The first talk in The Gardens Trust’s online six part course in partnership with FOLAR showcasing women pioneers begins January 14, individual tickets £8 (members £6)
Building on FOLAR’s popular series of Women in Landscape, this new collection of talks brings together insights into the motivations and work of three leading contemporary landscape designers and their teams, alongside stories celebrating the lives and achievements of earlier pioneers.
Each of these women has pushed boundaries to improve the lives of others. Some have studied and worked in the UK before adapting their knowledge and ideas to suit the unique contexts of their home countries – an exciting process of creative cross-pollination.
Every generation needs its pioneers, those who make lasting, and at times radical, changes, and who also inspire others to think boldly and act with confidence. Throughout the history of landscape design, there have always been people whose ideas and work transform the way we understand and shape our environments.
As with FOLAR’s previous series, these talks aim to showcase some of the most inspiring people, projects, and ideas in the field — past and present.
The initial presentation is Sisters in the Landscape – Miranda and Octavia Hill with Gillian Darley
Gillian will talk about how difficult early years gave both sisters an enduring appetite for the value of freedom and access to open ground, all based on the idea that the urban poor richly deserved access to nature. From that we can follow the strands that knit together in the Commons and Open Spaces Society, the Kyrle Society, Octavia’s pet project the Red Cross Gardens (Southwark) and eventually the National Trust.
Gillian Darley’s biography of Octavia Hill was published in 1990 (Constable) and in a revised edition in 2010 (Francis Boutle Books). Her first book was Villages of Vision – an account of the planned village, with an emphasis on the utopian (Architectural Press, 1975). She has also published a biography of John Evelyn (Yale University Press, 2006) and John Soane (Yale University Press, 1999). In the mid ’90s she was (part time) director of the Landscape Foundation. She was awarded an OBE in 2015 for services to the environment and conservation.
Get your tickets through Eventbrite 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 will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 2 weeks.
Image: Photo of Caroline Southwood Hill’s memorial seat, Mariner’s Hill, Kent, ©Gillian Darley