Boston Flora

Tag: Olmsted

  • Wednesday, April 23, 8:00 pm – Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America

    The Emerald Necklace Conservancy will host the Boston premiere of the new film Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America, on Wednesday, April 23 at 8 pm at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  Tickets are $11 general admission, $9 MFA members and Emerald Necklace Conservancy donors.

    The new, one-hour documentary chronicling the career and lasting influence of America’s premiere landscape architect who designed Boston’s Emerald Necklace, New York’s Central Park, Biltmore in Asheville, NC among other public and private spaces throughout the United States. The film’s producer, Lawrence Hott will be in attendance for a brief Q & A with the audience.   The film’s co-producer is Diane Garey, and is a co-production of WNED-TV, Buffalo/Toronto and Florentine Films/Hott Productions, Inc.  Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America has been made possible by major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor, and The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation, with funding provided by HSBC, The Tiffany & Company Foundation and The C.E. & S. Foundation. Additional support provided from The Peter C. Cornell Trust and Mass Humanities.

    Tickets can be purchased at any MFA ticket desk, by calling 1-800-440-6975, or online.

    http://www.olmstedparks.org//srv/htdocs/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/frederick-law-olmsted-647x288.jpg

  • Thursday, November 21, 6:00 pm – From Buffalo to Boston: Olmsted’s Evolving Vision of Urban Park Systems

    The Friends of Fairsted presents From Buffalo to Boston: Olmsted’s Evolving Vision of Urban Park Systems, a lecture by Francis R. Kowsky, PhD,  SUNY Distinguished Professor of Fine Arts Emeritus and author of the the book The Best Planned City in the World: Olmsted, Vaux, and the Buffalo Park System, on Thursday, November 21, at Wheelock College, 43 Hawes Street in Brookline.  The reception and book signing will begin at 6, with the lecture at 7.

    Beginning in 1868, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux planned the first metropolitan park system in America for Buffalo, New York.  They designed three distinct parks linked by “parkways,” majestic, tree canopied boulevards that were linear parks in themselves.  Displaying a map of Buffalo at the Paris Exhibition in 1878, Olmsted called it the best planned city in the world.  That same year, he began to apply the concept he had pioneered in Buffalo to the Boston metropolitan area.  Here, he planned six parks stretching from the Charles River to the harbor, a remarkable chain of green spaces today known as the Emerald Necklace.

    Free and open to the public.  Seating is limited and reservations are required.  Email friendsoffairsted@gmail.com.  Limited street parking is available.  Public parking is not allowed in the Wheelock parking lot.

    http://www.buffalonews.com/storyimage/BN/20130819/CITYANDREGION/130818991/AR/0/AR-130818991.jpg&maxW=960

  • Tuesday, November 12 – 2013 Annual Meeting of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy

    You are invited to the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy on Tuesday, November 12 at the Linda K. Paresky Conference Center at Simmons College, 300 The Fenway, Boston, Massachusetts.  Reception begins at 5:30, program at 6 pm.  Please join them and come together to thank volunteers, celebrate our parks community, and share a vision of the Emerald Necklace.  The Keynote Address will be given by Ned Friedman: The Emerald Necklace – Urban Gems of Landscape and Biodiversity.  There will be a special presentation of the 2013 Volunteer of the Year Award to Gerry Wright, co-founder of Olmsted 2022, Friends of Jamaica Pond, and Friends of Olmsted Park – Boston.  Hosting sponsor of this meeting is Simmons College, and the meeting sponsors are MASCO and Colleges of the Fenway.  This event is free and open to the public.  RSVP by November 4 online at www.emeraldnecklace.org, or by calling 617-522-2700.

    William (Ned) Friedman is Director of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, and Arnold Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology.  He received an A.B. in Biology from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. in Botany from the University of California, Berkeley.

    http://news.harvard.edu/gazette//srv/htdocs/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/092710_Friedman_Ned_42_605.jpg

  • Thursday, October 3, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm – Nonlinear Encounters: Emergence in Landscape Architecture

    As emergence theory is invoked and “operationalized” in a wide range of projects and studios, cities are becoming adaptive in ways they never were before. But the concepts mobilized by systems thinking require us to reexamine the very nature of our human encounter with the world, whose complexities are not often considered in landscape architecture. With the aid of key concepts of emergence such as difference, disturbance, and assemblage, this Harvard Graduate School of Design lecture will attempt to situate designers within the systems they intervene in while acknowledging that the systems are within them too. Rod Barnett is a visiting professor of landscape architecture. The Olmsted Lecture is an annual honorific lecture in landscape architecture. It will take place Thursday, October 3, beginning at 6:30 pm in the Piper Auditorium of Gund Hall, 48 Quincy Street in Cambridge, and is free and open to the public.  For more information contact events@gsd.harvard.edu.

