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FRIENDS OF KEBYAR NETWORK
Friends of Kebyar is a Georgia non-profit corporation and an international network of
people interested in original and innovative architecture that is not
“mainstream” - architecture that defies the tyranny of styles. We advocate
creative and unusual solutions to the challenges facing today’s architects.
Kebyar is a Balinese word literally meaning the process of flowering. It also designates a
style in Balinese music and art connoting strength and vigor. Internationally famed
architect Bruce Goff chose Kebyar as the name for a school of creative
arts and architecture he was planning at the time of his death.
The organization’s purposes are to advance creative organic architecture, to bring
attention to the works of original artists, and to nurture the spiritual endowment left by
the architects that have preceded us who worked so hard to free their art from the
indolent idioms of fashion and imbue it with new meaning, integrity, and respect for the
natural environment. To that end, Friends of Kebyar publishes a journal documenting
the works of many selected architects, sponsors a series of
“celebration-gatherings” and symposiums, and now publishes a newsletter
which provides a medium for a network colloquy. This Web Site also has a Directory
of Fellow Subscribers with hot links to individuals, including e-mail and Web
Site URL. It is a way to see the work of other subscribers and build community. Inclusion
in the Web Site Directory is now a benefit of Kebyar subscription.
Founded in January 1983, Kebyar is now over 21 years old. In June, 1983 a celebration of
the life and works of Bruce Goff was held in Oklahoma ranging over the State and touring
his works (we called it Celebration I). In 1988 Friends of Kebyar sponsored Celebration
II, located in Los Angeles on the occasion of the opening of Bruce Goff’s Pavilion
for Japanese art at LA County Museum. In June, 1990 Friends of Kebyar sponsored
Celebration III, a symposium entitled Approaching the New Millennium; The Future of
Organic Architecture, It was located in Chicago coinciding with (and celebrating) the
birth dates of Frank Lloyd Wright and Bruce Goff. It lasted four days. Canadian architect
Douglas Cardinal delivered the keynote address at the Graham Foundation. In 1991
we completed Celebration IV, another symposium on August 14 through 19 sponsored jointly
by the San Francisco Institute of Architecture and Friends of Kebyar in Berkeley.
Celebration V occurred in Chicago on the occasion of the Bruce Goff retrospective exhibit
at the Chicago Art Institute June 8-11, 1995. A reception, symposium, and meetings were
sponsored by Kebyar at the Graham Foundation for that event. California architect Arthur
Dyson was our keynote speaker. Various architectural tours were suggested (maps
furnished) ending in a trip to Taliesin (by invitation) on Sunday, June 11th. A catalog of
the Goff exhibit is now available for purchase at the The Art Institute of Chicago.
Friends of Kebyar
The Bruce Goff Centennial Celebration, June 5-8, 2004 in Oklahoma was a great success! 129
attended the event. Click
here for more information: Also a list of attendees.
For additional information, read the feature on organic architecture in the June 1993
issue of Progressive Architecture which includes information about our publications and
network, or the 1994 November-December Issue of the British journal Architectural Design
which published an article on organic architects with much material furnished by Friends
of Kebyar, or the November, 1990 issue of Fine Homebuilding magazine. Kebyar was also
mentioned in the French review Techniques et Architechures (#381 Dec-Jan 88-89). A major
feature on Kebyar appeared in the Japanese Journal A+U Architecture & Urbanism in
March 1985. A recent feature on organic architecture appears in the October-December 1997
issue of Hot Air magazine, a British publication.
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