Drawing offers a practice for thinking and an important mode of communicating ideas in design. Since 2016 the Department of Landscape Architecture, in collaboration with our professional partners, has convened a quarterly series of public lectures and weekend workshops for students that focus on representation in design.
“Drawing is a language that expands and enhances our visions for the future of our landscapes and, as such, calls for a robust and rigorous investigation and exploration.” Thaïsa Way, Professor
The series enables opportunities for professionals to work closely with students to pose questions and facilitate dialogue on how we draw, what we draw, and how we read drawings. Each session informs design as a process and development, and shapes how our communities understand and respond to design ideas and visions.
Check out our Drawing in Design Lecture Collection Here
Upcoming Lectures + Workshops
LAURA WRIGHT
INSTAGRAM: @dyepharm
NATURAL MATERIALS AS PROCESS + PRODUCT: MAKING + USING NATURAL PAINT TO EXPLORE THE COLORS OF OUR LANDSCAPE
In this workshop we will learn about traditional and local pigment producing plants through the process of making watercolor paints. Each participant will create and share a batch of paint so that everyone has a diverse pallet. Next we will use this paint in a series of exercises to explore mark making, direct observation, and gestural techniques in preparation for a 3-5 painting series in which participants explore intersections of the natural and built environment on campus. The workshop will end with each participant sharing their work and the observations they had throughout the process.
LAURACWRIGHT.com
APPLY by FRIDAY September 27th!
WORKSHOP BY APPLICATION
L ARCH 498 B (1 cr.)
Saturday, November 16 – Sunday, November 17
LECTURE OPEN TO ALL
Gould 322
Friday, November 15
5:00 pm
QUESTIONS?
Shaunta Butler, shauntab@uw.edu
Past Lectures/ Workshops
Spring 2024’s workshop was led by Chip Sullivan & Elizabeth Boults (Instagram: @wisdomofplace)
DRAWING OUT THE SPIRITS OF PLACE, April 5 – 7
Join landscape architects Chip Sullivan and Elizabeth Boults on a sketch crawl through the hills, dales, and iconic spaces of the UW campus landscape in search of the genius loci! This magical drawing journey will be inspired by a reframing of nature-based archetypes and folklore from cultures across the world to call forth the voice of the genius loci-the spirit of place-and reveal the creative forces and hidden currents of nature.
Winter 2024’s workshop was led by Raven Juarez (Instagram: @raven_inthetrees)
INVITING YOUR INNER CHILD OUT TO PLAY
Have you ever wondered why it’s so easy for a child to pick up a paintbrush or a crayon and simply start to create without any fear or anxiety about the blank page ahead of them? How is it so easy for them to tap into their creative energy and begin to work, experiment, and create not only quickly but also joyfully? In this weekend workshop, I will invite you to call your inner child out of their hiding place, and join us to play. Through a series of fun, experimental, and ego-challenging art invitations you will relearn your language, and find joy in creating that you can carry with you into all of your artistic endeavors moving forward.
Autumns 2023’s workshop will be led by Amitabh Verma (Instagram: @red.corvus)
DRAWING AS FOUNDATION, VOICE, AND GUIDE
Much more than an imitative, representational act, drawing is a versatile, organic skill which encourages creativity and exploration, and also underlies many other modes of visual expression. This workshop will highlight drawing’s identity as a rich, meaningful communication device which provides the foundation for a specialized artistic technique. Participants will first create graphics in pencil/ink expressing their ideas and personal style, then transfer them to silk for dyeing in color.
DRAWING IN DESIGN WORKSHOP
MAY 12– 13, 2023
Spring 2023 quarter’s workshop was led by Stephanie Bower(Instagram: @stephanieabower)
Sketching Trees
Not only do trees shade and protect us, but they also add beauty, color, texture and so much more. They speak to us about a place and time. They are an essential design tool for every landscape architect, so knowing how to represent them in your projects is important.
This one-day workshop will teach you how to sketch trees in pencil and watercolor—spreading or columnar, deciduous or evergreen, foreground or background
Public art is public speech. Bring together ideas and images that engage communities, and create an installation that can define a place, create space, and inspire connection.
This past winter’s workshop was led by Ann Marie Schneider (annmarieschneider.com).
