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Observer
NEWS
Historic Zoo in Madison
In response to the article “Animals and Architecture: Exploring America’s Historic Zoos,” by Cynthia Williams, published in our Winter 2009-10 issue, an alert reader called attention to the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, Wisconsin. Founded in 1911 as part of a public park donated by Col. William F. and Anna M. Vilas in memory of their son, the Zoo opened this Aquatic Bird and Fish Aquarium, designed by Madison’s Prairie School architects Louis Claude and Edward Starck, in 1915. Now a visitor’s center, the building still serves the 28-acre Zoo, which is preparing to celebrate its centennial (608-266-4732 or www.vilaszoo.org).
Bravo, Bruce!
Bruce Johnson, who dispenses collecting advice to Style 1900 readers and organizes the Grove Park Inn Arts and Crafts Conference and Antiques Show each year in Asheville, North Carolina, has received the 2009 Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award for his recent book Grove Park Inn: Arts and Crafts Furniture (Popular Woodworking Books, 2009). This prestigious award, presented annually since 1955 by the Western North Carolina Historical Association
and JoAnn L. Edwinn, honors writers from western North Carolina and outstanding works—literary or academic—about the region. Bruce has been researching and writing about the Arts and Crafts movement and the Grove Park Inn since 1988, when he organized the first Grove Park Inn conference. He has also authored books on refinishing and home repair, as well as Built for the Ages: A History of the Grove Park Inn, and (with David Rago) The Official® Price Guide to American Arts & Crafts.
IAC Conference
Set for New York
in 2010
If attendees voice a quibble about the annual Initiatives in Art and Culture Arts and Crafts conference, it’s usually something like, “There was just so much!” Held in a different part of the country every year—most recently in Seattle—the conference adroitly celebrates America’s Arts and Crafts riches as expressed in a particular city or region, while also tracing larger themes that unified the movement nationally and internationally. Each four-day gathering runneth over with lectures, walking tours, museum visits, receptions, and expeditions to sites not normally open to the public—an intoxicating mix, well calculated to expand your Arts and Crafts horizons no matter your level of expertise. New York City and environs will be the destination in September 2010. For details or to make a tax-deductible contribution: 646-485-1952 or www.artinitiatives.com.
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