Fall 2008Volume 10, Number 2www.ACSCNY.org

Pilgrimage to Parsippany Mary Ann Smith

n the last day of May 2008, a small group of Arts and Crafts Society of Central New York members and others had a memorable visit to Gustav Stickley’sCraftsman Farms in Parsippany, New Jersey. We were greeted by Heather Stivison, the Executive Director of the Craftsman Farms Foundation, Davey Willans, President, and Craftsman Farms Board members David Lowden, Peter Copeland and Peter Mars. Together, they led us through the Stickley house explaining what had been restored and what additional plans they had for the house and outbuildings. Frank Morigi, ACSCNY treasurer, presented the director with a check from the Arts and Crafts Society of Central New York to be used for either a reproduction bookcase or purchase of the original bookcase for the living room. Our tour ended with a wine and cheese reception in the one cottage now restored. We also had a chance to shop in their excellent book and crafts store. A good time was had by all.

Stickley’s Craftsman Farms began in 1908 as his dream of a school of citizenship for boys with a log clubhouse as the main building. Although the school was never to be, the log clubhouse evolved into Stickley’s home by 1911. The Craftsman Magazine (November 1911) contained a detailed article about the log house complete with photographs of the exterior and interior. These images along with others have proved to be invaluable in the restoration of the home. Now, when we visit Gus’ house, we see it as it looked so long ago with its dark log walls, copper hooded stone fireplaces, Craftsman furniture and light fixtures and Donegal rugs. Furniture and light fixtures are either the originals or skillfully produced reproductions. Craftsman Farms was a real operating farm enterprise whose produce and dairy products were used in the restaurant of Stickley’s Craftsman Building in New York.

When I first visited Craftsman farms in the early 1980’s, it was

still owned by the descendants of the Farney family who had purchased it from Stickley in 1917 after his bankruptcy. Some of the original furniture was still there although other pieces had already been sold. The cottages and other outbuildings seemed to be sinking into the ground in disrepair. Certainly, in the early 1980’s, few people knew much about Craftsman Farms or cared about the fate of the bucolic site.

Then something of a miracle happened…Local people and others interested in the Arts and Crafts Movement were galvanized in action when a developer proposed construction

of fifty-three townhouses on the site. In the late 1980’s, the Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills purchased Craftsman Farms. In 1989, the Craftsman Farms Foundation, a private entity, was incorporated and then in 1991, the Township and the Foundation signed an operating agreement by which the municipality owned Craftsman Farms, now designated as a National Historic Landmark, to be run by the private foundation. The restoration of the log house began in 1994 and continues to the present day. Furniture original to the house was sold off in the 1980’s, but has found a way back to Craftsman Farms.

If we want to learn what Gustav Stickley was all about, a visit to his Craftsman Farms is imperative. Its rebirth inspires us as a sign and symbol of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

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Living Room at the Log House, Craftsman Farms, ca. 1915, showing the original bookcase.

ummer has ended and it’s time to put the annual meeting on your calendar. We are very proud to have Jack Quinan, internationally known expert on FrankLloyd Wright, as our guest speaker this year. It should prove to be both an educational and entertaining presentation. Please do what you can to attend; you won’t want to miss Prof. Quinan’s illustrated talk.

The interest in the Arts and Crafts Period does not seem to wane. This fall a show will open at the Wadsworth Antheneum in Hartford, CT. showcasing the important collection of longtime collector Steven Gray. There will also be a beautifully illustrated catalog to accompany it.

I have also heard that the Dallas Museum is planning a show on Gustav Stickley to open in 2010. Continue checking our web site at http://www.acscny.org for updates.

In the past I have mentioned our need for involvement from membership. This request still stands so please consider joining our board or a committee.

In this newsletter I asked Frank Morigi to write on the process of putting one of our trips together. Please read this. Our trip to Craftsman Farms was enjoyed by those that attended but was not full. We have often in the past asked the membership if trips are desired, and have received enthusiastic affirmations. Please send me an email if you have comments, suggestions or concerns. If the effort is made, we would love for more to enjoy.

