Wright spent a few years in Europe after leaving Oak Park, and then he moved to Wisconsin, back to the same valley where he had grown up. His Wisconsin home and studio is built on top of a hill and is called Taliesin, which is Welsh for "shining brow." He used materials from the landscape to construct the buildings, including a type of flat white limestone native to Wisconsin. The stone was left rough, and the walls look like they could have sprung out of the hill. He designed other buildings for farm animals and workers, and planted gardens so that most of the food could be raised from the land instead of bought from a store.

As Wright's fame spread, students started asking to study with him. Wright founded the Taliesin Fellowship, a group of young architects who lived at Taliesin and learned under his tutelage. Often the students designed and built their own cottages to live in, which gave them experience with the realities of construction as well as the theories of design. Wright encouraged his students to work on the farms and help with the gardens in order to feel the connection to the landscape that he valued.