Happy Birthday Taliesin

My life has seemed to be intertwined with Taliesin. When I was in the sixth grade, my very enlightened teacher sent three of her students, including me, to visit the Women's Club in downtown Phoenix. The speaker that day was Frank Lloyd Wright. I still remember his dramatic entrance in a long black coat with his flat looking black hat and his stunning white hair. I can't remember what he said, but the impression he made never left me.

April 29 is the birthday of the Welsh poet, Taliesin. The name means shining brow in Middle Welsh. History has preserved eleven of his poems. If you have to ask what Frank Lloyd Wright has to do with Taliesin, then I suggest you have missed most of what has happened in American architecture. Wright designed more than 1,000 projects and has more than 500 completed works. His two homes are called Taliesin, located in Wisconsin and Taliesin West, located in north Scottsdale.

A tour of Taliesin West is rather expensive, but during one period of time I worked as a computer repair person and had the opportunity to work on the computers at Taliesin West, thereby getting a very detailed tour of the entire home and workshop. Here is a video of one of Wright's most famous designs, Falling Water: