SYMPOSIUM & EVENTS

2010 Spring Symposium

American Garden Design from Dumbarton Oaks to Living Roofs

Co-sponsored by the Pendleton and Elisabeth Carey Miller Charitable Foundation and the Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden

• Saturday, March 20, 2010, 8:30 am to 4:00 pm
• Bastyr University Auditorium, 14500 Juanita Drive NE, Kenmore
• Cost: Members $60, Non-members $80 (lunch included)
• Registration: Email nwhort@aol.com or phone (206)780-8172

Speakers

Judith Tankard: Designing Women: Beatrix Farrand and Ellen Shipman

Judith Tankard is an art historian specializing in landscape history. For over 20 years she taught at the Landscape Institute, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. In 2000, she was awarded a Gold Medal by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. She is the author or co-author of seven illustrated books on landscape history, including her most recent publication, Beatrix Farrand: Private Gardens, Public Landscapes. Her previous book, The Gardens of Ellen Biddle Shipman was the recipient of a 1998 book award from the American Horticultural Society.

Beatrix Farrand and Ellen Shipman were two of America’s most influential garden designers of the early 20th century. Long after most of their gardens have vanished, their work continues to inspire today’s garden designers. While both women were noted for their luxuriant private gardens, their influences and design styles varied considerably. Farrand drew inspiration from her vast knowledge of European gardens, while Shipman was deeply influenced by traditional New England country gardens. Farrand’s most visible garden today is Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., and Longue Vue in New Orleans is considered Shipman’s masterpiece.

Craig Bergmann: Contemporary Traditional Gardens

Craig Bergmann is a landscape architect, garden designer and plantsman. His work has been featured in several books including Rosemary Verey’s The American Man’s Garden and Page Dickey’s book Inside Out: Relating Garden to House. The 2007January/February issue of Garden Design magazine featured his ‘Golden Trowel Award’ winning garden for a residential landscape in Highland Park, Illinois.

Designing predominantly in the Midwestern US, which is very much based in a traditional architectural style, Craig tries to blur the lines between the site and the style of the landscape. “Appropriate” is a term often coined, but this is in the eyes of the beholder. This blurring is often a composite result of different people's inputs on the development of the home and the site. Craig collaboratively listens and then takes responsibility for the editing and the development of the site, ultimately placing the garden in its contemporary setting.

Bernard Trainor: Contextual Design in California

Bernard Trainor is founding principal at Bernard Trainor Associates. His early experiences in Australia and Europe have allowed him to see California with extremely inquisitive eyes. Bernard lives and works in the Monterey Bay Region of California, where the Pacific Ocean and Monterey Bay converge with the Santa Lucia Mountains, creating a twisting, folding landscape that presents many climatic, topographical, and geological variations.

The geographical diversity of his work has allowed him to appreciate the regional qualities and culture of a place. Bernard’s favorite landscapes are deeply connected to the place from which they have grown. He has found that while the vernacular of each site varies, the same design principals apply: observe the genius of the place, connect with the architecture, and respond to the personality of each client. Ultimately, his aim is to design spaces that will inspire people to connect with a place in a deeper way.

Paul Kephart: An Integrative Approach to Living Architecture

Paul Kephart is the Executive Director of Rana Creek Habitat Restoration and Living Architecture, whose mission is to restore biodiversity and preserve healthy ecosystems through an integrated design/build process. A trained biologist and dedicated ecologist, Paul has more than twenty years of experience in the field of ecological design.

Paul will give an overview of large-scale living systems. He will address the importance of sustainable design, planning and construction, as well as the economic benefits. Paul will discuss how he is attempting to define a new vernacular and a design style that doesn’t just look at green roofs or bio swales, grey water or passive solar, but a style that integrates all of these in a design process that really makes it a part of the structure, not an amenity of the design. That’s really on the cutting edge and that’s where Paul’s design work is going.