Prairie Arts Blog

Prairie Arts Lecture at FLW School of Architecture

 We'll be giving a presentation at 7:30pm on Friday July 25th, 2008 at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture in Spring Green, WI. As Prairie Design Group, we'll be sharing our expertise about branding, plus the processes we've developed as design entrepreneurs. The lecture is titled Brand Architecture: Building Ways to Market You and Your Ideas.

You can read more about it in today's Wisconsin State Journal. Come out and see us if you can!

Sneak Peek: New 2008 Teco Shapes!

These babies are unavailable until early fall 2008, but we thought you'd like to see what the new shapes will look like! We're already seeing a dramatic response to this exciting upcoming release. Don't you think these go well with our 2007 Magnificent Seven line up?

For questions or more info, contact 800.594.3148 x3 or email us.

Image copyright Prairie Arts

New Aqua & Orange Teco Glazes = Tons of Press!

If you haven't seen the news on our sister blog for the Teco Art Pottery Collection™, we have recently introduced two new gorgeous glaze colors: Aqua & Orange! As a result, there has been a lot of buzz in the media about the collection. Below are links to some of the recent clippings...

Newspapers -
San Francisco Chronicle
Detroit News
NY Times
Minneapolis Star Tribune

Blogs -
Design Milk
Glam
Minnesota Monthly
Chicago Home & Garden
Michelle Kaufmann's blog

Also, the Summer 2008 issue of Atomic Ranch Magazine as a nice feature on our vases.

Image copyright Room & Board

Prairie Arts Mini Screens in the Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune had a small write up about Prairie Arts and our mini screens in the November 25th, 2007 Sunday Paper. The feature was in the Home & Garden section and you can read the text here.

If you're looking for retailers carrying the mini screens, check out PrairieMod.com or WrightCatalog.com.

Many Magazines, One Great Collection

We are just thrilled with all the attention our new Teco Art Pottery Collection™ has been receiving in the press! If you don't usually read any of these publications below, this is your chance to see our spotlight coverage. We've recently been featured in Style 1900, Time Out Chicago, Old House Journal, Chicago Home & Garden and American Bungalow. Thank you to all the editors and writers who had many wonderful things to say about our pottery.

You can click each image below for a larger view or stop by your local bookstore to pick-up a copy.

In the coming months, we'll have even more magazine features that we'll update you with as they are published.

Arts & Crafts Homes and the Revival Magazine Feature: Teco Art Pottery Collection™

For those of you who don't subscribe to Arts & Crafts Homes Magazine, the Teco Art Pottery Collection™ was featured in the newly released Summer 2007 issue of the publication. You can download the actual PDF here.

We are extremely excited about this coverage and many other features that will be popping in magazines between now and the holiday season. Keep checking back often to see what others are saying about the pottery!

PS - For those of you waiting to get your hands on the actual pottery...many stores will have inventory by the end of August 2007. Also, a handful of online retailers are taking pre-orders and will ship product at the end of August as well.

Please feel free to email us at info@prairie-arts.com with any specific questions!

Prairie Arts at WrightPlus 2007

Prairie Arts will be guests of the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust at their annual WrightPlus event on May 19th, 2007. Our team will be available all day to answer questions about our products, plus there will be a special stencil demonstration time from 10am-2pm. If you'd like to try to paint one of our Frank Lloyd Wright stencils, stop by our booth behind the FLW Home & Studio Museum Shop on Chicago Avenue in Oak Park, IL.

The weather should be gorgeous and we look forward to meeting you in person!

Our New Website is Up!

We are very excited to announce the launch of our new website today! We have added new products like our mini screens and art screens, plus you can get a sneak-peek of our Teco Art Pottery Collection™ that will release later this summer. There are many new wonderful features, which we hope you will enjoy. Have fun perusing!

Sullivan Ornaments Featured

Our wooden Louis Sullivan ornaments were featured on the weblog, apartment therapy: Chicago in December. You can check the post out by following this link. Thanks for the shout out! We're eagerly developing more Sullivaqn and Prairie School ornaments for next year, so stay tuned!

Image courtesy of apartment therapy: chicago

On Display

We're really excited about our new custom displays that were designed especially for The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust's bookshops. Working with the bookshop managers, we were able to design unique stencil and art print displays for the Home and Studio's Ginkgo Tree Bookshop and the Robie House Bookshop. Once the design was figured out, we turned to master craftsman, Dard Hunter III to make them a reality. Handcrafted out of rich, hardwood maple, these displays are handsome and help make our products stand out--especially with the busy holiday season just around the corner! Stop in at any of the two locations to check them out in person.

It's Catalog Season

Well, that magical time of year is upon us when the pre-holiday catalogs start to appear in the mailbox. We're especially excited because the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust (the organization that oversees the FLW Home and Studio and the Robie House) has recently released their 2006 Autumn catalog--and Prairie Arts products are handsomely featured throughout. Here's what you'll see both in print and on-line:

• Two of our stencils shown in use: The Luxfer Prism Flower and the Home and Studio Dining Room Detail.

