TALIESIN PRESERVATION, INC. TO HOST ART OPENING AT THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT VISITOR CENTER, SUNDAY, JUNE 6TH, 4:30 P.M. – 6:30 P.M. 

ON DISPLAY – PHOTOGRAPHY BY MILES LOWRY

SAVANNAS IN THE VALLEY OF THE LLOYD JONESES

SPRING GREEN, WISCONSIN, JUNE, 2010 - Taliesin Preservation, Inc. is proud to host the photography series Savannas in the Valley of the Joneses by Miles Lowry, professional photographer from Wheaton, IL. Open to the public, the art opening will be held at the Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center on Sunday, June 6^th, from 4:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. It will include light beverages and snacks, and a chance to meet and talk with the artist. The artist’s work will be on display through the month of July.

Miles Lowry has been traveling the Eastern US for the past seven years in search of untouched forests and savannas in an attempt to celebrate their age and complexity. His photographs have been on exhibit at the Morton Arboretum and Chicago Botanic Gardens and are held in private collections throughout the Eastern US. For more information about the artist, go to www.mileslowry.com.

Savannas in the Valley of the Joneses

by Miles Lowry

Before Frank Lloyd Wright…before the Lloyd Joneses…before Europeans settled in Wisconsin there were savannas of open-grown oak and hickory in small groves along the slopes of the hills and in the open. Prairie fires controlled their spreading.

Now, imagine a stationary satellite taking one picture of the region that stretches from Texas to lower Minnesota once every year for the past fifteen thousand years - when the last glaciers scoured North America.

As we watch the replay of this millennia-long "movie" captured from above, we see that during wet eras eastern forests crept westward. During dry periods, prairie fires kept the forests' westward advance at bay. The transition zone undulated through the centuries east and west like waves lapping on a shore.

These transition zones are savannas… regions with their own specialized plant and animal communities adapted to a wooded life in the open.

In the open, fire resistant tree species grow broad and dome-like. Their branches compete for the sun horizontally while their forest relatives fight vertically for gaps in the forest canopy. Same tree - two different worlds.

Taliesin Preservation, Inc. (TPI) will host new artists every month during the 2010 season, May – October. The building, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is a beautiful space, with natural light coming in through bands of windows which run the length of the building. It is located at 5607 Cty. Hwy. C, Spring Green, WI. For more information regarding these events, please visit our website at www.taliesinpreservation.org.