I am interested in the relationship between the material environment and the people who produce it, inhabit it, and give meaning to it. This has led to work as varied as study of the mass produced furniture of Frank Lloyd Wright within the larger context of furniture design to study of contemporary studio art furniture, which I am involved with at present.
In the recent past my work has focused on Frank Lloyd Wright, as a guest scholar and lecturer at both Taliesin West and the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio.
I have served on the Wisconsin Historic Preservation Review Board, Madison Trust for Historic Preservation, and consulted on the restoration of projects.
Advising
The general focus of research conducted by my advisees is historical/cultural aspects of design (material culture). Past MS thesis titles include:
- A Need of the Time: Vedic City and the American Search for Spirituality
- Materialization of Irishness in Nineteenth-Century Bog Oak Souvenirs
- Documentation of George B. Post’s Design for the Senate Chamber of the Wisconsin State Capitol
- Soldiers on the World War II Home Front: The American Woman and Her House Beautiful Victory Home
- George Mann Niedecken: Influences on the Development of an Interior Architect, 1897-1917
