Boston Flora

Tag: Katie Campbell

  • Wednesday, November 26, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Eastern – Katie Campbell’s Favorite Gardens, Online

    The Gardens Trust continues its online series on favorite gardens on November 26 at 1 pm Eastern with Katie Campbell’s Favorite Gardens. Katie is writer and garden historian. She lectures widely, has taught at Birkbeck, Bristol and Buckingham universities, writes for various publications and leads art and garden tours. Her most recent book, Cultivating the Renaissance (Routledge, 2022) explores the evolution of Renaissance ideas and aesthetics through the Medici Tuscan villas. Previous publications include British Gardens in Time (Quarto, 2014) to accompany the BBC television series, Paradise of Exiles (Francis Lincoln, 2009) a study of the late nineteenth century Anglo-Florentine garden-makers, and Icons of Twentieth Century Landscape Design (Frances Lincoln, 2006).

    Whether carved from an arboreal forest or a tropical jungle, a rubber plantation, an olive grove or an ancient oak wood, Katie finds that that the gardens which remain with her are the ones which respect the indigenous flora and agricultural traditions, but interpret these in a way which reveals as much about the designer as it does about the site.

    This ticket LINK is for this individual session and costs £8, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions via the links below, or you may purchase a ticket for the entire course of 4 sessions at a cost of £28 via the link here. (Gardens Trust members £6 or £21). Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available for 2 weeks) will be sent shortly afterwards.

    ©Katie Campbell

  • Tuesday, April 29, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but recorded) – A History of Gardens: Modernism – The Recent Past

    The Gardens Trust’s final series of A History of Gardens will consider developments of the recent past. Starting with the arrival of the sleek, functional style of Modernism after the first world war, the talks will move on to explore contemporary thinking on the challenges of conserving and restoring historic parks and gardens, the rise of ecological perennial planting, the reappearance of allusive gardens and how a garden’s ‘spirit of place’ can guide sustainable plans for the future.

    Themes and exemplars in garden-making are more difficult to identify without the benefit of distance and time. But considering recent ideas and approaches is bound to bring a thought-provoking end to our History of Gardens. This ticket link is for the sixth series of 5 talks in our History of Gardens Course at £35 or you may purchase a ticket for individual talks, costing £8 via the links on the website. (Gardens Trust members £6 each or all 5 for £26.25). Ticket holders can join each session live and/or view a recording for up to 2 weeks afterwards. Ticket sales close 4 hours before the first talk.

    Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the first talk (if you do not receive this link please contact us) and a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 2 weeks.

    Talk 1 on April 29 is Modernism, with Katie Campbell. Modernism was a short-lived fashion in British horticulture which left a long legacy. Provoked by the horrors of the First World War, Modernists rejected traditional styles and methods, and sought a new, nonaligned, universal approach. Renouncing vernacular and historical references, they promoted an international style which was as comfortable in the Greek islands as in the Scottish Highlands. While eschewing metaphor and allusion, it embraced machine-age mass production and modern materials, used plants architecturally to create clearly delineated spaces, and was more interested in texture and form than color. Its focus on simplicity, functionality and monumentality still infuse contemporary British garden design.

    Katie Campbell lectures widely, has taught at Birkbeck, Bristol and Buckingham universities, writes for various publications and leads art and garden tours. Her most recent book, Cultivating the Renaissance (Routledge, 2021) explores the evolution of Renaissance ideas and aesthetics through the Medici’s Tuscan villas. Previous publications include British Gardens in Time (Quarto, 2014), Paradise of Exiles: The Anglo-Florentine Garden (Francis Lincoln, 2009), Policies and Pleasaunces (Barn Elms, 2007), and Icons of Twentieth Century Landscape Design (Frances Lincoln, 2006). Image below: High and Over, Amersham, ©Mary Casserley: marycasserley.com

  • Tuesday, April 30, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but recorded) – Medieval Gardens, Online

    This five week online course from the Gardens Trust will be suitable for anyone curious about gardens and their stories – whether absolute beginners or those with some garden history knowledge. Running from April 14 – May 14, the course aims to help participants recognize important eras, themes and styles in mainly British garden history from the earliest times to today, grasp something of the social, economic, political and international contexts in which gardens have been created and find greater pleasure in visiting historic gardens. You can sign up for whole series or dip into individual talks. There will be opportunities to discuss issues with speakers after each talk, and short reading lists for further exploration.

