Taliesen West

This past President's holiday weekend McKenna and I decided to take a quick trip to get out of the cold Utah winter.  As usual, we basically looked up the warmest locations and narrowed the list.  We found ourselves on a night flight to Phoenix.  It was perfect.....!  73 degrees.

As we thought about what next steps I remembered that Taliesin West was actually out in the Scottsdale desert and I had never seen it.

Taliesin West is a most interesting part of FLW's story.... in 1930's, with his 3 piece suit and at 70 years of age, he picked a place literally in the desert on the brow of a mountainous hill far from any services at the time, which were scanty at best and with his small army of apprentices from all over the world and 37 vehicles of supplies he carved out a masterpiece in the desert called Taliesin West.  He was tired of cold Wisconsin winters and fell in love with the desert landscape environment of Arizona.  He experimented and created a most incredible community and home.  It still to this day attracts architects to its' offices hoping to further his philosophy of "Organic Architecture" which he is a pioneer of and as recently recognized continues to further his reach on how design should continue to shape the way people live.

We had a little time to kill before the tour so we immersed ourselves in the book store where we learned alot.  An amazing talent that really did change the way Americans and others live their lives.  If you ever have had a "great room" in your home, you can thank him for that design....  Who doesn't now?

He did things here that were unbelievable.....He used all the natural resources to build Taliesin West, and we got to tour it, touch it and sit in many of its rooms for a couple of hours.  Here are some pics because it is hard to describe.  You just have to experience it first hand

The square red box symbol showing intersecting lines in this picture is the brand logo for Taliesin West.  It as taken from an actual indian petroglyph that is still on the property signifying hands clasping.  It was so cool to see the original stone:

There is something quite extraordinary when you make the physical transition from the outside into the inside of one of his structures or rooms.  There is instant calm, perfect lighting, a sense of openness and even if there are 20 people in the room, it feels as if you could fit more....

He is a master of light and geometry among other talents.  Those two, in particular, are constantly at play.  He uses triangles everywhere, especially in places where the light will cast interesting shadows to cause interest and reflection.  He does this everywhere.....  

He mirrors the slant of a roof line with that of the backdrop of hills and plays with many interesting angles, even fireplaces in almost every room.

Everything about Taliesin West makes you want to linger, and not go.....  I felt similarly at Macchu Pichu, Borobodur, Mont St. Michel or Iguacu Falls.  Places where time seems to stop and the majesty and magic of nature combined with structure is perfect.    

How cool that there are 7 more now to see on this world heritage tour.  In a coming day, I will see the "one" that has been in my imagination forever -- Fallingwater.  The anticipation is growing, and I get pretty excited just thinking that it is within grasp like never before.  Surely I am blest....!

I wonder what Gibran would have written had he hung out here for a while... makes me wonder, mostly it makes me smile.  Being there has inspired me to write, and I can't even write very well.... imagine what it did for these enthusiastic aspiring architects...!  Wow, it must have been amazing to hear FLW teach as they ate dinner at 'camp' as he called it.

McKenna, we made a great memory together no? :  )   I will never forget...!

Desert Reflections

The landscape was stark and lifeless but bright, so bright it hurt the eyes.  So bright, yet nothing to see.... The Utah desert is incredibly varied.  Some parts have blistering white sand and azure blue skies. The bonneville salt flats.


Have you walked in the desert?  Movie scenes are conjured up in my mind from adolescent movies.  The one that sears the most is Lawrence of Arabia.  A powerful film that left a deep impression on me that included amazing desert scenes that I hadn't seen before.  

What I noticed most, but didn't understand at the time, was when Peter O' Toole decided to cross part of a desert that was supposedly impassable.  Somehow he made it, but almost died.   It enabled him to help conquer a particular coastal city as a result.  That journey though, changed him.

I tend to favor forests but deserts have a certain appeal.  They have hidden lessons....Many who have traveled them find them....I am reading about a family who traveled the desert wilderness for 8 years. A guy named Nephi tells most of the story.  Moses was another.  40 years wandering with thousands.... I guess it took longer for them to learn what they needed to. John the Baptist was raised in the desert.  He learned what he needed to..... and although I hesitate to mention so close to other biblical names....... but I must, Mad Max also learned a few things out there as well.....

 What is it about the desert?

“God takes everyone he loves through a desert. 

It is his cure for our wandering hearts, restlessly searching for a new Eden...

The best gift of the desert is God's presence... 

The protective love of the Shepherd gives me courage to face the interior journey.”

                                                                                                                         ― Paul E. Miller,

I find this fascinating.  The day this picture was taken I wasn't taking any spiritual journey, I wasn't doing a reflective retreat with a solo experience, rather I was taking some pictures of things that caught my inner eye.  I did feel it beckoning though..... The solace of being in the middle of a desert is an awesome thing to consider.

“The thing about tears is that they can be as quiet as a cloud floating across the desert sky.”

Do we have to go there?  Will I know the time and place?

I have been to the desert.  Many times.  I believe this quote.  I believe it is one of the things we each must do in life is traverse our own wilderness and personal desert.  There are lessons that can only be learned there.  It is supposed to be solitary, strange, soulful and scarce.  

“I shivered in those
solitudes
when I heard
the voice
of
the salt
in the desert.”
― Pablo Neruda

One of my all-time favorite books is "The Little Prince."  The entire story practically takes place in the desert.  We get an inside glimpse of a most remarkable person who finds his way, and more importantly, we find such deep life meaning with a simple plane crash (reminiscent of the "English Patient" themes) in the desert with just a few interactions this solitary figure experiences.  Reading it again makes me wonder if it was just a dream--just lovely hallucinations, yet I know in my heart the lessons are absolutely real.

“I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence, something throbs, and gleams...”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

It creates a certain kind of vulnerability where we are stripped of all things and we are laid bare in our essence to our creator.  It is a purifying walk.  No one can help us.  It is the ultimate solo gig.  If you haven't traveled across your internal desert yet, you will. I believe it comes to all of us.  I think some of my own are traveling it now.... they may not know it, but it has occurred to me.  I can sense it.  I am anxious to see how they come out on the other side.  Is it ok for me to hope they find God there?  I am praying they will, as I know I have....


“But in the desert, in the pure clean atmosphere, in the silence – there you can find yourself. And unless you begin to know yourself, how can you even begin to search for God?”
― Father Dioscuros

If you are in your desert right now...May you find, after experiencing the rough grist of wind-whipped sand, the strength to carry on with the clarity,  peace, and purpose that you need to look forward with new light and new eyes.