Blog

It was a hot and humid afternoon when I first opened the door of our rented passenger van and set foot on the Taliesin grass. On my feet, a pair of lustrous hiking shoes betrayed the fact this was my first time making any significant contact with nature. My usual footwear—  a pair of leather loafers scuffed up by Chicago’s sidewalks sat idly in my apartment 170 miles away.

The noon sun was high above Hillside when we arrived in our three car caravan; two passenger vans of excited high school students and a third van with art materials in tow. After months of meticulous planning, a three hour car ride, and a pit stop for cheese curds, my colleagues John, Maricela and Mel along with the students entrusted to our care had arrived at our destination.

The purpose of our visit was a week-long artist residency in Spring Green. This program, which we call Artward Bound, is a collaboration between Taliesin Preservation and our Chicago-based organization, Marwen. Since 1987, Marwen has provided free visual art classes to students across Chicago. In addition to no- cost art programming, Marwen offers academic and career mentorship, a welcoming community, and professional development opportunities that transcend our art studios. Artward Bound is one such opportunity. Launched in 1995, this program is an off-site artist residency offering teen artists the opportunity to step outside of Chicago and immerse themselves in a week of artmaking and connection to nature. 

Ten Marwen students were selected to participate in this immersive residency program, having completed a rigorous application process that included portfolio submissions, and interviews for placement. Over the course of a week, our artists in residence had the opportunity to live and work in the Hillside Drafting Studio, just as the students of the Taliesin Fellowship before them. The Fellowship was Wright’s vision for a community of artists living and creating in residence. Wright’s philosophy of  “learning while doing” mirrors the core spirit of the Artward Bound program.

Through the mentorship of our Teaching artist Mel, the guidance of Marwen staff, and the hospitality of Caroline, Maria, Noa, and Taliesin’s cultural stewards, our young artists worked diligently across various creative disciplines including painting, drawing, sculpting, printmaking and natural dyeing.

In addition to art making, students had the opportunity to engage with nature through activities like stargazing, foraging in Taliesin’s garden with Abbie, and plein-air painting in Governor Dodge State Park.

The resulting art projects of this residency were heavily inspired by the beauty of the land and by the visual language of Wright’s designs. The art pieces made during Artward Bound were brought back to Chicago to be exhibited in Marwen’s gallery. This culminating exhibition serves to celebrate the achievements of our young artists while highlighting the partnership between Marwen and Taliesin Preservation.

In the foreground of Taliesin’s landscape, our cohort of young artists made lasting relationships with each other and built memories that have transcended far beyond the summer. The tangible impact of this program has been noticeable, and we have seen enduring friendships that traveled the distance back from Wisconsin, remaining firm in Chicago.

Above all, Artward Bound is a program rooted in connection. Students connect with art and with each other.  Students connect with nature in the present moment, while connecting with Frank Lloyd Wright in the past. Students connect with themselves in the future, as they envision their future pathways as artists, designers, architects and creative professionals.

For me, this experience was both an adventure and a homecoming. I spent my adolescent years in Southern Wisconsin, in a small town surrounded by miles of corn fields and frankly, not much else. Taliesin is a side of Wisconsin I had not yet seen — verdant rolling hills, tree- covered valleys overcast with luminous, thick clouds and undulating slopes punctuated by Wright’s Prairie Style architecture.

In 1932, the same year as the founding of the Taliesin Fellowship, Frank Lloyd Wright penned an article for Wisconsin Magazine, titled “Why I Love Wisconsin.” In his tribute to his home state Wright wrote: “And I come back from the distant, strange, and beautiful places that I used to read about when I was a boy, and wonder about; yes, every time I come back here it is with the feeling there is nothing anywhere better than this is.”

There was no doubt that we would return to Taliesin again this summer, and so we did. 

Two passenger vans, larger than the year before, left Chicago on a Sunday morning with a new cohort of students and art materials en route for the Hillside Studio, making the now traditional,  pit stop along the way for cheesecurds.

I arrived at Taliesin, with a scuffed up pair of sneakers on my feet, thankful to stretch my legs after a long car ride. Being back in Taliesin feels like being in the presence of a close friend. My colleagues and I were as excited to be back, as we were to witness a new generation of students experience the wonder of the valley and the hospitality of Spring Green during their week in residence. 

Eleven students joined us for this new adventure, including two returning alumni of the 2025 cohort, coming along as hired  “ambassadors” of Artward Bound. Our ambassadors Areli and Basil were pivotal to creating a sense of community and helping to facilitate programming.

As the week progressed, our artists made drawings, paintings, paper mache sculptures, and prints. We made Japanese Shibori textiles by twisting, knotting, and folding fabrics in rich indigo dye. On an improvised clothesline strung through the Hillside trees, our handkerchiefs fluttered in the warm summer breeze, bursts of blue-white abstractions echoing star- filled nights spent stargazing and telling ghost stories during our time in residence.