A Stroll Through Anderson Japanese Gardens

A sense of serenity came over me as I strolled the paths of Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, Illinois. Walking through landscapes of meticulously manicured trees and flowing water, relaxation replaced my stress. What is it about a Japanese garden that differs from other gardens? Why does it feel tranquil? It’s because each element—every rock, every plant, every pond— is carefully placed to inspire calm and renewal.

I’ve felt that that sense of tranquility in every Japanese garden I’ve visited. However, it was intensified at Anderson Japanese Gardens because of the garden’s size and extensive use of water. The garden’s twelve acres includes two large ponds, a creek that winds through the property, and a tall waterfall.

Exploring Rockford’s Nicholas Conservatory & Gardens

Connie Attractions & Events, Illinois July 31, 2015November 22, 2015Nicholas Conservation & Gardens, Nicholas Conservatory, Nicholas Conservatory Rockford, Rockford attractions 13 Comments

Living in the Midwest, we don’t often get to tropical destinations. However, when I visit a conservatory filled with palm trees, tropical flora and rushing waterfalls, I feel relaxed, like I’m on a tropical vacation, if only for a little while. At 11,000 square feet, Nicholas Conservatory & Gardens in Rockford is Illinois’ third-largest conservatory. A stroll through the gardens beyond the conservatory, filled with blossoming flowers, a lagoon with fountains and more waterfalls extend the serene mood.

Let us take you on a video tour of the conservatory and gardens:

Midway Village Museum: Sock Monkeys, Women’s Baseball and a Victorian Village

Connie Attractions & Events, Illinois April 14, 2015June 29, 2016Midway Village Museum, monkey sock doll, original sock monkey, original sock monkey doll, Rockford, Rockford attractions, Rockford IL, sock monkey history, sock monkey museum, sock monkey original, the original sock monkey, the sock monkey, things to do in Rockford, Victorian Village in Rockford 0 Comment

Sock monkeys got their start here. It was home to one of the best teams in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Its original name was Midway. These are some of the fascinating facts I learned about Rockford, Illinois, when I visited the Midway Village Museum.

Rockford Art Museum: From Sketch Club to Esteemed Gallery

Connie Attractions & Events, Illinois February 9, 2015February 9, 2015Rockford, Rockford attractions, Rockfort Art Museum 0 Comment

The Rockford Art Museum began as a local sketch club over a hundred years ago. Today, with 17,000 square feet of exhibition space and 1700 works of art in its permanent collection, it’s one of the largest art museums in Illinois. The museum features 19^th and 20^th century art. A big focus is on modern and contemporary works of art, but also includes American Masters, photography, contemporary glass and outsider art collections.

The museum’s three galleries are spread over two floors. The lower level exhibitions are from the permanent collections, including a couple of sculptures by famed Illinois artist Lorado Taft. We had seen several of Taft’s sculptures at the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois, so seeing these additional sculptures was a nice tie-in.

Some of my favorite pieces, because they were really funky, were part of last summer’s Oddities and Curiosities exhibition. I was particularly fascinated by Scott Roberts’ video installation, Viola, a mirror in which you see an image of the artist’s grandmother instead of yourself when you look into it. However, it isn’t a still image; rather, you see her blink and move her eyes.

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One of the museum’s prized collections was a donation from Francis and June Spiezer, that includes pieces from Chicago artists, many considered to be the most important in the art world.

The main floor of the museum is designated for temporary exhibitions that change three times a year. Our visit happened to fall during the Rockford Midwestern Biennial. Every other year artists from across the Midwest submit pieces to this juried show, the jurors brought in from the outside. All pieces submitted are required to have been created within two years prior to the show. Besides monetary awards, one piece is awarded the Dean Alan Olson Purchase Award. That piece goes into the Rockford Art Museum’s permanent collection.

The main floor also is where you’ll find the museum store, a great places to purchase unique gift items.

The Rockford Art Museum, located in the Riverfront Museum Park at 711 N Main Street in downtown Rockford, Illinois, is open daily from 10 to 5. Check the web site for directions and admission rates.

The museum campus, a Rockford Park District property, is also home to the Discovery Center Museum, Rockford Dance Company, Rockford Symphony Orchestra and Northern Public Radio. I’m no art critic, but I thought this staircase in the entryway of the museum campus was a work of art itself.