I hope to see everyone at our annual meeting,

Dave Rudd

From Our President

The Guild is housed in a Queen Anne, townhouse at No. 6 Queen Square in Bloomsbury, acquired by the Guild in 1914. The Guild Hall displays a collection of paintings and bronze busts of past masters (below). Also shown is the entrance door. There were about 100 “brothers” at the meeting. The Guild has monthly presentations and also sponsors trips to places of interest.

Visit www.artworkersguild.org.

Art Workers Guild, cont’d from page 4...

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ates, schedules, tour guides, lecturers, a full day of food service and transportation are back of the house items that take months of active planning and hours of phone calling and electronic messaging by the ACSCNY board to run a smooth educational and comfortable tour. It is not an exaggeration to say that it requires a solid month of constant communication to nail down a bus or limo service for the dates and at price structures that meet our requirements. And getting everyone fed is always a challenge. About two weeks before one of our trips, the restaurant cancelled out (bigger party), so we had to find and renegotiate for another fast. On another trip, a picnic was scheduled to get around restaurant problems. Our three hour drive from Syracuse was through black clouds and rain storms, but when we reached our destination the sun immediately came out, in keeping with “the Art That Is Life” tradition.

The drive to Craftsman Farms lasted 3 1/2 hours. Arriving, we were given a tour of the site. The Farms is surrounded by superhighways, suburban shopping malls and housing.

When you are driving through this overbuilt suburbia, it is

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Planning an ACSCNY Tour Frank Morigi

arwin Martin House Update: Since the ACSCNY visit in 2006, the reconstruction of the pergola, conservatory, carriage house/stables, garden wall/pool and greenhouse has been completed. The view from the front entry of the main house through the 100 foot long pergola to a 9 foot tall cast of the Nike of Samothrace in the conservatory is spectacular. The walk through the pergola is dramatic; it never crossed my mind that the sides of this covered walk were open to the elements. Wright’s conception of home is here beautiful and inspiring, giving one the feeling of familial protection and well being while still being part of the natural environment.

The main house is now being torn apart and put back together as it looked between 1903 and 1905 when it was built. This includes removing a number of later Wright designed or approved changes. The interior finish team has been analyzing samples from walls throughout the house. They have found the walls were covered in an encaustic paint (beeswax and pigment) in color variations that match the greens and ochers in Wright’s stained glass windows. Unfortunately, the original finishes have separated under more recent paint layers and the base plaster is reverting to powder. The restoration architects will have to find a way to put the restored finishes on existing walls without the substrate collapsing.

The central double sided fireplace that divides entry circulation and living room has been rebuilt. The wisteria pattern mosaic has been mocked up as a full scale drawing awaiting only money and artisans to complete its reconstruction. The black iron firedogs reproduced from photographs have been installed. They look quite stately on both sides of the fireplace. The purple martin houses that lately were roosting on the entry parapet of the main house are now back in place on the corner piers of the conservatory. They are Wright designed concrete pagodas that look great but have never attracted birds.

The complex is now geothermally heated and cooled. Twenty-seven wells have been drilled with another ten in place for the Toshiko Mori designed visitors center, the foundations of which are currently being laid and a big footprint it is.

The Barton House was the first built on the site. It was used by DM as his headquarters to supervise construction and leased to his sister’s family when the main house was completed. The interior, including original light fixtures, is extant and will be restored. The Gardener’s Cottage was purchased by an architect when the complex was broken up. He modernized it for his own

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Living the Arts & Crafts Life Frank Morigi

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her 95th birthday on February 22 a few friends gathered for a little lunch and to be present when Felicity received the first copy of her latest book, published by Syracuse University Press. Child in Jerusalemis a charming child’s-eye memoir of her family’s sojourn in Jerusalem from 1919 to 1923. Her father, the famous Arts and Crafts figure, Charles Robert Ashbee, had gone after World War I to help rebuild the city’s walls. You may recall that Felicity came to Syracuse in 2002 for a book signing at Daltons. Syracuse University Press had then brought out her book, about her mother, Janet Ashbee: Love, Marriage and the Arts & Crafts Movement. This was the final visit of three to Syracuse. Until recently, she was running around London “like a teenager”, as her late sister Mary commented, taking the steps of her flat two at a time. Felicity died peacefully on August 26th.

