Submitted by the Lopez Island Library

The Lopez Library is pleased to present author and architectural scholar Ronald McCrea, who will be speaking about the influence of women in the life of prominent and prolific architect Frank Lloyd Wright. McCrea will be speaking at the library on Tuesday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m. in the community meeting room.

Independent, strong-minded women were a determining force in the life and career of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. They shaped his worldview, gave him tools, opened doors (and closed some) and rescued his fortunes at critical points. Their contributions have not been fully recognized. They appeared as mates and matriarchs, clients and colleagues, promoters and editors of shelter magazines. They contributed ideas for the modern American home. They inspired Taliesin, Taliesin West and the Taliesin Fellowship. They delivered key commissions including the Marin County Civic Center and the Solomon Guggenheim Museum. Since his death they have kept his flame alive as scholars, preservationists, architects and foundation leaders. It can be said that in the most important ways, women made Frank Lloyd Wright possible.

McCrea is a journalist based in Madison, Wisconsin. His father was a newspaperman, and McCrea followed in his footsteps, working as a news editor at some big newspapers in their heyday — The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The San Jose Mercury News and New York Newsday. But he spent most of his career in Madison, serving as the city editor of The Capital Times, a scrappy liberal newspaper that had fought Joe McCarthy in the 1950s and adopted the cause of Frank Lloyd Wright. The Capital Times is where he developed his interest in Wright. In 2012 the Wisconsin Historical Society Press published his book, “Building Taliesin: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Home of Love and Loss.” This trailblazing book, now in its second printing, is held by more than 800 libraries worldwide, including UC-Berkeley, Stanford, the University of Washington, the Seattle Public Library, Royal Road University Library in Victoria, British Columbia and the Lopez Island Library.

McCrea is currently at work on his second book, on Wright and women, which he will preview for the Lopez public on Tuesday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m.

All library programs are free and open to the public.