Staff — September 30, 2015
The Cultural Landscape Foundation will exhibit The New American Garden: The Landscape Architecture of Oehme, van Sweden at the National Building Museum from October 17, 2015 through May 2016.
The exhibit features original plans by Founding Principals Wolfgang Oehme and James van Sweden, as well as renderings, photographs and fine art that illustrate the landscape design process: from early inspirations to project execution and landscape maturation.
The images reveal the breadth of the firm’s work over the last 40 years, under both the direction of the Founding Principals and the current generation’s leadership. OvS’ reach has been broad: the exhibit features expansive waterfront estates, urban townhouse gardens, and commercial and institutional spaces including the gardens of a Federal Agency, Chicago Botanic Garden, and the New York Botanical Garden. Detailed drawings of intimate spaces, large meadow-like landscapes, and restorative civic parks are accompanied by large scale photography, showing the drama and naturalism that brought world-wide recognition to the firm.
Landscape architects OvS continue to build on the legacy of innovation and revolutionary approach to self-sustaining garden design that the founders established. The firm’s passion for plants and deep horticultural legacy underpin its long-time relationships with botanic gardens and arboreta. “OvS produces designs that contribute to the site’s ecological systems,” said Sheila Brady, FASLA and Principal. “It’s about distilling the institution’s objectives into an aesthetic composition.”