Next stop on the tour was a terrace and breezeway which leads to the dining room (and the next stop on our tour). This area is filled with more artwork done by students and artists-in-residence for our enjoyment.

First is another of the Asian sculptures — this one in much better shape than the one at the beginning of the tour.

I am not sure what this one is supposed to represent but it made me think of an angry god looking over an angry sea.

This is part of a three-part piece which was created by a student to honor the passing of three family members (if I recall the story correctly). The other two parts contain plants but being out of season, they did not look so artistic.

This sculpture seemed to be a tribute to the joy of the dance.

And this one made me think of a teacher, perhaps a nun in a Catholic school, with arms outstretched providing a future for these kids through education.

No mistaking this sculpture, a mother kissing her newborn child.

Just to the left of this photo is the dining room. Our tour actually included a stop there with a snack. Students still eat here so our stop had to be scheduled between the student mealtimes.

In addition to the snacks, we had a real treat — a visit by one of the architects, Arnold Roy. He was one of the students here back when Taliesin West was a desert camp and, over the years, he helped build the permanent structures during the winter months. He and the rest of the students would spend the summer months in Taliesin in Wisconsin. After graduation, he became a resident architect.

He mentioned some of the work he had done including a plan for a home for Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller — a home that was never built. I asked him if that was the same design that was recently built as the golf clubhouse for the King Kamehameha Club on Maui. He smiled and said that it was. You can see my photos of that clubhouse by clicking here.

I later asked him if they still revive some of Wright's plans for other projects but he said that they do not. Previously, the resident architects had their own firm but complications arose over profit vs. non-profit (Taliesin West is non-profit while the architecture school and the firm were for profit) and the firm was dissolved.

Behind the dining room is the bell that is still used to call the students to lunch. I assume this was necessary since students could be working anywhere on the property and needed some signal when the meal was being served.

In the courtyard behind the dining room is a wonderful dragon sculpture. This was actually a gift to Taliesin West (rather than a student design) and included a pipe through its body for water — making it a very interesting fountain. However, Mrs. Wright had a different idea and connected the pipe to a gas line — and thus turned it into a fire-breathing dragon. Our tour guide mentioned that they had had an evening event the previous night — with the dragon was doing its thing — and that the sculpture had not yet been cleaned up — it was still covered with soot.