sunday, June 1, 2025
3:30 – 4:30 pm
Taliesin Preservation’s Director of Programs Caroline Hamblen will reflect on the evolution of Taliesin as a Laboratory of Living. Frank Lloyd Wright’s home estate demonstrates where architecture, nature, and culture converge around a sensitivity to place. Wright, the Fellowship, and all those who came before them repeatedly tested the boundaries of what was possible and forged a pathway to seeing the world differently. The ongoing organizational goal of Taliesin Preservation is to demonstrate responsibility to place and inspire living a more beautiful life.
Caroline and her husband Floyd joined Taliesin in the 1980s as apprentices and became members of the Taliesin Fellowship in 2001. Since then, they have lived as residents at Taliesin Wisconsin, raised a family within its community, and continue their stewardship today, Floyd as a licensed architect and Caroline in her role as Director of Program.
Caroline is a native of Frankfurt, Germany and holds a master’s degree in K-8 Education and Music from the University of Arts in Berlin.
Japanese tea ceremony
Tranquility over a Bowl of Tea with Professor Emeritus Kimiko Gunji
Friday, June 20th at 10:00 a.m.
Saturday, June 28th at 2:30 p.m.
Kimiko Gunji is Professor Emeritus of Japanese Arts & Culture in the School of Art & Design, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She taught at the University of Illinois from 1974 -2011. Her courses included the Way of Tea and Zen Aesthetics, the Art of Japanese Flower Arrangement, and the Campus Honors Program Seminar: Rigidity and Flexibility in Japanese Arts and Culture. Professor Gunji was also Director of Japan House at the University of Illinois from 1998-2011.
Professor Gunji will introduce the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, as she has been doing at Taliesin, featuring a special Japanese sweet from her newly published Wagashi (Japanese sweets) book.
The tea ceremony, with over 500 years of history, has developed into a unique art form in Japan. While many people around the world drink tea, only in Japan has it been elevated to such a time-honored art form. The tea ceremony is a compilation of Japanese arts and culture, encompassing philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, and various arts such as architecture, landscape architecture, flower arrangement, incense, calligraphy, fabrics, metals, bamboo, lacquer, and ceramics.
This traditional tea ceremony will take place in the living room/cove of the Laurent House and is limited to 10 people.
2025 summer camp
Does your child like to design, create, and build? Sign them up for the 2025 Laurent House Summer Camp! Students will explore art, design, and architecture with hands-on construction and art-related materials, and learn how nature inspired Mr. Wright’s visionary work, including the beautiful, unique Laurent House.
Fee: $120 per student (includes a daily visit to the Laurent House). Financial scholarships available.
June 16 thru June 19, 2025 9 a.m. to noon (ages 8-12)
June 23 thru June 26, 2025 9 a.m. to noon (ages 8-12)
July 14 thru July 17, 2025 9 a.m. to noon (ages 12-16)
July 21 thru July 24, 2025 9 a.m. to noon (ages 8-12)
Laurent House Visitor Center
4627 Spring Brook Road, Rockford, Illinois 61114
For an application or more information, click on the link below or email Betsy Anderson at [email protected] or call the Laurent House at (815) 877- 2952.
This program is partially supported through grants from the Kjellstrom Family Foundation and the Illinois Arts Council.
saturday, September 6, 2025
Join us for our annual fundraiser to support the ongoing preservation of the Laurent House by Frank Lloyd Wright! This year’s event will take place on Saturday, September 6, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. at the Laurent House. Stay tuned for further details!