Free Talk: Avant Gardens

Discover the latest, cutting-edge trends in garden design and horticulture. A panel of local experts in the field gather to discuss what defines the avant garde in gardens and the principles that guide their designs. With Kate Davenport, Didier Design Studio; and Kevin Philip Williams, Denver Botanic Gardens. Moderated by Emily Maeda, Tree of Life Landscapes.

This talk is part of our Thursday Nights @ the Museum series. Join us every Thursday from Jan. 23 – May 1 for concerts, films, and free talks in the Longmont Museum’s Stewart Auditorium.

Learn more about our other Thursday Night programs. 

The Museum galleries are also open late on Thursday nights. Explore the Picasso exhibit with extra hours from 5 – 9 pm before your program.

Kate Davenport (Associate Principal + Marketing Director, Didier Design Studios) holds a deep interest in revelatory ethics and aesthetics for landscapes. Her work is grounded in observation and listening; discovering and cultivating what is already precious and essential to a site. Her passion for meshing art and ecology through plant-driven design has gained greater clarity over 15+ years of experience as a designer, installer, and grower. Kate co-stewards a 5-acre plot in Berthoud, Colorado, devoted to cut flower production, habitat enhancement, and experimental projects linking ecology, agriculture/floriculture, and reciprocal garden making.

Emily Maeda (Vice President of Tree of Life Landscapes, Designer) grew up outside of Boulder on her parent’s farm where she learned to love the beauty of Colorado’s natural environment. Her love of plants quickly grew with forays into herb and flower gardens she designed and installed, and continued in her work at an organic farm. She pursued her education in piano performance at both the University of Colorado and Arizona State University, where she also took classes in landscape design. After moving back from Arizona, she continued her love of piano, both teaching and performing, while at the same time pursuing design skills in landscape design. She worked with a landscape architect and founded Tree of Life Landscapes with her husband, Mark, with a deep desire to work with native, well-adapted plants and bring good design to people. She has seven children, whom she loves deeply, and continues to play and perform music, seeing congruence in the rhythm of music and the rhythm of good landscape design. In her free time she loves to cook, run, read poetry and literature, and sit in the sun on her front porch.

Kevin Philip Williams is a naturalistic gardener who collaborates with active and passive materials to create dynamic and challenging worlds. His unique style combines bioregional plant palettes, a hardcore punk ethos, and post-human aesthetics to craft wild and captivating spaces. Kevin currently stewards the Steppe Garden, Conservation Garden, Lilac Collection, Dwarf Conifer Collection, Josephine Streetscape, and the Willow Glade in Celebration of Brandon Mandelbaum. Kevin’s extensive work with Denver Botanic Gardens has also led to the creation of celebrated public gardens throughout the city, including Summer Home Garden and Alien Dream Worlds at Meow Wolf Convergence Station. Kevin was a Gardener on The High Line in Manhattan and studied as a Horticulture Intern at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. He holds a MS degree in Public Horticulture from the Longwood Graduate Program at the University of Delaware and a BA degree in The History and Philosophy of Science from Bard College

Attend in person by making a reservation at the link above

or

Watch Online 

Live streamed to Facebook 

On Longmont Public Media or through LPM Roku App for your smart TV and

Local Comcast Channel 8/880