    Week Three on April 30 is Medieval Gardens with Katie Campbell. Little archaeological evidence remains of the gardens created between the fall of the Roman empire and the rise of the Renaissance a millennium later; luckily, illustrated prayer books and calendars from the period provide lush and detailed images which can teach us much about the medieval garden. While utilitarian plots of the peasantry focused on root vegetables and cereals, religious institutions like the ninth century St Gall monastery provided medicinal herbs and flowers for the altar as well as food for paupers and pilgrims. Meanwhile royals cavorted in pleasure grounds like those at Woodstock where Henry II wooed his mistress amid elaborate labyrinths and water gardens. This talk will explore the range and evolution of the medieval garden.

    Katie Campbell is a writer and garden historian. She lectures widely, has taught at Birkbeck, Bristol and Buckingham universities; she writes for various publications, and leads art and garden tours. Her most recent book, Cultivating the Renaissance (Routledge, 2021) , explores the evolution of Renaissance ideas and aesthetics through the Medici Tuscan villas. Her previous book, British Gardens in Time (Quarto, 2014), accompanied the BBC television series. Earlier works include Paradise of Exiles (Francis Lincoln, 2009), looking at the late nineteenth century Anglo-American garden-makers in Florence, Icons of Twentieth Century Landscape Design (Frances Lincoln, 2006) and Policies and Pleasaunces (Barn Elms, 2007), a Guide to Scotland’s Gardens.

    For tickets, visit www.eventbrite.co.uk Ticket holders can join each session live or view a recording for up to 2 weeks afterwards. £8 each or all 5 for £35 (Gardens Trust members £6 each or all 5 for £26.25) Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the first talk (If you do not receive this link please contact us), and a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 2 weeks.

  • Tuesday, April 23, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but recorded) – First Gardens, Online

    This five week online course from the Gardens Trust will be suitable for anyone curious about gardens and their stories – whether absolute beginners or those with some garden history knowledge. Running from April 14 – May 14, the course aims to help participants recognize important eras, themes and styles in mainly British garden history from the earliest times to today, grasp something of the social, economic, political and international contexts in which gardens have been created and find greater pleasure in visiting historic gardens. You can sign up for whole series or dip into individual talks. There will be opportunities to discuss issues with speakers after each talk, and short reading lists for further exploration.

    Week Two on April 23 is First Gardens with Katie Campbell. The history of horticulture is essentially a history of conquest. As one empire conquered another, it would adopt and adapt the best garden practice from the vassal state. Whether Sumerian hunting parks filled with exotic plants, or the hanging gardens of Babylon which presented a green mountain on a flat plain, the Egyptian tomb gardens with their ingenious irrigation techniques, or the Greek botanists whose influence would dominate medicine for centuries to come, each of the early empires has shaped our understanding of the garden. This talk will explore the development of horticulture from its origins in the fertile triangle between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to its apogee in the Roman villas which became a major inspiration to the garden makers of the Renaissance a thousand years later.

    Katie Campbell is a writer and garden historian. She lectures widely, has taught at Birkbeck, Bristol and Buckingham universities; she writes for various publications, and leads art and garden tours. Her most recent book, Cultivating the Renaissance (Routledge, 2021) , explores the evolution of Renaissance ideas and aesthetics through the Medici Tuscan villas. Her previous book, British Gardens in Time (Quarto, 2014), accompanied the BBC television series. Earlier works include Paradise of Exiles (Francis Lincoln, 2009), looking at the late nineteenth century Anglo-American garden-makers in Florence, Icons of Twentieth Century Landscape Design (Frances Lincoln, 2006) and Policies and Pleasaunces (Barn Elms, 2007), a Guide to Scotland’s Gardens.

    For tickets, visit www.eventbrite.co.uk Ticket holders can join each session live or view a recording for up to 2 weeks afterwards. £8 each or all 5 for £35 (Gardens Trust members £6 each or all 5 for £26.25) Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the first talk (If you do not receive this link please contact us), and a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 2 weeks.

