Designing in Three Dimensions at Olana: A Guided Landscape Walk and Workshop. A Digging Deeper Program with the Garden Conservancy

Over the course of forty years, the artist Frederic Church worked to create, build, and design Olana’s 250-acre landscape. Featuring over 5 miles of carriage roads with access to scenic views, a man-made lake, and native plantings, the site is both a living landscape painting and an inspiring residential design venture. Join The Olana Partnership, landscape architect and artist David Dew Bruner, and Master Gardener Glenda Berman for a special walk and workshop on training your eye to see the design in Olana’s every detail.
During the program, participants will learn more about 19th century gardening ideals that informed Church’s masterwork and examine how these principles could be taken back to their own home gardens. Through optional artmaking exercises, participants will be invited to learn more about three dimensional aspects of garden design such at light, shadow, and color by studying these elements closely in Olana’s landscape. The program will consist of a guided walk along 1 ¾ miles of carriage road, participatory conversation with program guides, and culminate with wine and cheese reception in a special location outside Olana’s main house.
Glenda Berman is a Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardener and Master Forester volunteer and holds a BA in Environmental Science from SUNY Purchase. Berman has worked for over 30 years promoting ecological awareness and nature appreciation in community groups and schools. Berman has been involved with numerous invasive species removal projects in Columbia County. Notably, her seven-year project to eliminate invasive Japanese knotweed from the Sculpture and Architecture Park at Art Omi. Glenda has also worked with Columbia Land Conservancy, Cornell Cooperative Extension and is a Landscape and Historic House Guide at Olana. David Dew Bruner, A.S.L.A., is an award-winning landscape architect and fine artist with over 35 years of experience ranging from Deputy Administrator of New York City’s Riverside Park to amusement park design, historical restoration, and all scales of residential design. Originally from New Orleans, he has a B.L.A. and a B.F.A. from LSU as well as an M.L.A. from the University of Massachusetts.
Registration required. $40 per person or $30 for members. To become a member, visit Olana.org/membership. Advanced registration is required. For more information email [email protected].