October 25-27, 2024
advanced photo workshop with andrew pielage
Three-day photography workshop with renowned FLW photographer Andrew Pielage. Dive deeper into photography while exploring the FLW Laurent House, the FLW Penwern Estate, and the internationally-renowned Anderson Japanese Gardens.
October 26, 2024
Professor Emeritus Kimiko Gunji will introduce the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, 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.
The tea ceremony will take place in the living room/cove of the Laurent House and is limited to 10 people.
Our November lecture will feature Laurent House docents, architect and historian Greg Brewer and Mollie Pratt Singh. Greg is currently working on a book about the Galesburg Country Homes and Parkwyn Village. Mollie grew up in Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1948 Pratt house, commissioned and built by her parents Eric and Pat Pratt.
From the 1930s onward, Frank Lloyd Wright viewed his work as part of a single great undertaking: the realization of Broadacre City, his all-encompassing vision for the reform of American cities and society. Wright’s designs for the cooperative communities of Parkwyn Village and the Galesburg Country Homes are perhaps his most fully realized expression of the Broadacre ideal. Greg will discuss the history and design of both projects.
Mollie will share her firsthand experience of growing up in the Pratt house. Following her talk, Mollie will be signing copies of her parents’ book, The Pratt House and Frank Lloyd Wright: Building in a Cooperative Community, 1947-1979.
Enjoy the beauty of the Laurent House and Visitor Center, both decorated for the holidays with the Laurents’ personal collection of ornaments, as well as many mid-century Christmas decorations. Each guided tour will end with holiday refreshments (Swedish Christmas cookies and hot chocolate) at our Visitor Center.