Monthly Chapter Meetings
The monthly luncheon meeting of the Chapter features presentations of interest to the architectural profession.
November 2025 Annual Chapter Meeting
Thursday November 13, 2025
11:45 am to 1:15 pm
Julia's Restaurant
La Posada de Santa Fe
330 E Palace Avenue
Meeting Sponsor
Nature, Spirit, and Structure: Lessons from O’Keeffe and Wright for a Sustainable Future
1.0 LU/HSW
Course Summary:
This course explores the intertwined creative paths of Georgia O’Keeffe and Frank Lloyd Wright—two visionaries who never collaborated yet shared a profound sensitivity to landscape, material, and spiritual grounding in the American Southwest.
Drawing on Sarah Rovang’s Through the Long Desert, the program examines how their parallel journeys—from Wisconsin farmlands to desert mesas—reveal an evolving philosophy of design shaped by climate, topography, and cultural context.
Through comparative analysis of built and painted environments, participants will consider how Wright’s architectural responses to sun, wind, and material scarcity echo O’Keeffe’s painterly meditations on desert light and form. The course positions their shared reverence for place as a model for today’s sustainable design practice—one that integrates environmental awareness, biophilic design principles, and the psychological health benefits of connection to nature.
Attendees will gain insight into how art and architecture together inform healthier, more contextually rooted design for contemporary practice.
Presenter:
Sarah Rovang is an architectural historian, writer, and curator based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is the author of Through the Long Desert: Georgia O’Keeffe and Frank Lloyd Wright (Rizzoli Electa, 2025), a richly illustrated exploration of the shared aesthetic and environmental sensibilities between two American cultural icons.
Rovang holds a Ph.D. in architectural history from Brown University and previously taught at the University of Michigan. She was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Society of Architectural Historians, which allowed her to travel globally and document architectural heritage. Her work spans academic research, public humanities, and contemporary art criticism. She has served as a research fellow at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and worked as Publications Editor for Fresh Art International, a contemporary art podcast.
Currently, Rovang is a Program Officer at the Thoma Foundation, where she oversees grantmaking initiatives that support innovative work in art and architecture. Her writing has appeared in Southwest Contemporary, and she continues to explore the intersections of built environment, cultural identity, and visual storytelling.
