Archie Boyd Teater, who was a painter, had his own retreat to help him receive inspiration for his artwork. He was famous for his paintings of the Tetons. He was also passionate about a lot of other art pieces, so in this retreat he would do paintings of what he wanted to do. What makes his retreat so special is that it was designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
After both Archi and his wife passed away, an architect who had heard that the studio was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright bought the property. Henry Whiting renovated it, to restore the retreat the way Wright had envisioned.
In January of 2020 Whiting gave a presentation about the retreat at the Art Museum of Eastern Idaho. Now there is a new exciting event where the public can actually go see the studio in person.
“I had the opportunity to go to the studio a few times myself for the purposes of this exhibit that we just had and concluded,” said Miyai Abe Griggs, executive director for The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho. “And I, myself, really enjoyed that experience more than I thought I would.”
The trip will be Saturday March 21. Patrons will meet at The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho at 9 a.m. There will be two groups in buses to get to the studio. Between the two groups they will switch who goes to the retreat and who goes to have lunch first. It will be a self-guided tour and Henry Whiting will be there to answer any questions.
Frank Lloyd Wright did an incredible job understanding the property and how to find a way for it to fit so incredible into that environment, even though he never went to the site himself, Griggs said. It is the only Wright-designed building in the state of Idaho.
“The sound of the water that you can hear from the front loan to that just the overall experience it’s really just something that I think people will really enjoy. Whether they are architecturally experts or not,” Griggs said.
There are a few spots left to see the studio. Tickets for TAM members are $75 and $90 for the general audience. You can fill in a form to see if you can still get a spot. Click here to get to the form.