Martin House Announces Two Creative Residents for 2024

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House is thrilled to select two new individuals as residents for the Creative Residency Program. The Martin House established the project-based program to provide a designated time and space for creatives to develop new works of the imagination inspired by Wright’s masterpiece.

“Hundreds and hundreds of applicants presented ideas from a wide variety of disciplines. While it was difficult to narrow down the field, our finalists have identified projects that closely align to themes central to the Martin House,” said Martin House Executive Director Jessie Fisher. “We look forward to seeing the end product of each residency, which will include a be a free public program showcasing the Martin House-inspired work with the larger community.”

The Martin House is pleased to welcome the first creative resident, ford t’ai freedom ford, in July. Ford is an English teacher, writer, and poet who has received awards and fellowships from Camargo Foundation, The Center for Fiction, Community of Literary Magazines and Presses, New York Foundation for the Arts, and The Poetry Project. Her Martin House project will be a chapbook exploring the ways in which architecture communicates with us.

The multimedia chapbook, ‘Façades,’ will specifically examine the structural and interpersonal façades on the Martin House campus through ten unique poems. Photocopies, photographs, and other site-specific materials will be leveraged to create collages as a visual complement to the text. Throughout the residency, ford will enjoy access to the University at Buffalo archives – greatly expanding her access to valuable research to complete her project.

Ford’s project will conclude with a community poetry writing workshop that explores personal feelings around home.

“I look forward to investigating the parallel narratives of the construction of Martin House with the construction of a Black Buffalo populace and politic. I want to understand the ways in which these parallels converge, intersect, overlap, collide,” said freedom.

In September, the Martin House will welcome its second creative resident, Cheryl R. Riley. An accomplished furniture designer based in New Jersey, Riley’s project titled “THE WRIGHT DESIGN” will produce sketches and drawings for a new suite of furniture inspired by what is “old.”

Riley will reimagine Wright’s idioms in the 21^st century by drawing inspiration from his cultural influences, materials, and methods of fabrication. The project will culminate in an art-making workshop for local students of color.

“I am fascinated by unorthodox materials, histories, cultural tropes, ornaments, and art to shape what I imagine and render,” said Riley. “My sketches will not necessarily be a visual response to Wright’s architecture, but a form of preserved storytelling.”

The Martin House will provide more information about the creative residents, the progress of the individual projects, and the public programs as plans are formalized. For general information about the estate and the Creative Residency Program, visit martinhouse.org/visit/creative-residency-program.