    Image: 20th century facsimile of a Funeral Ritual in a Garden, Tomb of Minnakht, ca. 1479–1425 B.C., The Met Museum, Rogers Fund, 1930. Public domain

  • Tuesday, December 5, 5:00 am – 6:30 am – American Moderns: Land Art and Landscape, Online

    The study of landscape design is essentially a study of human culture; the way people shape their environment reflects a sense of their place in the world. Traditionally western landscape design has veered between the Classic and Romantic traditions, pitting European formality against English naturalism. During the twentieth century however, these stylistic polarities gave way to new concerns as designers looked increasingly to the historical, political and cultural context of their sites. As the New World was often in the forefront of this movement, this Gardens Trust four-lecture series on American Moderns will examine key landscapes from the two continents, exploring the designs which pushed the boundaries of the profession by pioneering new approaches, reflecting new philosophies and challenging assumptions about the form, use and meaning of landscape. You may purchase tickets for the entire series through Eventbrite for £16, or individual sessions costing £5, at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/american-moderns-tickets-670807291667 Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the first talk (If you do not receive this link please contact us), and a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 week.

    Week Four on December 5 is Land Art and Landscape. In the 1960s the boundary between landscape design and contemporary art was breached in a movement known as Land Art. While reacting against the commercialization of the art market, Land Artists tended to be politically active, reflecting the ideology of the budding ecology movement and railing against the increasing disengagement of the arts from social issues. Often choosing inaccessible locations and using the site itself as their canvas, Land Artists used the fabric of the earth – water, soil, rock and vegetation – as their primary materials, while paying homage to the historical uses of the site. As Land Artists depended largely on wealthy patrons or private foundations to create their monumental – and often monumentally expensive – projects, the movement faltered during the economic downturn of the 1970s and was further undermined by the co-opting of the works by commercial galleries. Nonetheless Land Artists such as Maya Lin, Robert Smithson, Nancy Holt and Michael Heizer continue to create extraordinary landscapes – wave fields, spiral jetties, lightning fields, and whole concrete mega-cities – which challenge our idea of landscape design.

    Speaker Katie Campbell is a writer and garden historian. She lectures widely, has taught at Birkbeck, Bristol and Buckingham universities; she writes for various publications, and leads art and garden tours. Her most recent book, Cultivating the Renaissance (Routledge, 2021) , explores the evolution of Renaissance ideas and aesthetics through the Medici Tuscan villas. Her previous book, British Gardens in Time (Quarto, 2014), accompanied the BBC television series. Earlier works include Paradise of Exiles (Francis Lincoln, 2009), looking at the late nineteenth century Anglo-American garden-makers in Florence, Icons of Twentieth Century Landscape Design (Frances Lincoln, 2006) and Policies and Pleasaunces (Barn Elms, 2007), a Guide to Scotland’s Gardens.

  • Tuesday, November 21, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern – American Moderns: Guided by Nature, Online

    The study of landscape design is essentially a study of human culture; the way people shape their environment reflects a sense of their place in the world. Traditionally western landscape design has veered between the Classic and Romantic traditions, pitting European formality against English naturalism. During the twentieth century however, these stylistic polarities gave way to new concerns as designers looked increasingly to the historical, political and cultural context of their sites. As the New World was often in the forefront of this movement, this Gardens Trust four-lecture series on American Moderns will examine key landscapes from the two continents, exploring the designs which pushed the boundaries of the profession by pioneering new approaches, reflecting new philosophies and challenging assumptions about the form, use and meaning of landscape. You may purchase tickets for the entire series through Eventbrite for £16, or individual sessions costing £5, at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/american-moderns-tickets-670807291667 Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the first talk (If you do not receive this link please contact us), and a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 week.

    Week Two on November 21 is Guided by Nature. Inspired, perhaps, by the Aboriginal people whom they largely eradicated, Americans appear more inclined than their European forebears to accommodate rather than eradicate nature. From the Transcendentalist writers and Hudson River painters of the nineteenth century to the Nature poets and photographers of the twentieth century, Americans often find in their wilderness a manifestation of the divine. This lecture will examine the work of such mid-century designers as Frank Lloyd Wright, Lawrence Halprin, Richard Haag and Isamu Noguchi, to demonstrate how they attempted to evolve a new relationship with the natural world. In such varied projects as private retreats, urban parks and obsolete industrial sites, these designers drew design ideas from nature while working with natural processes to construct their effects.

