Environmental Art Debate - reflection by Tom Turner

Veganism is a set of principles, as well as being a diet, and relates to Green Buddhism. The design principles include: - vegetated ground, roofs and walls, - rainwater harvesting, use and infiltration - growing as much of our own food as we can - avoiding industrialised and ultra-processed foods, which help you to die young - planning greenways for commuting and for leisure - both walking and cycling - creating breathing zones with clean fresh air - as advocated by the man who laid the foundations for modern landscape architecture (‘Yes: that’s John Claudius Loudon’)

This moving Elegy on John Claudius Loudon was written by John Robertson, his assistant for 9 years. A fascinating aspect of the poem is the twin themes of 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 and working to create what we call 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬. This is what Geddes and McHarg did. Robertson drew the plan of Birkenhead Park - which inspired Frederick Law Olmsted (in 1850) "to admit that in democratic America there was nothing to be thought of as comparable with this People's Garden". That's why he entered the 1857 Central Park Competition and later used the title Landscape Architect on his plan. Working to create public goods is a key aspect of our profession - and we must thank Loudon for this.

Claudius Buchanan’s promotion of higher education in India led to the foundation of its first degree-awarding university, at Serampore. He also had a significant influence on the campaigns against wife-burning and self-immolation in India. Yet he saw himself as ‘one of the chief sinners.’ Why? John Claudius Loudon advanced through Europe as Napoleon retreated. As well as being a pioneer of landscape architecture he made important contributions to public parks, greenways, greenbelts, arboreta, urban planning and the glass-and-steel architecture of the 20th  century.  Loudon also invented a style of planting design that has become dominant: the Gardenesque. It uses exotic plants in naturalistic compositions - as Gertrude Jekyll did and as Piet Oudolf does. Yet Loudon is almost forgotten. Why? Jane Wells Webb, who married Loudon, was a pioneer of science fiction writing, But her interest was not in space travel or intergalactic warfare. She dreamed of a ‘Claudian’ ideal world, in which  queens, rather than kings, would rule  -  and in which rivers would be lined with beautiful gardens, open to the public.  The Claudians is the story of the cousins' lives and their work. It explores the ideas which motivated them, the details of their travels, the challenges that left them undaunted, their marriages, their achievements and their untimely deaths. From the Claudians Companion Pages you can find out a great deal more about the cousins and buy the book. It's on offer at a 25% discount on pre-orders before December 1st 2024.

This update on the City as Landscape podcast channel explains why it has been neglected for a few years: the reason is because Tom Turner has been writing a fictionalised dual biography of "The Grandfather of Landscape Architecture" and the cousin with whom he shared a forename: Claudius Buchanan. That's why the book title is The Claudians. It is available for pre-order on Amazon Kindle at a 25% discount. On 1st December, when it is published, the price will rise above the pre-order price of £2.99 ($3.90 in the US). Loudon is the Grandfather of Landscape Architecture and was an important influence on modern architecture, garden design and town planning. Claudius Buchanan was a famous and influential missionary in India. Like his cousin, Buchanan was influenced by the Scottish Enlightenment and what is best understood as 'the spirit of the Pilgrim Fathers'. The cousins believed in hard work, honesty and working for the public good. Find The Claudians on Amazon Kindle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJL69B9H Read more about the book: https://www.gardenvisit.com/jcl See a video about the book: https://youtu.be/p35ymUbhYhc

Robert Holden and Tom Turner discus the Landscape Institute's aims and its achievements. Landscape Institute Members for 111 years (half each), they discuss the foundation of the Institute and what it does now. They intend a second video about what the LI and the landscape profession should plan to do in the future, as it approaches its 100th Anniversary in 2029. It was founded as the Institute of Landscape Architects with Thomas Mawson as its first president. There was a focus on garden design in the 1930s. When Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe became president this focus shifted to public projects, including New Towns, roads, forestry, minerals and urban design.

Seven artists and landscape architects outline their views of environmental art and landscape architecture: Brodie McAllister, Andrew Stonyer, Catherine Dee, Ian Thompson, Trudi Entwhistle, Scott Farlow and Edward Hutchison. The debate was organised by LANDSCAPEmatters and held on 15th June 2021 (online). The debate is also available on Youtube https://youtu.be/O4e0bDtKqck 

There is a very fully illustrated version of this podcast on YouTube. Edward Hutchison is a London artist, landscape architect, architect and author of a very popular book on Landscape Drawing (published by Thames and Hudson). In this podcast he talks to Tom Turner about his work and about how he sees the relationship between art, painting and landscape architecture. He sees drawing and painting as analytical tools which help the landscape architecture understand the nature of the world and the place which will be designed. Edward also paints what happens below the ground and above the ground - the world of soil and the world of birdsong (which will be the theme of his next exhibition, in London in 2022). The podcast features a project he did, in Nimes, France, with Norman Foster (for whom he worked at one time).

Here's a summary of what came out of the LANDSCAPEmatters debate on environmental art and landscape architecture (held by LANDSCAPEmatters on 15th June 2021) with a comment on the historical context for the issues (in the design theory of Vitruvius Pollio, whose book was published 2000 years ago). If you'd prefer an illustrated version of this podcast, you can find it on YouTube

Though published out of sequence, this is is the first of nine or ten podcasts about the relationship between the Environment, Art and Landscape Architecture. I’ve also done a short YouTube video about this -  with rather a long title. It was called A History of Land Art, Ecological and Environmental Art  in relation to Landscape Architecture and  made to set the scene for a discussion. But before getting into the discussion I’ve got a news flash about the City as Landscape series of podcasts. I’ve done 18 episodes so far and they began, during the 2020 Covid lockdown, as a narrated version of my book on City as landscape. I’ve recorded most of the 20 essays and published three of them in 2020 -  as both  podcasts and YouTube videos. Reading the essays is easy enough. Converting them to videos is slow work, which may be why I’ve turned to shorter projects. I do however plan to finish the City as Landscape audio book - sometime. Perhaps I’ll do the podcasts but not the videos.

Brodie McAllister gives an outline of land art, environmental art and their relationship to landscape architecture. The debate was organised by LANDSCAPEmatters and held on 15th June 2021. Brodie became the Landscape Institute’s President Elect a few days before the debate.