Writing Wright With Light-Photo Adventures at two Wright sites in Milwaukee

© Mark Hertzberg

Something wasn’t right today. I was not committed to taking pictures as I accompanied my 11th Road Scholar Frank Lloyd Wright trip, my second in a month, to sites in Milwaukee today.* As I have written in past blogs, I try to see and photograph something new every time I visit a familiar Wright site, but I did not feel photographically inspired this trip. When I got to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Burnham Block, our first stop, I thought I had seen all the pictures there were to take, on the trip in May:

https://wrightinracine.wordpress.com/2022/05/19/wright-tourism-is-back-bits-of-burnham/

So, I left my workhorse cameras on the bus and carried just my iPhone 11 Pro. Then I saw something that struck me. I gingerly took out my phone and snapped a picture:

I put the phone back in my pocket, thinking it would be a “one and done” day. I took two photos of Road Scholars eager to enter the American System-Built B-1 Richards House, and again figured, that would be it for the day:

Ah, but there was more to come, above me, and inside the house:

Done for the day? Maybe, but I decided to bring the “real” cameras with me when we got to the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Wauwatosa. I was immediately struck by the cloudless and rich blue sky. It seemed in synch with the blue color scheme of much of the church building. First, was the obligatory “record” snapshot before pushing my eye:

The “crown of thorns” below the domed roof presented myriad photos:

Then I came to the entry way and its cantilevered canopy:

There are thousands of two inch by two inch ceramic tiles above the roof of the canopy. Our docent, my friend Cathy Spyres, explained that these are the same tiles that were on the original roof of the church. The original tiles were not replaced after they started popping off the roof.

Then, onto a quest to see something new inside the church:

Spyres told the guests that blue (as well as gold) is one of the dominant colors inside and outside the church because it is part of the Byzantine heritage. So was the sky, I thought, as I heard her explanation.

I was in touch a few months ago with the director of a Wright site to take photos for a forthcoming Wright book by a university professor. The director was critical of one of my earlier photos from the site because it had an “on the spot look.” I asked for clarification: “On the spot means it looks like a hand-held shot. It isn’t carefully studied. It has a casual look.” I make no apologies for my style of working: “Casually,” and “hand-held.”

Photography literally means “writing with light.” Today the light was perfect for me to write Wright.

*The guests’ week-long itinerary begins in Chicago and Oak Park, continues to Racine, where I join them, then on to Milwaukee, Madison, and Spring Green. They see 12 Wright sites in Wisconsin during this deep immersion into the World of Wright:

https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-adventure/22976/architectural-masterworks-of-frank-lloyd-wright

Wright Tourism is Back: Bits of Burnham

© Mark Hertzberg (2022)

Sybil Knop talks to Road Scholar guests touring the Burnham Block May 19

The pandemic is far from over, but Wright tourism is ramping up again. I have helped lead the Wisconsin portion of Road Scholar’s week-long tour that starts in Chicago and ends in Spring Green since 2017 (a link to the itinerary is below). This week is our first of three tours for this year since 2019.. We have 16 guests from 10 states on this tour. Our first stop was the Burnham Block in Milwaukee which has six American System-Built homes, most owned by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Burnham Block, Inc.

I always challenge myself to see if I can find fresh photographs at Wright sites, no matter how often I have visited them. Here is what I saw on the Burnham Block after two years away from my Wright photo quests. I have two establishing shots showing signs of spring:

I concentrated more on patterns or design elements that I saw, mostly at the duplexes (dupli?) at 2032 – 2034 W. Burnham Street, left, and 2028 – 2030 next door.

This is not a version of the Frank Lloyd Wright signature tile…it is one of the faded red squares that have been used as social distancing markers on Burnham Street.

“I thought Frank Lloyd Wright hated basements.” They were not his favorite spaces, but he did not eschew them entirely. This is one of the vents from the basement at 2032 – 2034.

I told our guests that one of the great benefits of touring 2032 – 2034 is that while they generally see fully restored or rehabilitated Wright structures, this was an opportunity to see one in raw shape, as money from a Save America’s Treasures grants is used to bring it to house museum status like the Model B-1 down the block at 2714 W. Burnham St.

This period stove is in a closet until the restoration is done.

We then toured the Model B-1, one of the two single-family homes on the block. It was the first Burnham property acquired by what became the Burnham Block organization, in 2004. It has been fully restored with a Save America’s Treasures grant. It is a tribute to Mike Lilek and the organizations that have been the stewards of Burnham received not one, but two SAT grants.

There are still two duplexes that will need restoration, including the world’s only Frank Lloyd Wright building clad in aluminum siding:

I close this blog entry with a nod to my friend Cathy Spyres, docent extraordinaire at Wright’s Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church – her church – in Wauwatosa. The church is our second Wright stop on our Milwaukee itinerary:

Tomorrow’s itinerary is another full day: We are overnighting in Madison tonight, after also seeing the Milwaukee Art Museum (Saarinen / Calatrava) and Monona Terrace. Tomorrow we start at Jacobs 1 and then go to the Unitarian Meeting House, Wyoming Valley School and have lunch at Riverview Terrace before our in-depth tours of Taliesin and Hillside. I can attest from our own trips with Road Scholar that you see so much and learn so much (education is a major component of their programming) that you need a vacation after your RS vacation! Wright tourism is, indeed back in full swing!

