"Room for a Lady: Loja Saarinen at Cranbrook"—The Director’s Cut

Sunday, September 18th 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Cranbrook Art Museum deSalle Auditorium
39221 Woodward Avenue
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304

CRANBROOK CENTER FOR COLLECTIONS AND RESEARCH PRESENTS

Room for a Lady: Loja Saarinen at Cranbrook—The Director’s Cut 

Documentary Film Screening and Conversation

In-Person Lecture Admission Only

$25 for Adults and Seniors
$10 for Full-time Students with ID
Online registration closes at 10:00am on Sunday, September 18.
Tickets can be purchased at the door.

Conversation with 
Kevin Adkisson, Curator, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research 
Nina Blomfield, Decorative Arts Trust Marie Zimmermann Collections Fellow, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research 
Gerhardt Knodel, Director Emeritus and Former Fiber Department Head and Artist-in-Residence, Cranbrook Academy of Art 

Hosted by
Gregory Wittkopp, Director, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research 

Photograph of Kevin Adkisson interviewing Robert Saarinen Swanson in Saarinen House

Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research invites you to a special screening of the Director’s Cut of the Center’s new documentary, Room for a Lady: Loja Saarinen at Cranbrook. Originally produced for the Center’s May 2022 fundraiser, A House Party at Cranbrook, the expanded Director’s Cut of this exploration of the life and career of designer and textile artist Loja Saarinen includes a new interview with Saarinen’s granddaughter, landscape architect Susan Saarinen. A conversation with the film’s director, Kevin Adkisson, and two of the film’s guest experts, Gerhardt Knodel and Nina Blomfield, will follow the screening.  

Join us as we premiere the Director’s Cut of Room for a Lady, with a special behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, and celebrate the many contributions that Loja Saarinen made to Cranbrook and the world! 

Seating in deSalle Auditorium is limited and the event is expected to sell out. Admission to the lecture includes admission to the galleries of Cranbrook Art Museum. 

ABOUT THE FILM
Room for a Lady: Loja Saarinen at Cranbrook tells the remarkable story of textile designer and entrepreneur Loja Saarinen.  

Trained in sculpture with experience in photography, model making, and design, Loja Saarinen emigrated from Finland to America in 1923 and worked alongside her husband, architect Eliel Saarinen, in the building of Cranbrook. She founded and led Studio Loja Saarinen from 1928 to 1942, creating handwoven rugs, curtains, and fabrics with a dedicated team of Swedish immigrant weavers for clients around the nation. The Studio’s painterly, geometric textiles complete the architectural vision of Cranbrook as a Gesamtkunstwerk, or total work of art. Loja’s story has remained too long in the shadows; Room for a Lady brings her artistic contributions to Cranbrook into the spotlight. 

Written and directed by the Center’s curator, Kevin Adkisson, Room for a Lady incorporates interviews, historic images from Cranbrook Archives, and new high-definition video of Studio Loja Saarinen textiles pulled from the vaults of Cranbrook Art Museum and displayed in their original settings to weave together a fascinating story of craft, architecture, and female entrepreneurship.

Photograph of Gerhardt Knodel pointing out a detail of a Studio Loja Saarinen curtain on camera

Guest experts featured in the film include family members Robert Saarinen Swanson, Eric Saarinen, and Susan Saarinen; Gerhardt Knodel, Director Emeritus and Former Fiber Department Head and Artist-in-Residence, Cranbrook Academy of Art; Lynn Bennett Carpenter, Artist-in-Residence in the Weaving Studio, Cranbrook Schools; and the Cranbrook Center’s Director Gregory Wittkopp, Head Archivist Deborah Rice, Curator Kevin Adkisson, and Decorative Arts Trust Marie Zimmermann Collections Fellow Nina Blomfield. 

The film was produced by Vincent Chavez and Elkhorn Entertainment and Media for the Center’s annual fundraiser, A House Party at Cranbrook, and premiered on May 21, 2022, at the historic Kingswood School, Cranbrook. The film runs 43 minutes.

Photograph of the production crew preparing to film outside Saarinen House

EVENT LOCATION AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION  
Cranbrook Art Museum is accessed through Cranbrook’s main entrance at 39221 Woodward Avenue. Free parking is available on the east side of the Art Museum and in the parking deck located midway between Cranbrook Art Museum and Cranbrook Institute of Science. 

Cranbrook Art Museum
39221 Woodward Avenue
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 48304

For additional information in advance of the lecture, please email center@cranbrook.edu or call the Center at 248.645.3307. For information and assistance on the afternoon of the lecture, please call the Art Museum’s Front Desk at 248.645.3320. 

Tickets are non-refundable. However, with advance notice, your ticket may be transferred to another participant for the lecture. With at least three days advance notice, your ticket may also be converted to a tax-deductible donation to Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research. 

Photograph of Nina Blomfield being interviewed on the set at Saarinen House

ACCESSIBLE ENTRANCE TO CRANBROOK ART MUSEUM 
Barrier-free access to de Salle Auditorium is accommodated through the New Studios Building on the southeast side of Cranbrook Art Museum. Accessible parking spaces are located at the south end of the Art Museum’s main parking lot, in front of the New Studios Building. Visitors that would like to use the barrier-free entrance should use the ramped sidewalk that leads to the front of the New Studios Building and enter the building through the glass vestibule to the right. Once in the vestibule there is a phone where visitors may call a Visitor Services Representative at extension 3320. We encourage visitors that would like assistance to also call the Center in advance of the lecture at 248.645.3307. 

PHOTO CREDITS
Banner: Detail of Cranbrook Academy of Art Rug No. 14, 1930, designed by Maja Andersson Wirde, woven by Studio Loja Saarinen, Collection of Cranbrook Art Museum; Photography by James Haefner, Courtesy Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research. 
 
Center Curator Kevin Adkisson interviews Robert Saarinen Swanson in Saarinen House for Room for a Lady: Loja Saarinen at Cranbrook, April 26, 2022; Photography by Nina Blomfield, Courtesy Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research. 
 
Cranbrook Academy of Art Director Emeritus and Former Fiber Department Head and Artist-in-Residence Gerhardt Knodel points out a detail of a Studio Loja Saarinen curtain on camera in Saarinen House for Room for a Lady: Loja Saarinen at Cranbrook, April 25, 2022; Photography by Kevin Adkisson, Courtesy Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research. 
 
The production crew of Elkhorn Entertainment and Media prepare to film outside of Saarinen House, April 26, 2022; Photography by Kevin Adkisson, Courtesy Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research. 

Executive Producer Vincent Chavez of Elkhorn Entertainment and Media prepares to film Center Collections Fellow Nina Blomfield in Saarinen House for Room for a Lady: Loja Saarinen at Cranbrook, April 25, 2022; Photography by Kevin Adkisson, Courtesy Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research. 

Registration for this event has closed.