    http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/images/content/5/5/v3/558884.jpeg

  • Sunday, May 5, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – A Walk with Mr. Olmsted in the Back Bay Fens

    See the Back Bay Fens through the eyes of the man who designed and built it. Join Frederick Law Olmsted, as portrayed by Gerry Wright and an Emerald Necklace docent as they lead a walk through the historic landscape of the Fens on Sunday, May 5, beginning at 1 pm. Learn how Mr. Olmsted transformed the area once described as, “The foulest marsh and muddy flats to be found anywhere in Massachusetts,” into the first link in his chain of parks we know today as the Emerald Necklace. Tour starts and ends at the Shattuck Emerald Necklace Visitor Center, 125 The Fenway, Boston 02115. Free and open to the public.  Reservations recommended. Register by clicking this link or call 617-522-2700.

    http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4017/4703667971_fedfe7b4f7_z.jpg

  • Saturday, April 27, 9:00 am – 2:00 pm – Climate Change: What Would Olmsted Do?

    Join The Emerald Necklace Conservancy Panel entitled Climate Change: What Would Olmsted Do? beginning at 10 am moderated by Ted Landsmark, President and CEO of the Boston Architectural College with panel speakers: Ethan Carr, Author and Olmsted Scholar, Brian Swett, City of Boston Chief of Energy and Environment and Jhana Senxian, Founder and CEO of the Sustainability Guild International. Coffee and Registration at 9 am. Presented by Olmsted 2022 at Simmons College, 300 The Fenway, Boston. Registration fee $10 (includes coffee and lunch). Reserve online at https://25749.thankyou4caring.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=300

    http://i43.tower.com/images/mm100247048/wilderness-by-design-ethan-carr-paperback-cover-art.jpg

  • Wednesday, March 6, 10:00 am – New York Garden Spaces

    Maureen Bovet presents the green side of the Big Apple to The Garden Club of the Back Bay on Wednesday, March 6, beginning at 10 am at The College Club, 44 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. This photo show explores the wonderful public parks of New York City. Maureen was born and raised in NYC and her passion for gardening began there. She offers a unique view of the green spaces available to be enjoyed by natives and visitors alike. The history and the horticulture of these parks are illustrated by beautiful slides from her collection. Included are Wave Hill, the garden at The Cloisters, Olmsted-designed Central Park, with its 70-year-old Conservatory Garden, the new High Line Park modeled on a Paris railroad bed reuse, The New York Botanical Garden, and Battery Park at the tip of Manhattan looking out at the Statue of Liberty. She will discuss garden design and plant cultivation along with the fascinating history of these parks. Maureen is a Museum Associate at the MFA on the Flower Team, a graduate of Wellesley College, and a former student at the Arnold Arboretum Landscape Institute and the UMass Green School.  An optional lunch ($20) will follow the presentation.  Free to GCBB and College Club members, $5 contribution requested from nonmembers.  If you wish to attend, please email info@bostonflora.com to put your name on the list.

  • Friday, August 31 – Sunday, September 30 – Echoes of the Olmsted Elm: Works from RISD’s 2011 Witness Tree Project

    The Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, in collaboration with the Rhode Island School of Design’s Witness Tree Project and the Friends of Fairsted, is pleased to present an exhibit of artworks produced from the wood of the historic Olmsted Elm that graced the landscape at 99 Warren Street, Brookline, Massachusetts until March 2011, when it succumbed to old age, a serious fungal infection, and exposure in recent years to Dutch elm disease. Echoes of the Olmsted Elm: Works from RISD’s 2011 Witness Tree Project will take place in the rehabilitated barn at Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site in Brookline from Friday, August 31 through Sunday, September 30. The exhibit will be open to walk-in visitors on Thursday evenings from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. as well as Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The regular on-site tours taking place Wednesday through Sunday will also make stops at the exhibit. Finally, a special opening reception for the public will be held the evening of September 14. For further information, please call 617-566-1689 or visit, www.nps.gov/frla starting in mid-August.

