park section

Here is one of the drawings I presented for planted form. It is in progress-- right now it is simultaneously fall and spring! I was trying to show the ground materials as well as the plants.

springtime in Virginia

Our last plants field trip (ever! snif--) was to Grelen Nursery northeast of Charlottesville. The site was unbelievably beautiful, especially in the changing light of passing spring storms. The red clay, bright grass, dark clouds, and delicate emerging greens, whites, and reds of the leaves were stunning together.

We learned a bit about the business side of things, how they plant and maintain the trees, and watched them use a tree spade and ball-and-burlap a tree.

more vertical gardens

this is starting to look like a real place!

Robert Irwin visit

This past week the artist Robert Irwin was at UVA to accept the Thomas Jefferson Medal of Architecture (affectionately, a "TJ Medal"). I don't know a lot about Irwin's work, so this week was a good chance to learn more about his ideas and the impact he has had. His lecture was mostly taken from his 1985 book Being and Circumstance, where he talks about how non-objective art changed the way we see space-- less as foreground and background, positive/negative, and more as a field. He calls his work "site-conditioned," meaning that it arises from a relation with the site, and seeks to deepen people's perception of the phenomena of the site. Here is one of his pieces at UC San Diego, Two Running Violet Vs.

spring

Here are two HUGE beech buds-- you can imagine them as "before" and "after!"

Dumbarton Oaks

Last week our plants class had a great visit to Dumbarton Oaks and the National Arboretum in D.C. This time of year is amazing for plants, so it was pretty magical to be in these amazing landscapes. We were remembering the other time that we visited Dumbarton Oaks as a class, during summer session-- it was the hottest day any of us could recall. This visit felt more like winter temperature-wise-- I had on long johns, a sweater, and my winter coat.

Here are a few details that caught my eye at Dumbarton Oaks.

more family and friends (and one stranger)

I get to chuckle to myself while working on these...

the sun sets...

on the confederate soldier. While I was measuring tree canopies in Jackson Park (as my teacher pointed out, they are not round!), I got to see the sunset.