Work of Art

Garden/Landscape Project

Due: Tuesday March 1st   

20% of grade

 

For this project, you will visit three gardens in the Portland area—one garden from each of the categories below. When you visit these gardens, take as many digital photos as necessary to capture the essence, i.e. the metaphor, of the garden.

GARDEN CATEGORIES (choose 1 from each section)
Note! These gardens have free admission unless otherwise noted.

Category A:  (We will visit the Chinese gardens as a class.  If you cannot make it you can go to either on your own.)

1. Classical Chinese Garden (requires admission: see http://www.portlandchinesegarden.org/)

Category B:

1. Peninsula Park Rose Garden, 700 N Rosa Parks Way
   Directions, etc: http://www.rosegardenstore.org/peninsulagardens.cfm

2. International Rose Test Gardens in Washington Park (just below the Japanese Garden)
   Directions, etc: http://www.rosegardenstore.org/thegardens.cfm

3. Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, SE 28th and SE Woodstock

Category C:

1. Laurelhurst Park (between SE 39th and SE Stark)

2. Westmoreland Park (SE McLaughlin Blvd and SE Bybee)

3. Gabriel Park (On SW Vermont, in Raleigh Hills towards Beaverton)

NOTE: For each category, I’ve selected at least one garden that has easy public transit access. If you cannot get to any of the gardens in one of the categories, see me and we’ll see if we can find an alternative.

• As you are visiting these gardens and trying to decide what pictures to take, move through the following guiding questions.  In order to help you address the questions below, it is important when you are in the garden to jot down notes.  Describe what you see.  Using all of your senses, what are the characteristics of this garden? Be as neutral as possible as you describe the garden: look at the shapes, colors, spaces, volumes, objects. Be as specific as you can. What kinds of plants are in the garden? (If you don't know names, describe them.) What are the other elements that make up the garden? Imagine that you are describing the garden to someone who is not there with you.

Do a little bit of research on the history of the garden, and if relevant, cultural context. Compare and contrast what is important to the original creators versus your experience of the garden. 

Once you have enough raw material from your visit, address the following two aspects in your written response.

1. Analyze the garden: Try to describe the relationships among the things that you see. Where does your eye wander (or is it led?) as you enter a space? What dominates the space? Is there anything you didn't notice at first, but noticed later? In other words, what “happens” when the elements of the garden are situated as they are? (Are you encouraged to look at particular things, wander in particular ways, do particular things?) In other words, what frames (Andrews) exist in the garden.  Think about the relationships between shapes, color, textures, sizes, surfaces and you, the visitor to the garden.  (What do you like? What do you relate to? Why?) If it is too much to analyze the whole garden, focus on just one part of the garden and describe its location within the whole.

2. Interpret the garden: Now explore what the garden "means." This section is particularly getting at Meinig’s idea of LANDSCAPE AS IDEOLOGY.  DO NOT USE THE OTHER CATEGORIES PRESENTED BY MEINIG.  This garden was constructed with a particularly ideology or ideologies in mind.  Again, you can focus on just one part of the garden as you do this. What emotions did you feel as you wandered the garden? What questions came up? (and did you come up with any ideas/answers?) What were the most meaningful parts of the garden for you? ("Meaning" can be interpreted many ways--from emotions you felt, to what you found "beautiful"--or not, to functionality or symbolism of some of the garden's elements.)

 

• Once you have visited all three and have an ample collection of photos, use Photoshop to arrange the photos for each garden in a way that represents the metaphor, i.e. ideology, that you feel emerges from each garden.  In other words, you will create three digital collages, one for each garden, paying special attention to the images you choose and how you arrange them so that you can clearly communicate the metaphor of nature/landscape that is emerging from the garden.

• Once you have completed your photoshop images, write a one page explanation for each image addressing questions 1 and 2 as they are represented in your images explaining the ideology that you have chosen for that garden and how it emerges in the images you chose and the way you arranged them.