A great place to see, and photography Arts and Crafts furniture at close range, is the Virginia Museum of Fine Art in Richmond, VA; I recently visited VMFA to do just that. Their Arts and Crafts furniture is nicely nestled within the broad theme of VMFA’s Sydney and Frances Lewis Collection’s Art Deco and Art Nouveau collection located on the third floor in the Lewis Galleries. While there are only two rooms of exhibits, it is a well-rounded representation of American and British Arts and Crafts furniture. There are exceptional pieces from Gustav Stickley, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Greene & Greene on display.

I recently visited one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Usonian” houses-the Pope-Leighey house. Originally, built in Falls Church, Va; it was saved from a highway construction eminent domain bull dozer and moved to the grounds of the Woodlawn Plantation in 1964. Several years later, it was moved again, just a few yards this time, to facilitate repairs to its slab foundation. Usonian houses evolved from Wright’s desire to build an affordable house for the middle-class citizen. Built for a cost of $7000 in 1940, which various inflation internet calculators but at approximately $105,000 2009 dollars

On a recent trip to Minnesota’s Twin Cities I discovered four great Arts and Crafts destinations-the Minneapolis Institute of Arts Museum, the Purcells-Cutt House, the Eastwood Gallery, and the Arbor Inn, which is actually located just across the river in Wisconsin.

One aspect of furniture design is understanding the history behind a particular style or influence. I enjoy building in the Arts and Crafts style, so when I stumbled upon an online course titled “Arts and Crafts Movement” offered by The New School University (www.newschool.edu ), I signed up. New School is an online university run by the Parsons School of Design located in New York City. I’m told by those with knowledge of design and art schools that Parsons is a very reputable design/Art school.