From this Frank learned to see geometry and forms in nature from the complex root system in trees to the pattern of petals on a flower hroughout Frank s childhood his family moved around the East and Midwest By I the time they settled down in Wisconsin's capital city of Madison 11 year old Frank had lived in 6 different towns across 4 states A shy boy Frank enjoyed reading novels playing the piano and viola and paint ing Preferring his own private world to interaction with his family or fellow classmates Frank found sanctuary 12
in his bedroom as a teenager The warnings Sanctum Sanctorum Latin for Sacred Sanctuary and Keep Out graced a sign outside his bedroom door Inside the bedroom nature scenes that he had painted decorated the walls While Frank's mother nurtured her son's artistic inclinations and held fast to her early visions of his architect future she worried about his behavior as he grew older When he did leave the security of his bedroom he seemed intent to dress and act the part of a fashionable dandy wearing such showy items as a stovepipe hat instead of presenting himself as a young man of substance He had difficulty fitting in among his peers as he rarely dropped the romantic guises he had dreamed uD for himself FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
OPPOSITE Although he did not enjoy the work summers on his uncle's farm in Wisconsin gave Wright the opportunity to experience the natural world oping to toughen him up and shake him from his dreamy tendencies Frank s parents sent him to work each summer on his uncle James Lloyd Jones s farm in Spring Green a rural town a short distance from Madi son The farm's physical labor and grueling schedule which included rising at 400 a m to milk cows was completely foreign to Frank Accustomed to the com forts of town life the teenager was also shocked by the constant amount of work required to run a farm from tending livestock to chopping firewood and harvesting crops He despised the work and even tried running away on more than one occasion Despite his dislike for farm work Frank fell in love with the land that surrounded him Steep hillsides were broken by jagged limestone outcroppings and 14
