Tuesday 3 June 2014

More houses Day 3

Monday we had a tour of modern houses in the suburbs of Pittsburg. These were not FLW houses but coevals.

The Abrams house by Venturi 1979 who was one of FLW's students. Bedrooms at the ends and the living quarters in the middle. And an enormous Lichtenstein dominating the living quarters.

Next door was this house by Meier 1983. We were only supposed to see the outside but the owner spotted us and appeared to inquire and invited us in! His wife was startled when 24 people invaded her sitting room. A wonderful house on three floors. This is the one I would live in. Light and airy inside and it has been internally decorated in black and white down to an all-black cat.

Inside the house. Joke for Rosie Price. The owner was heard to say 'dear, where have I put the Kandinsky?

Michael would have loved this house.

Then we visited the Apt house which is by Speyer 1953. A one storey enormous house with a huge living room and bedrooms at one end, kitchen etc At the other. Very cluttered. FLW would have had a fit. However some marvellous fabrics.

The seat of a 1930s chair

A fine rug. I don't seem to have taken any photos of the outside but it was really just a flat roof that you could see. We then viewed the outside of a house by Gropius and Brewer 1940 which was even larger and looked like a factory.

Then to the Pittsburg Art Gallery. This is one of these places where there are dinosaurs, native Indians and Monets. I decided that if I was going to survive, I had to be selective and started with the Decorative Arts which was definitely worth it just for

This display of chairs. It includes two French Art Nouveau chairs of the 1850s. There was a lot of very fine18th c American bureaus and chests and some good porcelain

I did look at the Contemporary American Art on the grounds that I would not see that at home. An Edward Hopper or two and a couple of paintings by Jim Simboli who is unknown to me but went in for steelworks and steelworkers.

Later on in the day we went up the Duquesne Incline which a rack railway and had wonderful views on Pittsburg and the Ohio River.

We saw more but these were the highlights.

 

2 comments:

Followers

Blog Archive

About Me

I am weaver and - -. I dye my yarns with acid dyes, I paint my warps, put fabric collages and stencils on my weaving. I have three looms, a 12 inch wide, 12 shaft Meyer for demos and courses, a 30 inch Louet Kombo which is nominally portable but has a stand, two extra beams and a home-made device containing a fan reed. And last a 32 shaft Louet Megado which is computer controlled, has a sectional warp and a second warp beam and I am the proud owner of an AVL warping wheel which I love to bits and started by drilling holes in. I inserted a device for putting a cross in. I have just acquired an inkle loom and had a lesson from an expert so I can watch TV and weave at the same time. I am interested in weaving with silk mostly 60/2 although I do quite a bit with 90/2 silk. I also count myself as a bookbinder with a special interest in Coptic binding.