David & Gladys Wright House Plus Kaneko Sculptures, Part 1
Last fall, I received an email invitation to a special event at the David & Gladys Wright House. They were going to conduct an auction of sculptures by Jun Kaneko and the public was invited to an Open House and viewing of the sculptures to be auctioned off. In fact, I forwarded that email to everyone on my LAHP distribution list — perhaps you might recall that. I did run into one friend at the event who is on my list — he and his wife seemed to really enjoy it. I hope others took advantage of this opportunity as well — especially since the public tours are currently suspended.
There was not just one sculpture but a Stonehenge of artwork.
As I was exploring, I heard what sounded like a flying hive of bees — but it was just a drone. On the ground I saw the controller, a Phoenix Police officer. Good idea, I would hate to see any of these sculptures vandalized.
The house was completely surrounded by these large works of art. These were in back of the house.
I especially liked this shot — capturing both the imagination of the artist and the genius of the architect.
Walking up the ramp, I spotted a couple people inside chatting at the open window. Good, it was not as crowded as I expected.
Looking down, it was clear that a special event was being held. The bartender was not so busy at this early hour but I'll bet she would have a lot more customers as the auction start time approached.
Inside a young man was playing the piano with the beautiful light filling the room. There was a tripod set up as someone was capturing video of the event.
Wright's signature circular fireplace even had a small amount of firewood ready to warm the evening if it cooled off appreciably.
It is hard to miss Frank Lloyd Wright's artistic style in the custom furniture pieces he designed for this house — a stylistic theme to be found in most of the buildings he designed.
On a lighted shelf in one of the bedrooms stood this sculpture of a flutist, which also appears to reflect Wright's design eye.
In the corner of one of the bedrooms sat another Wright-designed chair. When I downloaded my images that I shot that day, this photo grabbed me as somehow special. It was almost like Frank Lloyd Wright's spirit was sitting there, smiling his approval of the folks coming through the house and enjoying his architectural heritage. Thank you, Mr. Wright.
