Space to live

There’s nothing like being released from the past full of possessions (“Modernism, in a Whole New Light,” Oct. 2). In my Richard Neutra house, I feel so free to take in the light and air of early fall bursting forth.

I’m proud to call myself a modernist. I’m neither post- nor neo- but a genuine modernist who traveled east to study with Martha Graham, then returned to California to flourish under the guidance of Neutra, my architect. His spaces didn’t order me around. Instead, they taught me the importance of spatial awareness, as did Graham with her movements. From them I learned how architecture and dance cannot be separate. I have lived with that reality for more than 50 years. I wouldn’t call my relationship to Neutra’s spaces as cozy, but vital. The relationship is an organic one, central to that well-being you feel.

Patricia Stockton Leddy

Bakersfield