Frank Lloyd Wright’s Samara and Furniture with Soul at Historic City Hall
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Samara and Furniture with Soul at Historic City Hall
Historic City Hall Arts & Cultural Center will host an opening reception for two new exhibitions on Friday, March 4 from 5:30-8 p.m. All ages are welcome, admission is free, and refreshments will be served. Both exhibitions will be on display through May 28, 2016.
Dr. John E. and Catherine (“Kay”) Christian, a Purdue University professor and his wife, had followed and admired Frank Lloyd Wright’s work and they were sure they wanted him to design their dream home. But with a limited budget, was their project too small for such a renowned figure? It took some convincing, but following a series of memorable meetings between 1950 and 1952 and after a flurry of correspondence, Wright accepted the commission. He suggested that one of his Usonian designs would fit the Christians' needs. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Samara: A Mid-Century Dream Home is the story of how a young couple from Indiana and a world-famous architect worked together to build what was, for the Christian family, truly their dream home. It is also the story of how the family continued to honor the architect’s vision long after his death.
Told through the juxtaposition of original objects and furniture, architectural fragments, rare archival materials, historic photographs, and video footage, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Samara explores the creation of a Wright house through the eyes a client who spent more than fifty years fulfilling the architect’s Usonian vision. First conceived by Wright in the 1920s, the Usonian house (an abbreviation for “United States of North America”) was meant to be a modest-sized, environmentally sensitive dwelling affordable to middle class families. For John and Kay Christian, this meant creating a basic home that they could complete and furnish to Wright’s specifications over time as their finances allowed. Samara is still a work in progress today.
The exhibition traces how Frank Lloyd Wright and the Christians worked together to design the house, and illuminates how both sides compromised to bring the project to completion. (Yes, Frank Lloyd Wright did compromise.) Historic floorplans, client correspondence, and home movies show how the construction process moved forward even though Frank Lloyd Wright never visited the site in Indiana. Banner-scale graphics, original furnishings, and historic textile and scrapbook samples show how the Christians balanced custom-designed Wright pieces with commercially licensed models in the 1950s, then completed many of the architect’s additional custom elements over the next thirty years. The exhibit also looks at how the home and its furnishings exemplified Wright’s philosophies about the relationship between architecture and nature, ranging from the extensive use of windows and terraces to the origins of design motifs such as the “samara” concept.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Samara was made possible by support from the National Endowment for the Arts American Masterpieces initiative,
Sandra Walkin, woodworker and furniture designer, will be present for a meet & greet during this evening’s opening reception. Walkin combines wood and metal to create one-of-a-kind pieces for Furniture with Soul. Walkin lives in Lake Charles and attended McNeese State University. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from University of Louisiana at Monroe. Her education in European Plasters, Metallic Plasters, and Furniture Finishing led to her interest in furniture building. Her craft is concentrated on using natural edged slabs of wood, methods of wood joinery, metal inlay, gilding and metal patination. Every piece has a story to tell. Walkin says, “There is no greater artist than nature. I only enhance what she (Mother Nature) has already done. My love for what I do is reflected in my work. Hence, that is why I say I build furniture with soul.”
Historic City Hall is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are gladly accepted. Charlestown Farmers’ Market is open on Bilbo Street behind the center every Saturday 8 a.m.-noon. For more information, please call 491-9147 or visit www.cityoflakecharles.com.