    Speaker Katie Campbell is a writer and garden historian. She lectures widely, has taught at Birkbeck, Bristol and Buckingham universities; she writes for various publications, and leads art and garden tours. Her most recent book, Cultivating the Renaissance (Routledge, 2021) , explores the evolution of Renaissance ideas and aesthetics through the Medici Tuscan villas. Her previous book, British Gardens in Time (Quarto, 2014), accompanied the BBC television series. Earlier works include Paradise of Exiles (Francis Lincoln, 2009), looking at the late nineteenth century Anglo-American garden-makers in Florence, Icons of Twentieth Century Landscape Design (Frances Lincoln, 2006) and Policies and Pleasaunces (Barn Elms, 2007), a Guide to Scotland’s Gardens.

  • Tuesday, November 28, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern – American Moderns: Art as Inspiration, Online

    The study of landscape design is essentially a study of human culture; the way people shape their environment reflects a sense of their place in the world. Traditionally western landscape design has veered between the Classic and Romantic traditions, pitting European formality against English naturalism. During the twentieth century however, these stylistic polarities gave way to new concerns as designers looked increasingly to the historical, political and cultural context of their sites. As the New World was often in the forefront of this movement, this Gardens Trust four-lecture series on American Moderns will examine key landscapes from the two continents, exploring the designs which pushed the boundaries of the profession by pioneering new approaches, reflecting new philosophies and challenging assumptions about the form, use and meaning of landscape. You may purchase tickets for the entire series through Eventbrite for £16, or individual sessions costing £5, at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/american-moderns-tickets-670807291667 Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the first talk (If you do not receive this link please contact us), and a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 week.

    Week Three on November 28 is Art as Inspiration. While some designers found inspiration in the primal forces and biomorphic forms of the natural world, others looked to the often-radical ideas of contemporary art movements. Drawing on such diverse features as the overlapping planes of cubism, the multiple axes of vorticism, the startling colors of pop art, De Stijl’s paring down of color and form, the simplicity and spirituality of abstract expressionism and the deliberate ephemerality of installation art, designers such as Fletcher Steele, Dan Kiley, Robert Irwin and Martha Schwartz pioneered new approaches to landscape design.

    Speaker Katie Campbell is a writer and garden historian. She lectures widely, has taught at Birkbeck, Bristol and Buckingham universities; she writes for various publications, and leads art and garden tours. Her most recent book, Cultivating the Renaissance (Routledge, 2021) , explores the evolution of Renaissance ideas and aesthetics through the Medici Tuscan villas. Her previous book, British Gardens in Time (Quarto, 2014), accompanied the BBC television series. Earlier works include Paradise of Exiles (Francis Lincoln, 2009), looking at the late nineteenth century Anglo-American garden-makers in Florence, Icons of Twentieth Century Landscape Design (Frances Lincoln, 2006) and Policies and Pleasaunces (Barn Elms, 2007), a Guide to Scotland’s Gardens.

  • Tuesday, November 14, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern – American Masters: Landscape and National Identity, Online

    The study of landscape design is essentially a study of human culture; the way people shape their environment reflects a sense of their place in the world. Traditionally western landscape design has veered between the Classic and Romantic traditions, pitting European formality against English naturalism. During the twentieth century however, these stylistic polarities gave way to new concerns as designers looked increasingly to the historical, political and cultural context of their sites. As the New World was often in the forefront of this movement, this Gardens Trust four-lecture series on American Moderns will examine key landscapes from the two continents, exploring the designs which pushed the boundaries of the profession by pioneering new approaches, reflecting new philosophies and challenging assumptions about the form, use and meaning of landscape. You may purchase tickets for the entire series through Eventbrite for £16, or individual sessions costing £5, at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/american-moderns-tickets-670807291667 Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the first talk (If you do not receive this link please contact us), and a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 week.