• A collection of the handcrafted Wasmuth Reproduction Fine Art Prints--especially highlighted is the Unity Temple, one of our favorites.

• And last, but not least, is our flagship product line: the Decorative Wood Screens. For the trivia buffs out there, both of the screen photos were shot on location at the beautifully restored Beachy House in Oak Park, IL (which will be on the 2007 Wright Plus house walk tour in May!)

Check out our products and many more at www.wrightcatalog.com and order your tickets for Wright Plus 2007 as well.

All Photos copyright 2006 The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust

New Places To Shop

We'd like to welcome the newest places where you can purchase the Prairie Arts product line.

• Century House
   3029 University Ave.
   Madison, WI 53705
   608-233-4948
   http://www.centuryhouseinc.com

• Gabberts Galleria Store
   3501 Galleria
   Edina, MN 55435
   952-927-1500
   http://www.gabberts.com

• Stevens Design
   6333 University Ave.
   Middleton, WI 53562
   608-238-3375
   http://www.stevensdesign.net

• The Chicago History Museum
   1601 N. Clark St.
   Chicago, IL 60614
   312-799-2262
   http://www.chicagotogo.org

Check out these and all of our other sites listed in our "Where To Buy" section. Happy shopping!

Back In Chicago

Well, we're back from the desert beauty and what a wonderful trip! We ended our week by taking a "Night Lights" tour of Taliesin West, complete with a full moon. It was absolutely breathtaking! One of the tour highlights was to see the Chinese dragon sculpture, given to Mrs. Wright by Taliesin Fellow Aaron Green, breathing bursts of real fire.

We enjoyed our trip immensely and we feel energized to start dreaming up new products for our 2007 line! Look for previews and updates in the coming months.

Another Full Day

We saw a lot of really cool things today. First, we stopped by Soleri Studios a few blocks away from our hotel. We had no idea that Mr. Soleri was one of Frank Lloyd Wright's former apprentices and now practices art and architecture from his own studio in Scottsdale. He's known for his bronze bells, which artisans still make at the studio:
 
We met Mr. Soleri and in his own quiet and congenial way he told us about his experimental urban laboratory 70 miles north of Scottsdale. We decided to drive and check it out. The experimental town is called Arcosanti and it was started in the 70's and is still being worked on today.

We rounded out the day by traveling to Sedona. What stunning scenery! It truly took our breath away. Sedona has many interesting shops and art galleries, and is one of the most beautiful towns we have ever visited. If you get the chance, you should definitely visit some day soon! Well, tomorrow, it's off to Taliesin West and a full day of Wright designed sites around Phoenix.

Wood Screens at Toms Price

Toms-Price is known in the Chicagoland area for being one of the premier fine furniture and home decor stores. They have three locations store locations (in Wheaton, Lincolnshire and Old Orchard) and an outlet store in Bloomingdale. They are also the exclusive Stickley seller for Chicago and host numerous events and specials. We are proud to announce that they will also be carrying our framed wood screens! The richness of the look, and the quality of the designs complements the many fine furniture products Toms-Price carries. The screens go especially well with a Stickley decorated room! Check out the screens in person at any of the three Toms-Price showroom locations.

Images courtesy of Toms-Price

Prairie Arts in the Art Institute Catalog

We've been lucky enough to have one of our decorative wooden screens featured in the 2006 Chicago Art Institute print and on-line Gift Catalog! The committee that considers the products for inclusion in the catalog chose the dramatically designed Luxfer Columns screen.

The screen is based on an unrealized stylized flower design, taken from one of several glass prism plates that Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to design by the Chicago based American Luxfer Prism Company in 1895. It was the Luxfer commission that helped pay for the Studio expansion to Mr. Wright's Home in Oak Park, IL where many of his famous Prairie Style houses were designed. Follow the links to check out our other products based on Luxfer Prism designs: The Luxfer Flower stencil and the Luxfer Diamonds stencil. To learn more about the Luxfer Prism company and see some of the various patented designs they executed in glass, you can click here.

Image courtesy of The Chicago Art Institute

Welcome!

We've decided to launch this news blog to bring you all the new and noteworthy information associated with the Prairie Arts line of products. Our mission is to develop quality home decor products in the spirit of the Arts and Crafts movement. We strive to adhere to that era's  philosophy of craftsmanship, honesty of materials, and the improvement of one's life through the creation of beautiful, useful objects. That's one of the reasons we've become official Frank Lloyd Wright Collection licensees.

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) is widely considered by many to be America's greatest architect. The principles of his "organic architecture" lead him to create total environments where art glass, furniture, lighting and decorative accessories integrate with each structure as a whole. Adapted from Mr. Wright's original designs, the Frank Lloyd Wright Collection® products are well crafted reproductions and adaptations.

It's his ideas that lead us to develop a wide variety of quality products that we felt many of you would appreciate and enjoy to have in your homes. We're going to use this news blog as a way to keep you up-to-date on new products, the stories behind the products we make, and other fun and interesting tidbits of Prairie Arts information. Please feel free to let us know what you think and enjoy the site!