Felicity visited Syracuse several years ago, in the early 80s, invited to meet some of the Arts and Crafts folks in Syracuse at a lunch. Mary Ann Smith and I were there among others. Felicity was tracing the footsteps of her famous father, who had lectured around the country on the Arts and Crafts Movement early in the century. He had visited Frank Lloyd Wright, who in turn visited him in Chipping Campden. Felicitiy remembered him as “the odd little man with a swooping cape and a funny hat.” She was NOT impressed. Wright had taken the famous photo of CRA that hung on her wall, unidentified until the Victoria & Albert museum, years later, asked if they could take its frame off, only to discover Wright’s signature on the back.

The second of four sisters, Felicity was devoted to her father, trying to be “the son he never had.” She served in the Women’s Air Force during World War II. Trained as an art teacher, she taught in private girls’ schools, designed posters and textiles, traveled, and documented her long and colorful life in paintings, photographs, and memoirs. She kept the

family history alive. Her house was, bursting with its archives, a treasure chest of journals, books and photographs, CRA’s furniture and silver, and Arts and Crafts memorabilia.

Felicity’s travels in the US took her to Chicago and as far as California; she gave a delightful lecture wherever she went, bursting into song as she recalled her days in Chipping Campden. She brought her talk to the Arts & Crafts Society for a double bill with Alan Crawford, her father’s biographer. She enjoyed seeing her friends in Syracuse. Felicity was a wonderful correspondent and had two address books, stuffed full and bound

with rubber bands, one for home and one for abroad. In London, she was surrounded by family and friends until the day she died. Her ashes are interred with her parents in the family grave in the churchyard of Seal Parish Church, near Sevenoaks, Kent. Her name will be added to the existing headstone, “to prove that I existed,” as she had put it. A Thanksgiving for her life will take place on Thursday 2nd October at 6 pm, at the Art Worker’s Guild, 6 Queen Square, London, under the portrait of her father, who was a founder of the Guild.

Cleota Reed

he Art Workers Guild was founded in 1884 by a small group of painters, architects and craftsmen. There are now about 250 members, an equal number of men and women, actively engaged in an Art or a Craft. To gain admission, you must benominated by a current “Brother”, as members are called. A “Master”, who is a senior brother and is distinguished in his or her field, serves for one year. The current Master is Assherton Gorton, a former art director for film and television. He convened the meeting wearing a long red robe designed by C.F.A. Voisey (Master in 1924) and wearing a silver chain and jewel designed by Sir George Frompton (Master 1902), which bears the names of all past Masters, including such distinguished names as Walter Crane (1888), William Morris (1892), and C.R. Ashbee (1929). The list of the early brothers and Masters comprises a virtual who’s who of the early Arts and Crafts movement in Britain.

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hard to believe that you will find such a tranquil oasis just past the median strip. We then went to lunch at the Tabor Road Tavern, a fancy new roadhouse with building and décor reminiscent of Adirondack and Craftsman styles. Great food, service and ambiance. We had extra large Caesar and baby green in vinaigrette salads to pass and a variety of hot gourmet sandwiches – crab cake, eggplant, turkey, a signature meatloaf – to chose from. Each plate had a cup sized copper and brass bucket with kettle chips. After lunch, we were given a comprehensive tour of the Log House followed by a wine reception in a recently restored cottage.

Our route took us through the Delaware River Gap and the Poconos with lots of deer and wild turkey lurking at us from the woods. Provided were breakfast, snacks, wine and hors d’oeuvres for the trip using the back row of bus seats as our picnic table. It was suggested that we name this service the “Road Kill Café” due to the prevalence of carcasses along the road that time of year. On the way down, we had a rest stop at a visitors center in PA just past the NY border. Returning, we stopped at one just past the NJ border. These proved to be new well designed modern buildings: one a terne roof pyramid with a series of stainless steel broken arches leading to the entry, the symbolism relating to the Keystone State; the other, in a white CA Neutra style with extensive roof gardens and cloth sails acting as wind breaks and sun screens. Our group was thrilled by these bonus attractions.