    Week One on November 14 is Landscape and National Identity. Geoffrey Jellicoe once claimed that ‘All man-made environment is a projection of our psyche, whether individual or collective’. This lecture will explore how designers from different parts of the Americas – the Brazilian Roberto Burle Marx, the Mexican Luis Barragan and the American Thomas Church – used gardens and landscapes to shape and promote ideas of national identity. Wary of the European traditions of their country’s former colonial rulers, these designers looked to indigenous flora, building materials, architecture, agricultural methods, cultural traditions and mythologies to establish distinct, new approaches which reflect the national and local character of their sites. Image: Sítio Roberto Burle Marx, Rio de Janeiro. Halley Pacheco de Oliveira

    Speaker Katie Campbell is a writer and garden historian. She lectures widely, has taught at Birkbeck, Bristol and Buckingham universities; she writes for various publications, and leads art and garden tours. Her most recent book, Cultivating the Renaissance (Routledge, 2021) , explores the evolution of Renaissance ideas and aesthetics through the Medici Tuscan villas. Her previous book, British Gardens in Time (Quarto, 2014), accompanied the BBC television series. Earlier works include Paradise of Exiles (Francis Lincoln, 2009), looking at the late nineteenth century Anglo-American garden-makers in Florence, Icons of Twentieth Century Landscape Design (Frances Lincoln, 2006) and Policies and Pleasaunces (Barn Elms, 2007), a Guide to Scotland’s Gardens.

  • Tuesdays, June 7 & June 14, 5:00 am (but recording link sent for later viewing) – Virgil and the Bees, Online

    Since time began bees have enchanted and perplexed human beings. From Mesopotamia to Mexico bees have figured in the ritual and mythology of the world’s most vibrant cultures. Egyptian Pharoahs, Renaissance popes and nineteenth century emperors have all chosen the modest insect as their emblem, while the hive itself has been seen as a model of everything from the ideal democracy to the ecclesiastical hierarchy, to the perfect urban dwellings. In ancient times bees supported mankind from birth to death; honey served as a tax, an offering, a propitiation and a libation, it was daubed on the lips of newborns and preserved corpses after death. Predating both bread and wine it was man’s first sweetener and first intoxicant. Being both antiseptic and antibacterial it was also essential in medicine, cosmetics, preservation and contraception. Virgil and the Bees will look at the social history of beekeeping, exploring the myths and misconceptions, the products of the hive and the history of the apiary. Katie Campbell will present these talks for The Gardens Trust, and the cost is £5 each or 2 for £8. through Eventbrite. Details for registration are HERE. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards.

    The June 7 talk is entitled The Song of Increase. As apian life has intrigued human observers, it has also challenged human classification. Some cultures believed bees rose from the ground, others that they fell from the sky; some saw them as the souls of the dead, others thought them the tears of the gods; Greek philosophers thought they were propagated by beating the corpse of a bull, Roman lawyers argued whether bees were tame or wild to determine the responsibility for, and ownership of, bee swarms. Some believed honey grew on trees, others thought it rained from the heavens, even today most Jains and many vegans refuse to consume honey which they deem an animal product. The Song of Increase will explore the rich symbolism attached to bees and investigate the major misconceptions around these mysterious creatures.

    The lecture on June 14 is The Celestial Gift. he history of beekeeping is the history of honey harvest; from the first courageous souls who braved rock faces to steal from wild colonies, through the apiarists who burnt whole colonies to get at the honey; from to the benign clerics who devised hives which enable the humane extraction of honey, to today’s industrial producers who confine colonies in vast warehouses where the bees never see a live flower. This lecture will survey the changing theory and practice of beekeeping and the different uses of honey and hive, from the ancient custom of mellification to the modern ‘mad honey’ which sells illegally on the dark web, from the Celtic tribesmen who tortured enemies by smearing their naked bodies with honey to the Roman legions which created chaos by tossing live hives into enemy camps.

    Katie Campbell is a writer and garden historian. She lectures widely, has taught at Birkbeck, Bristol and Buckingham universities; she writes for various publications and leads art and garden tours. Her recently published Cultivating the Renaissance (Routledge, 2022) examines how the Medici’s Tuscan villas reflect the changing ideas of the Renaissance. Earlier books include British Gardens in Time, to accompany the BBC television series; Paradise of Exiles, which explores the Anglo- American garden-makers in late nineteenth century Florence; Policies and Pleasances: A Guide to Scotland’s Gardens, and Icons of Twentieth Century Landscape Design. She is currently working on ‘Virgil and the Bees’, a social history of beekeeping.