observations

interesting things

might be about quietly working, listening, re-reading, reviewing.

2nd and 3rd sketches

sketches over sketches

single drawings

graphic novels

book making, collecting, testing

moving backwards to move forwards

outside things

then inside.

3 questions

then reflections

a track, uncertain



 

CNY Regional Market, Syracuse NY

 

 

 

Tracing

Today I thought a little bit about dissonance, and nature in urban contexts.

flowers in single use plastics

symbols of beauty and symbols of toxic material systems

one bound in, and often by the other.

 

This is a complicated image (II) for me

here it is bright

but I think there could be images elsewhere

that might be very dark.

 

These dark places (I), where synthetic materials are born

might ask us to consider

what those sites (III) continue to expererience.

 

 

 

_

 

Below is an image of a quote, which I continue to read, again and again.

 

 


An image (II) of a passage.
Anuradha Mathur. "Recovering Ground: The Shifting Landscape of Dacca"

Landscape Transformed

 

 

 

Quote Transcribed

 

I am interested in challenging the
professional ‘viewing’ of landscapes
from those enclaves of specialization on
the one hand, and the hermetic
theoretical discourse on the other, that
are so prevalent today. I strive to
recover through design inquiry and
practice, landscapes that bring together
rather than polarize scientific, imaginative
and experiential dimensions. This
does not necessarily call for an
‘interdisciplinary approach’ where the
outcome can be described as comprehensive,
collaborative or a compromise.
Instead, it is a transdisciplinary one,
Where the act of ‘seeing’ landscapes in
new and alternate ways is constituted
Through artistic investigation.

 

Landscape architects often have
little tractile engagement with exploring
the real grounds of their intervention in
the process of design. Instead, the site is
Represented in other mediums – words,
Numbers, images and, primarily drawing.
How a medium is used depends on and
is affected by what landscape design is
perceived to be. The making of landscape
requires an engagement with
one’s ground, be it a drawing, a terrain
or a discourse which allows one to
explore and reveal – processes in process.


integrating writing drawing

 



















Value, in knowing that there is so much to learn and deconstruct.

not knowing where to begin, in the way that is most effective

doing so with like minded and curious people

constructing knowledge


Sometimes I think People are like Places

 

Seemingly complex, with many different moving parts

 

But actually, when understood in time, very easily explained.


Perception is an interesting thing

alarming to some, subltle to others

and in reverse

It's the juxtaposition I think when we begin to get a better sense of our own reality

 


There are few moments in time, when everything is simple

 

I had a moment like that,

the other day

in the midst of chaos

 

a moment

an interview

a site visit

 

that turned into learning

about history

the history of ideas

of landscape

of people

 

a moment to question

to engage

discuss

consider

 

an uncomplicated moment

to think about landscape

why landscape is the way it is

the reasons and the influences

 

questioning the world, in the landscape today, connecting the history of ideas

This to me, is so interesting

 

why aren't there more of these moments

it is one, of few things, in my experience, is not up to choice

 

humility, kindness. that's all there is

ideas, can be, so simple, and so interesting

I forgot, what it was, to learn in uncomplicated ways


[Under construction]

A huge opportunity, and learning experience in more ways than one, and for that I have a great deal of appreciation.

 

I think all of us as students do things a little differently, and value different practices and methods in landscape. I really enjoy that about school.

 

I tended to stray to the alternative end, spending more of my time in the field, or tinkering with models, than on graphic standards. I do really like to use softwares, especially dynamic ones, namely GIS and Rhino. I do really beleive that drawing is a way of knowing, and I tried to do a lot of that, and spent most of my time in a sketch book and on trace paper. There are things I would have done differently, I wish I had given myself more time to really make a set of formal and professional looking drawings, that's one of my biggest regrets.

 

My guiding principle though was always to work really hard to study sites, and the complexities embodied within, both physical and social. Landscape really isn't like architecture, where you start from a clean slate. Initially, the race to make photoshop drawings never really felt like studying landscape to me, but I see more clearly now the value in really powerful and immaculate graphics. In the beginning however I was really trying to get a grip on what it meant to design a landscape, and there was so much that was coming on hard and fast. I really liked the flexibility of drawing on trace, and I drew a lot by hand, and tried to replicate the design processes, namely those of Katherine Gustafason and her use of clay, as well as Gunther Vogt and in his practice of working with materials and models. Richard T. Forhman was hugely influential in a regionally focused studio. Kevin Lynch as well, in urban realms, always seemed to make his way and influence the circulatory skeleton of places I was drawing. Nigel Dunnet's work on plants, in particular the "modern naturalism" he writes about, the Piet Oudolf Highline style places enveloped in grasses. The work of Michele Desvignes, and his obsession with mechanisms, both built and natural, I also really spent time getting lost in. I don't think this always came through, and  undoubtedly this is what I'm most guilty of, trying to rush through drawings after taking too much time on site and in books. I'm trying to grow from this.

 

What I think is probably the most upsetting thing, is not to have had a full and engaged body of faculty and students. Everyone was working hard, and doing the best they could, but no one really worked in the studio, and there was so much learning that went on when people were together.

 

This field is incredibly fascinating and engaging, which I think is the only reason why I'm constantly burning the candle at both ends, TAing 3 out of 4 semesters, and trying to finish the curriculum in two years. I'd be lucky, and enthusiatic to be paid to do this for the rest of my life. What I'm also realizing though is that I feel more strongly about teaching and learning, than I do about performance. I think there's a lot of authenticity in learning....


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