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Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR) is a terrific national organization concerned with peace, social justice and the environment. I've only been privileged to meet and work with some of the local members of the ADPSR Chicago chapter. Currently it's headed by an awesome young architect (almost all the Chicago members are architects), Dan Hatch. The Chicago ADPSR is hosting the annual Mumford Awards, June 13th. Dan's also connected us with a very interesting sustainable project,
The Black Oaks Center, run by the dynamic duo of Fred carter & Dr. Jifunza Wright Carter. They will be guest presenters at the award event and the following day, Black Oaks will be sponsoring a bio-diesel bus for a community building day. Both these events and people and places should really inspire you...Since I lack photos of these people & places, instead I've featured Chicago's downtown (above) as we saw it June 1st while we were installing a rooftop planting in Evanston (hope the third time's a charm after the developer and a previous landscaper).
Typically our weather is variable, but this day was wild! To demonstrate, (below) you can see the sky looking north at the same time as I took the first shot looking south. Later, I will post pix of the process...
Here's an update on that unfurling Sumac foliage of a few weeks ago. I love the chartreuse against brown...
Where I have time, I want to talk about this job with special clients who are open to the spiritual possibilities of landscape. They lost an American Elm with a 6' diameter trunk, easily a 100 years old. In honoring the soul of the tree, we came up with an interesting tribute. More later.
A note: We actually planted the Crab Apple Purple Prince (below) in the neighbor's yard to help create privacy on my client's front porch. The foliage nicely contrasts with that of the Sumac.
Seeing the the sky through an Oak leafing out through a Japanese Maple.
Being amused by the spring bloom on the Crabs seen through the Chicago Botanic Garden's summer parking lot sign.
Everything rapidly greening now, but not when I took these ten days ago: Tri-colored Beech & BailTiger Sumac.
Ah, the Arts in NYC! Wish I was in Manhattan to see Ernesto Neto's Installation at The Armory...Meantime here's a memory from another terrific creation: Christo's February 2005 Orange Gates in Central Park. I had to live vicariously through my husband's photography & stories of the amazing comraderie he experienced while walking its course.
I have never been to Olympia, Washington, but for many years I have appreciated two artists who live there: Nikki McClure & Stella Marrs. A friend from Washington State gave us a Nikki McClure calendar five years ago and now it's an annual ritual to purchase ours plus a few for new converts. Nikki McClure does not shy away from tough topics (see May "Witness" above), she has a real feel for nature and her graphic style always shows me a new perspective. As a postcard collector since I was 12, I have long had a stack of Stella Marrs' hip environmental postcards. The one below lists the top ten commercial fruits & veggies with the highest amounts of pesticide concentration and toxicity. Thanks to this postcard, I ONLY buy organic strawberries as they head the list.
I and the birds are really enjoying the difference a month
makes in the life cycle of this wonderful native tree.