Links:

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Burnham Block:

http://wrightinmilwaukee.com

This Road Scholar Trip Itinerary (we also have a full tour of the Hardy House in Racine and an exterior guided tour of Jacobs 1, although they are not listed in the advance itinerary):

https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-adventure/22976/architectural-masterworks-of-frank-lloyd-wright

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exploring Wright with my cameras: 9.17.19

(c) Mark Hertzberg

I have written several posts this year about the stimulating challenge of finding new ways to photograph Frank Lloyd Wright- designed buildings on my umpteenth visit to them. This week I am helping lead my fourth Road Scholar Wright – Wisconsin discovery tour of the year. Today’s photo adventure was in the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.

The photos above were all taken from the same seat.

The next two pictures were quick grab shots at Monona Terrace in Madison. They show the Wisconsin State Capitol framed by jets from the water fountain on the rooftop garden level:

Tomorrow we are off to visit Jacobs 1, the Unitarian Meeting House, Wyoming Valley School, Taliesin, and Hillside Home and School. Will I see something new? That’s the challenge! It happened often in past visits with RS groups this spring – and I have posted those photos – but I won’t force a photo. If nothing speaks to me tomorrow, so be it; I can’t shoot something just for the sake of taking a picture.

Photographing Wright

Photos (c) Mark Hertzberg 2017

I have been accompanying a Road Scholar architecture tour in Racine, Milwaukee, Madison, and Spring Green. Below are some photos I’ve shot during the tour, as well as some photos from a shoot at SC Johnson Tuesday:

The ceiling in the entry way of Wyoming Valley School, Spring Green:

Classroom window mitre at Wyoming Valley School:

View of the Wisconsin River from Riverview Terrace Restaurant:

The Ceiling in the Assembly Room of Hillside Home School, Spring Green:

Taliesin, Spring Green:

Unitarian Meeting House, Madison

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, Wauwatosa:

Wingpsread (H.F. Johnson Jr. Home), Wind Point:

SC Johnson Administration Building, Racine:

And, finally, one that did not work out…I needed a photo to illustrate Wright’s use of light in the Great Workroom…I did not want the typical documentary photo. I borrowed a fisheye lens from Nikon. I have given it a trial run with some people via email, and they have given it a thumbs down. I am inclined to agree with them. But I had to try it. Here is what that miss looks like:

Good Friday at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church

Photos and text (c) Mark Hertzberg

       I had the privilege of being invited by Father Angelo Artemas to photograph vespers and evening services yesterday, Good Friday in the Greek Orthodox Church, at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church near Milwaukee.

        I came there as an architectural photographer, but photographed as a photojournalist, to show how the building works for its intended purpose, as an ecclesiastical building. I was allowed to shoot from wherever I wanted to go during the services, and was warmly welcomed by the congregation. The photos that follow show the service and rich traditions of the church, as well as the building. They are in order: first, the afternoon vespers service, and then the candlelit evening service, which included a procession around the outside of the church.

Congregants kissed the icon of Jesus Christ before vespers

Father David Hostetler holds the Gospel aloft during a procession around the sanctuary

Much of the liturgy is conducted by the priests behind the screen in front of the sanctuary. This is because the priests lead the congregation in prayer, rather than praying to them. As shown in a previous posting of interior photos of the church (https://wrightinracine.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/annunciation-greek-orthodox-church-2/)

Eugene Masselink’s icons were replaced by icons that are said to better reflect church doctrine. That is why there are no plans to put Masselink’s icons back in the sanctuary. Masselink’s icons are shown in the previous article.

Father Angelo Artemas takes the icon of Christ down from the cross

The shrouded icon (right) is then carried around the church

At the end of the service congregants, including children, express their reverence as they kiss the Gospel, the cross, and art work of the crucifixion of Christ which are displayed in a flower-decorated symbolic representation of the empty tomb of Christ. The empty tomb is part of the procession outside the church during the evening service, below:

 

 

 

 

Father David Hostetler lights congregants’ candles

 

The procession forms to go outside

Father Angelo Artemas gives congregants flowers from the symbolic empty tomb, as they kiss his hand at the end of the evening service.

 

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church

Text and Photos (c) Mark Hertzberg

I recently had the privilege of being invited by Father Angelo Artemas to photograph the interior of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee.

Interestingly, with all the thousands of dollars in camera bodies and lenses I carry, the two thin horizontals were shot with my iPhone 4S using the Panorama camera function.

I have many “record shots” of the sanctuary, but the photos I am posting are photos of details in the church. One of the most important design features in the sanctuary are the three light poles in the stairwells. The three light poles represent the Holy Trinity. The white lights represent the stars, the blue lights the Virgin Mary.

Cindy, my wife and extra set of eyes, noticed a resemblance between the sculptured ends of the pews and the statue of Nakoma at the SC Johnson Research Tower in Racine. Maria Pandazi, a member of the congregation and past president of Frank Lloyd Wright Wisconsin (www.wrightinwisconsin.org) explained to me that, “The sculptured ends of the pews are intended to represent the Christian symbol of the fish pointed downward (the ball being the tail).”

Natural light is supplemented by light fixtures below the dome:

Wright’s windows were integral parts of his designs. There are art glass windows on either side of the front door. The first photo shows one of the windows and its reflection on the floor of the entry way.

The second photo shows one of the windows viewed through the glass wall added at the entrance to the sanctuary after Wright’s death. He did not design those windows.

Another significant change in the church was the removal of the icons which Eugene Masselink designed for the altar. The original icons are now displayed in the basement of the church:

The next photos are exterior photos shot last summer…