibit are also available:
- Frank Lloyd Wright: Exhibition Preview
- Frank Lloyd Wright: Who Was This Man?
- Frank Lloyd Wright: His Influence Today
- Maine Public Radio: Interview with Chief Curator Tom Denenberg
Billings MT seeks Craftsman homes for annual home tour
Planning for the Billings Preservation Society‘s annual Heritage Home
Tour is under way, and this year the tour will feature homes in the
Craftsman bungalow tradition.If
you have such a home and would be interested in participating in the
tour, please call Paul Whiting at 406.252.5646 as soon as possible.The tour will be on May 12, preceded by a panel discussion on May 10.
The panelists will discuss the history, care and restoration of homes built in this tradition.
The Billings Preservation Society promotes historic and cultural preservation activities in our community.
courtesy of Gazette News Services
Chicago Arts & Crafts Show – update
Our friend David Ford, of Ford Craftsman Studios (makers of some of the nicest contemporary Arts & Crafts textiles, stencils and tiles I’ve seen), sends the following update regarding the Chicago Arts & Crafts Show, coming up on May 11 and 12 on the Concordia University campus.
The date has been set and I think all of the contracts for dealers have been sent in for the 2nd annual Chicago Arts & Crafts show at Concordia University in Oak Park, Illinois. Last year’s show had a great turnout with a pretty good split between new craftsmen and antique dealers present. The web page was recently updated with a list of the vendors.
Sacramento Antique Market
This past weekend I went to the Sacramento Antique Faire, under the freeway just north of Broadway. It’s really grown over the years – they now take up two whole parking lots, almost completely protected from the rain, and have some really excellent dealers taking part. I saw lots and lots of Bauer and other depressionware in excellent condition and at very good prices, and one dealer – whose name I neglected to get – had a terrific selection of Roycroft copper, Grueby and Newcomb and other art pottery, and one of the prettiest pieces of A&C metal I’ve ever seen – a silver on green bronze Heintz inkwell.
With the exception of one angry dealer who wouldn’t allow photos to be taken even though the Faire is on public property (apparently he had fallen prey in the past to some kind of Ebay scam, where people used photos of his work to advertise things they didn’t even have to sell) – he made me delete the photographs – everyone I met was wonderful and wanted to talk about what they collected and sold. The fair is held the second Sunday of every month and is definitely worth a visit should you be within an hour or two of Sacramento.
more details on the Style 1900 party in Asheville
Jennifer Strauss posts on the Style 1900 list about a special cocktail party at the Asheville conference. Should you be at the Grove Park Inn for this wonderful annual get-together, show and conference, please do stop by to say HI to the Style 1900 folks for us:
As many of you know, Style 1900 is throwing a cocktail party during the Grove Park Inn Conference to celebrate our 20th Anniversary. The party is on Saturday, February 17, from 8-10pm, at Elaine’s Piano Bar, 6th Floor, Vanderbilt Wing, at the Grove Park Inn.
Early birds to the party will receive a special canvas tote bag, with gift items generously donated by:
Bungalow Bob’s Pet Designs • CJ Hurley Century Arts • Craftsman Auctions • Dard Hunter Studios • Door Pottery • Ephraim Faience Pottery • Fair Oak Workshops • Ford Craftsman Studios • Motawi Tileworks • Old California Lantern: Flashlight • Penelope Cloutier • Roycroft Shops • Russ Billington Graphic Arts • Skidmutro Creative & Layout • Style 1900
Of special note is the contribution by Ephraim Faience Pottery. They are placing a custom wrapped chocolate bar in each gift bag. Underneath one of the wrappers will be a golden ribbon. The person who gets the candy bar with the golden ribbon will win their Unity
Bridge Vase, which is part of their 10th Anniversary Collection. Kevin from Ephraim will attend the reception and present the winner with the vase, which will be on display at the party.