Disclosure: Our visit to the Rockford Art Museum was hosted by the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Rockford Art Museum. However, opinions expressed in this post are my own.

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Laurent House, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Little Gem: Rockford, Illinois

Connie Attractions & Events, Illinois October 27, 2014Frank Llloyd Wright house in Rockford, Frank Lloyd Wright, Laurent House, Rockford, Rockford attractions, Rockford IL attractions 0 Comment

Frank Lloyd Wright referred to it as his “little gem,” the small house in Rockford he designed for Ken and Phyllis Laurent, the only house he designed for a person with a disability. The house, completely rehabbed by the Laurent House Foundation, opened to the public for tours in 2014. Jerry Heinzeroth, Foundation President, was kind enough to meet Skip and me at the Laurent House this summer for a tour of the home and to share the home’s history with us.

Shortly after Ken and Phyllis Laurent married in 1941, World War II broke out, and Ken enlisted in the Navy. During a tour of duty, Ken was experiencing painful problems with his back. He underwent surgery for a tumor on his spine, the surgery went awry, and Ken ended up a paraplegic, paralyzed from the waist down.

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While Ken was recuperating at Chicago’s Hines VA Hospital, Phyllis read an article in House Beautiful about the Pope House in Falls Church, Virginia, a Usonian house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. “Usonian” is the term given to the style of homes Wright designed for middle-income families. The term means “United States of North America.” Impressed with the design of the home, Phyllis shared the article with Ken, who wrote to Wright asking him to design a home that would accommodate his disability and at a price of no more than $20,000. At the time, Ken had no idea of Wright’s notoriety.

At 82 years of age, Wight took on the assignment. However, it was two years before the design was complete. Having thought it all out in his head, Wright put it on paper within two hours. A year later, in 1952, the house was completed, with much of the millwork done by local craftsmen. In 1960 an addition was put on the house, also Wright designed, that included a carport and dining room.

The house looks rather plain from the outside, but there’s no mistaken the Frank Lloyd Wright design, with its clean horizontal lines. As I entered the house, though, my jaw dropped. The open floor plan makes the house looks much larger than it looks from the outside. The design follows a solar hemicycle; if you look from one end of the house, you can see how the arcs continue to the other end.

The 60-foot window wall at the back of the house is the longest in any Frank Lloyd Wright home. The window overlooks the patio that conforms to the same curves as the interior of the home.

To meet the budget needs of the homeowners, inexpensive but sturdy materials were used, like the Cherokee red concrete floor, coated with wax. Bug and disease resistant red tidewater cypress wood was used throughout the house. Chicago common brick was used on the home’s exterior.

The home was built with Ken’s eye level in mind as he was seated in his wheelchair, so everything sits a little lower, including the furniture, all original to the home and designed by Wright. In fact, the Laurent House includes the largest Frank Lloyd Wright collection in a single property.

Wright owned a large collection of Japanese block prints. When he designed the windows in the master bedroom, he said it was like giving the Laurents three Japanese prints that would change with every season.

Every aspect of the home was built to accommodate Ken’s accessibility, including a bathroom large enough to turn the wheelchair as needed and a desk for the office corner of the bedroom. The dining room table only had seven chairs, leaving a space for the wheelchair.

About $400,000 went into the restoration of the home, including restoring the woodwork and rewiring all of the electrical. The ceiling that was badly damaged by rain was completely redone and now includes a supplemental heating system should the original radiant heat that runs through iron pipe beneath the concrete floor ever go out.

Many of the Laurents’ personal effects were left in Wright’s little gem, including a 108-year-old Schumann piano, made in Rockford. Like most Wright homes, nothing ever hung on the walls, as the walls were art in themselves.

The Laurent House is open for tours the first and last weekends (Saturday and Sunday) of every month, by reservation. Because there is no available parking on the property, tours begin at Midway Village, 6799 Guilford Road in Rockford, where you will board a shuttle bus and be brought to the Laurent House. Admission is $15 and best suited for children over eight years old. To make reservations or to learn more about the Laurent House, please visit the web site.

Disclosure: Our visit to the Laurent House was hosted by the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Laurent House Foundation. However, opinions expressed in this post are my own.