  • Sundays, July 15 – August 26, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – Walking Tours of the Emerald Necklace

    The Emerald Necklace Conservancy invites you to join them for free walking tours on Sundays, July 15  – August 26, from 1:00 – 2:30 pm, led by Emerald Necklace docents.  Tours will begin and end at the Shattuck Emerald Necklace Visitor Center.  The specific tours are as follows:

    Sunday, July 15
    The Changing Landscape of the Back Bay Fens
    Frederick Law Olmsted turned a foul-smelling tidal creek and swamp that periodically flooded into “scenery of a winding, brackish creek, within wooded banks; gaining interest from the meandering course of the water.” Much has changed to Olmsted’s landscape over the years. Hear the fascinating story of the Fens on this guided walk.

    Sunday, July 22
    19th Century Women Activists and Reformers and the Back Bay Fens
    Several 19th Century women played a part, though often overlooked, in Fens history. Join Emerald Necklace docents on a guided walking tour of the park and hear the stories of Marie Antoinette Evans, Mrs. Johnson, Ida Agassiz and others, while stopping at gardens and historic sites along the way.

    Sunday, July 29
    History and Landscape of the Back Bay Fens
    From foul muddy flats to the parkland of today– the Fens has undergone many transformations in the last 125 years. Join Emerald Necklace docents as they talk and walk the historic landscape. Includes stops at the Kelleher Rose Garden, with its 1,500+ roses, and the oldest World War II Victory Gardens in continuous operation in America.

    Sunday, August 5
    Along The Muddy River

    Where does it start and where does it go? Learn the answers and more on this guided walking tour of all things Muddy! Once tidal, the Muddy River has been reconfigured, widened, narrowed, dredged and filled. Hear the story of Olmsted’s plan for the Muddy and what the future holds for this waterway. Tour includes stops at two historic bridges that span the Muddy.

    Sunday, August 12
    The Plant Life of the Back Bay Fens
    Explore the plant life in the Back Bay Fens with Emerald Necklace docents. Stroll among cherry trees and crabapples, see (and smell!) 200 varieties of roses in the Kelleher Rose Garden; view recently planted native species such as oakleaf hydrangea, sweet and hay-scented fern, witch hazel, common snowberry, and mountain laurel on the slope at Mother’s Rest; and meander through the Victory Garden for an eye-popping array of blooms and veggies. You may want to bring along a camera and notebook!

    Sunday, August 19
    The Changing Landscape of the Back Bay Fens
    Frederick Law Olmsted turned a foul-smelling tidal creek and swamp that periodically flooded into “scenery of a winding, brackish creek, within wooded banks; gaining interest from the meandering course of the water.” Much has changed to Olmsted’s landscape over the years. Hear the fascinating story of the Fens on this guided walk.

    Sunday, August 26
    History and Landscape of the Back Bay Fens
    From foul muddy flats to the parkland of today– the Fens has undergone many transformations in the last 125 years. Join Emerald Necklace docents as they talk and walk the historic landscape. Includes stops at the Kelleher Rose Garden, with its 1,500+ roses, and the oldest World War II Victory Gardens in continuous operation in America.

  • Sunday, April 22, 7:00 pm – Olmsted & Whitman: The Civil War Years

    Gerry Wright has researched, written and produced a one-man show honoring the life and work of Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of landscape architecture. The play provides insights into Olmsted’s passionate vision as he played critical roles in the dynamics of slavery as a writer, Executive Secretary of the U.S. Sanitary Commission in the Civil War, and as the landscape architect for New York City’s Central Park, Boston’s Emerald Necklace, the US Capitol grounds, along with multiple plans for colleges, communities and private estates. Olmsted was a key pioneer in the movement to preserve land as national parkland, both at Yosemite and Niagara Falls.

    Olmsted’s life story, from “vagabond,” to dry goods salesman, sailor, traveler, journalist, author, publisher, executive (including a goldmine in California), to becoming the father of landscape architecture in America is both inspiring as history and reason for continued commitment in the 21st century.

    The Olmsted play has been presented at the Olmsted National Historic Site in Brookline, Boston’s 375th Anniversary Parade, Brookline’s 350th Anniversary Celebration, plus numerous communities of the Commonwealth; along with performances in Volgoda, Russia; in New York City for the 150 year anniversary of the legislation for Central Park; Olmsted Parks Conservancy in Louisville, Kentucky; and in Asheville, North Carolina. It will be presented, free, along with a second one act play, on Sunday, April 22, beginning at 7 pm at First Church of Jamaica Plain, Eliot and Center Street, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Call 617-524-7070, or email FrederickLawOlmsted@yahoo.com.