Capturing Energy and movement
Sofia Warren, www.sofiawarren.com
Earth, sky, present, past
Mia Rosenthal, www.miaonpaper.com, Philadelphia
The drawings of Philadelphia-based artist Mia Rosenthal invoke a long human history of rendering the world by hand. Focusing on cosmology, time, discovery, invention, and the intersection of the natural and man-made world, Rosenthal’s works are grounded in a fundamental human experience that dates back some 30,000 years: observing, processing information, and then picking up a tool to draw it in one’s own hand, with one’s own voice. Fascinated by and drawing from the real world, Rosenthal connects us to this flow of time and experience, going beyond mere duplication to explore, learn, select, organize, and build with mark making. Earth, sky, present, past features new and recent works.
See. Process. Make.
Janelle Johnson, Omni Ecosystem, Chicago
Janelle Johnson hails from Champaign, IL and earned her Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from Purdue University with Distinction, before going on to the University of Pennsylvania, where she received her Master of Landscape Architecture and Certificate in Historic Preservation. Janelle has 10 years of experience in site planning and design. She spoke at the University of Washington campus in Seattle on April 5, 2019, presenting a talk titled “See. Process. Make.”
Design Thinking – Utilizing Hand Graphics to Explore Ideas
Kona Gray, EDSA
Kona Gray is a Principal at EDSA. Due to inclement weather, we were forced to cancel this lecture. However, Kona Gray did lead a student workshop and gave a presentation at the Seattle offices of GGN in March 2019. Watch the presentation here. You can read about Kona’s work in this piece from Medium: Design Manifestos: Kona Gray of EDSA.
Graphic Design and the Third Dimension
Michael Bierut, Pentagram
Michael Bierut is a partner in Pentagram (New York), teacher at Yale School of Art and Yale School of Management, and author of Now You See It and Other Essays on Design. He spoke at the University of Washington campus in Seattle on October 5, 2018, presenting a talk titled “Graphic Design and the Third Dimension.”
Drawing is the Entrance of Thought
Ron Henderson, L+A Architecture
Ron Henderson is a landscape architect and the director of the Landscape Architecture + Urbanism program and professor at IIT in Chicago. He practices through his studio, L+A Architecture. He spoke at the University of Washington campus in Seattle on April 6, 2018, presenting a talk titled “Drawing is the Entrance of Thought.”
Drawing Zoom
Alma Du Solier, Hood Design
Alma Du Solier is a landscape designer and architect with twenty years of experience in the practice of design. She is currently the Studio Director at Hood Design in Oakland, California. She spoke at the University of Washington campus in Seattle on January 19, 2018, presenting a talk titled “Drawing Zoom.”
Drawing What You Can’t See
Shannon Nichol, Keith McPeters, David Malda, GGN
Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (GGN) is a Seattle-based landscape architecture that received the Firm of the Year distinction from the American Society of Landscape Architects in 2017. Three GGN designers spoke at the University of Washington campus in Seattle on November 17, 2017. Shannon Nichol, Keith McPeters, and David Malda all presented a talk titled “Drawing What You Can’t See.”
Drawing as Speculation
Teresa Galí-Izard, ARQUITECTURA AGRONOMIA
Teresa Galí-Izard is a principal of the landscape architecture firm ARQUITECTURA AGRONOMIA. She is also an associate professor and chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Virginia. She spoke at the University of Washington campus in Seattle on April 28, 2017.
Drawing Pictures In Your Mind
Alan Maskin, Olson Kundig
In February 2017, the department hosted Alan Maskin ’88 and his associates from Olson Kundig. With Maskin, the students learned to draw what they imagine. Students from landscape architecture, architecture, real estate, urban planning, and construction management heard about Maskin’s approaches to drawing and design. Maskin emphasized the influence and legacy of Emeritus Professor Frank Ching on his work. Students spent time on specific drawing exercises and gradually shifted to the grand landscape of the imagination including reimagining downtown Seattle. In teams, the students created three vibrant murals of a possible future for green and blue Seattle.
Drawing What You See
Michael Vergason, Michael Vergason Landscape Architects
Michael Vergason’s workshop focused on drawing what the artist sees. Vergason shared with students his drawing history and journey to find inspiration. Landscape students spent the weekend using Japanese format notebooks with accordion pages, to draw trees, bridges, and courtyards. They explored historic sites through drawing through plans, sections, and perspectives.