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Lawrence Halprin Subject of Exhibitions, Tours, Lectures and a Dance Performance in L.A., Sept - Dec

The Landscape Architecture of Lawrence Halprin, the traveling exhibition about one of the most important post-War practitioners, is the centerpiece of four months of events, tours, lectures, and a dance performance in Los Angeles beginning in September. Halprin helped forge a new modernist style of landscape architecture, creating urban spaces that evoked natural settings, including Freeway Park in Seattle, WA (the world’s first capped park over a freeway), the FDR Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the Ira Keller Forecourt Fountain in Portland, OR, which New York Times architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable called, “one of the most important urban spaces since the Renaissance.”

The A+D Architecture and Design Museum>LA, located in the warehouse district, will host The Landscape Architecture of Lawrence Halprin from September 29 through December 31, 2017, which coincides with the ASLA Annual Meeting and Expo October 20-23. An opening reception will be held at the A+D Museum on Friday, October 20; tickets are $95 and can be purchased online at TCLF’s website.

There will be a daylong symposium on Saturday, November 4 – Landscape as Catalyst: Lawrence Halprin’s Legacy and Los Angeles – organized by the museum in collaboration with TCLF. The symposium will bring together a broad array of experts, from Halprin scholar Kenneth Helphand to Janice Ross, biographer of Anna Halprin, the noted choreographer, dancer and wife of Lawrence Halprin. The conference is $95 and 5.50 LA CES™ Professional development hours will be available to attendees, pending approval. Details are on the conference registration page.

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One of the recently discovered Lawrence Halprin drawings "San Joaquin MT Aug 50"
One of the recently discovered Lawrence Halprin drawings "San Joaquin MT Aug 50" - Image courtesy of Edward Cella Art & Architecture

A series of additional programs and events highlighting Halprin’s work will also be produced by the A+D Architecture and Design Museum’s local partner organizations:

  • The Edward Cella Art & Architecture gallery will present Lawrence HalprinAlternative Scores | Drawing from Life, September 9 – October 28, 2017, the first exhibition of recently discovered drawings of Halprin’s along with archival video, photography and ephemera, which provide historical context for Halprin’s life and work. The exhibit will highlight Halprin’s range of styles and approaches to his craft. The gallery will also host a public roundtable discussion on October 21 about Halprin’s work featuring his daughter, the dancer Daria Halprin, as well as author and cultural historian Eva Friedberg and gallerist Edward Cella. Details: www.edwardcella.com.
  • The Los Angeles Conservancy will host four public walking tours to give Angelenos a chance to appreciate and understand Halprin’s designs in downtown L.A. The tours, which run October through December, will explore how his iconic urban spaces foster art, community and connection with nature. Details: www.laconservancy.org.
  • There will also be a free public dance performance on October 24 in the Maguire Gardens by the Heidi Duckler Dance Theater in collaboration with visual artist Kim West. Dancers will take the audience on a journey though the Maguire Gardens' pools to celebrate Lawrence and Anna Halprin’s legacy of landscape movement. A donor luncheon and private viewing will also take place. Details: aplusd.org.

“The exhibition at the A+D Architecture and Design Museum>LA and the broad array of complementary programs this fall honor Halprin’s unrivaled body of work and help new generations appreciate the influence of his long career on the modern urban landscape,” said Charles A. Birnbaum, President + CEO of The Cultural Landscape Foundation. “We also hope this will call attention to the need for wise stewardship of his work, to protect and sensitively manage the dozens of parks, gardens, campuses and public spaces that are his most significant legacy.”

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What's Out There Weekend Los Angeles tour at Plaza Las Fuentes
What's Out There Weekend Los Angeles tour at Plaza Las Fuentes - Photo by Courtney Spearnan, 2013