Planning an ACSCNY Tour, cont’d...

“George Ohr Rising” Exhibit Comes to New York State

G eorge Ohr, who worked in Biloxi, Mississippi around 1900, created ceramics that made a unique contribution to the American Art Pottery Movement. A master of his medium, his wares were always unique and often bizarre and humorous. Due to the damage done by Hurricane Katrina to the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum, the museum decided to tour the exhibit, “George Ohr Rising: The Emergence of An American Master,” to several museums in Canada and the United States. Comprised of 42 pieces of his work, the show will be at the Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art at Alfred University in Alfred, New York, from October 21, 2008 to February 1, 2009.

The exhibit will travel to the Gardiner Museum in Ontario, Canada, and will open there on May 15, 2009 to September 1, 2009. If there is interest from our membership, we will organize a day trip to see the museum and this show.

For specific images and more information, visit www.georgeohr.org.

Living the Arts & Crafts Life, cont’d...

use including building a rear addition and installing custom light fixtures designed in the Wright style. It is sensitively done and very livable. It was just purchased by the trust who have no plans for its use yet: possibly home for a curator, study center or reception rentals.

rcadian Berkeley: Ann Tussing, an ACSCNY board member, gave a talk on family life in Berkeley, CA during the early years of the 20th century. Both of her grandparents, theGibbs and the Underhills, took an active role in “the life that is art” participating in theatricals, masques, musicales, costumed community banquets, art classes and nature study. And both sets were friends of the Arts and Crafts architect Bernard Maybeck, who built them homes just northwest of the university.

Ann’s mother, Kathryn Underhill, grew up to study decorative art and drafting at the Academy Julian in Paris, returning to Berkeley to teach crafts in the high school and to work with local architects in the A&C/Mission style. In the Berkeley hills that style was characterized by an exterior of redwood shingles and deep roof overhangs with decorative brackets, all left to weather unpainted, except for window and door frames painted in bright red, orange or blue. The multilevel forms of the buildings hugged the hills without cutting into them excessively. The interiors were redwood or mahogany panels and trim, with redwood beamed ceilings and expanses of windows to capture the views and bring in the Pacific light. After her marriage, Kathryn designed and built her own home using these elements at 50 Poppy Lane. The house was in the center of a three lot parcel filled with colorful gardens, redwood groves, play areas and pieces of her architectural ceramics hidden amid the flora.

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Jack Quinan, Ph.D., an internationally known art historianand expert on American master architect Frank Lloyd Wright, will

present an illustrated lecture at the annual luncheon meeting of the Arts & Crafts Society of Central New York.

The Darwin D. Martin House in Buffalo, New York, is one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s earliest and most important masterpieces. Built in

the prairie style, this large residential complex was designed, landscaped, and extensively furnished by the architect. Today, the entire complex is

in the final phase of a multi-million dollar restoration that includes reconstruction of lost architectural elements demolished in the late ‘50s.

Professor Quinan’s talk, “The Restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House and the Question of Authenticity,” will both document the remarkable

progress made on the restoration while at the same time discuss the issues of authenticity that are raised by building from scratch three parts of the complex

that were demolished. Dr. Quinan will also include the new construction of three Wright buildings in Buffalo from drawings of projects that

were never realized.

Jack Quinan is professor of art history at the University at Buffalo (State University of New York) and curator of the Darwin D. Martin

House. He has written extensively on the topic of Frank Lloyd Wright and is a founding member of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building

Conservancy. Quinan is currently assembling an exhibition entitled “Frank Lloyd Wright’s Buffalo Venture” for the UB Anderson Gallery

to open in mid-September 2009.

Fall 2008 EventsSunday, September 28, 2008, 11:00 a.m.Annual Luncheon Meeting Onondaga Country Club, Lyndon Corners, Dewitt

Jack Quinan - The Restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright’sDarwin D. Martin House and the Question of Authenticity

Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 7:00 p.m.The Architects of Stickley Furniture Greg Vadney - Stickley Museum, Fayettevillewith tour of museum following

For more information, contact Dave Rudd at 315-463-1568