How and why did the Buffalo region became the national capital for design, production and innovation in American Arts and Crafts? Find out at this international conference.

With the region’s wealth of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, The Roycroft Campus, Charles Rohlfs, The Larkin Company, Buffalo Pottery, The Arts and Crafts Shop, Stickley, Heintz Art Metal, Adelaide Robineau, Karl Kipp, Walrath Pottery and so many others, no other region of the country can claim the density of local production. In contrast to the British variant, many members of this Buffalo School of Arts and Crafts freely used the region’s technological prowess to achieve a seamless melding of industrial techniques and handcrafted design, detail and quality—the signature of American Arts and Crafts. This conference will examine how and why.

The conference begins on Friday evening at the Roycroft Campus in East Aurora with a talk by noted Wright scholar Jack Quinan followed by a reception and tour of the campus. The talk will run from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., with the reception to follow until 8:00 p.m.  Beginning at 4:00 p.m. and running every half hour shuttle busses will transport guests to and from the Roycroft Campus. The shuttle bus stop will be located in front of the NFTA Metro Station (on the campus side).

On Saturday the conference begins with a light breakfast and registration from 9:00 am to 9:30, and will begin at 9:30 with a welcome and introduction, followed by talks by Lisa Shrenk, and Christine Schnaithmann.

Bruce Austin Widescreen: Expanding the Research Agenda for Arts & Crafts

Cathleen A. Baker  Roycrofter Dard Hunter: Bringing the Viennese Secession to American Arts & Crafts Design

Thomas A. Guiler “Organized as a corporation, but work together as a Community”: Elbert Hubbard’s Roycroft and the Commercialization of the Arts and Crafts Utopia

Henry Hull Producing an American Arts and Crafts: The Designs of the Heintz Art Metal Shop of Buffalo, New York

John Murphy American Arts & Crafts: Socialist or Capitalist?

Christine Schnaithmann  The Larkin Administration Building’s Resonance in the Development of German Modernism

Lisa Schrenk The Impact of Buffalo and the Martin Brothers on Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park Studio

Bo Sullivan Decoding the Arts & Crafts Vignettes of the Birge Books, 1904‐1918

Jack Quinan  The Larkin Building and Wright’s Oeuvre

Martin Wachadlo  The Architecture of Esenwein & Johnson: Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau

Catherine W. Zipf   “To the Best of Her Ability”: Literature, Feminism, and the Arts and Crafts Movement in Western New York

During the catered lunch (vegetarian food provided), the noted Roycroft scholar and collector Boice Lydell will offer an illustrated tour of Roycroft’s production pulled from his own collection, the finest in the world.

After lunch there will be talks by John Murphy, Thomas Guiler, Cathleen Baker and Catherine Zipf.

On Sunday, from 9:00 a.m.–9:30 p.m. will be coffee and pastries followed by talks by Bruce Austin, Bo Sullivan, and Henry Hull with the conference concluding at 12:00 p.m. For those attending the tour, a boxed lunch will be provided and the tour bus will leave at 12:30 p.m., with the tour concluding at 6:00 p.m.

Registration will include the Friday evening reception at the Roycroft Inn and entrance to the conference Saturday and Sunday. Registration is $140 (tour price remains the same.) An optional tour of local Arts and Crafts landmarks will take place Sunday afternoon for an additional $80. Registration with a UB student ID is free!

Our tour of the Buffalo Arts and Crafts landmarks will begin at 12:30 with the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Darwin D. Martin House where scholar, Jack Quinan will guide us through the home. Next we will view the exterior of the Wright designed Walter Davidson House and proceed to the Burchfield Penney Art Center for a self-guided tour of the exhibition, “Wright, Roycroft, Stickley and Rohlfs: Defining the Buffalo School Arts & Crafts Aesthetic.” The tour will then proceed to a prime example of H.H. Richarsdon’s Romanesque revival style at the former Buffalo Psychiatric Hospital and Olmstead Complex, newly minted the Hotel Henry. Following a tour of the facility, we will visit the exteriors of Wright’s Heath House and Kleinhan’s Music Hall designed by Eliel Saarinen. The tour will then visit Louis Sullivan’s Guaranty Building where we will be able to view the terra cotta ornamented exterior and the interior of the lobby. We will end the tour at the Larkin Center for Commerce and their exhibition on the Larkin Soap Company.