2015 Summer Fellowships Expand Our Reach

TCLF is proud to announce that, after an overwhelming response to this year's call for fellows, we will be fortunate to have three bright individuals join our office for the summer of 2015.  

Kate Cholakis, 2015 Sally Boasberg Founder's Fellowship

Kate Cholakis was chosen from a diverse and impressive pool of candidates for this year’s Sally Boasberg Founder’s Fellowship. Commemorating the invaluable contributions to landscape stewardship, patronage, and education that Ms. Boasberg advocated for throughout her life, the Boasberg Fellowship was established in 2012 upon her passing. Click here to read much more about the life and legacy of Sally Boasberg, founding Co-Chairman of TCLF at its inception in 1997. Kate joins a distinguished selection of previous Boasberg Fellows who have spent the last three summers living at the Boasberg home and working in TCLF’s office in Washington, D.C. In her cover letter, Kate wrote “The Boasberg Fellowship at The Cultural Landscape Foundation presents an opportunity to shift my career in a direction that is in line with my interests and long-term goals. The mission of your organization resonates with my own deeply rooted passion for discovering and communicating landscape narratives through writing, graphics, and community engagement.” Kate received her bachelor’s degree in Architecture, Urbanism, and Landscape Studies from Smith College (Ms. Boasberg’s alma mater) and went on to receive her master’s in Ecological Landscape Design and Planning from the Conway School of Landscape Design. Having worked in both academic settings and as a designer for Nitsch Engineering in Boston, Kate brings a diversity of skills and interests to the Fellowship. Among these, her style of holistically researching and documenting landscapes is rendered more vivid through a personal and impassioned way of expressing why “places make us feel the way that we do.” Kate will work on a variety of projects while at TCLF including research and documentation of landscapes and designers in Colorado and Texas in preparation for What’s Out There Weekends in Denver and Austin happening this fall. Additionally, she will provide critical writing about the work of the landscape architecture firm Oehme van Sweden for this year’s Annual Landslide initiative.

Christina Argo, 2015 SWA Group Cultural Landscape Fellow

Christina Argo will join TCLF this summer in her role as the SWA Group Cultural Landscape Fellow. Last year’s Fellow Barrett Doherty, who spent two months in Texas documenting a number of landscapes and designers in Dallas and Houston, joined TCLF in September as a Project Associate focused on our Pioneers Oral Histories program. Generous sponsorship of the Cultural Landscape Fellowship represents SWA Group’s commitment to the stewardship of landscape architecture, planning, and urban design and provides invaluable opportunities for promising individuals to hone their skills in landscape documentation.  Christina received her bachelor's degree in fine arts from Birmingham-Southern College, a master's in business administration from the University of Alabama, and her master's degree in landscape architecture from Auburn University. About Christina, Associate Professor and Interim Chair of Landscape Architecture at Auburn Charlene LeBleu remarked, “We at Auburn take great pride in the critical thinking, design, and writing skills of our graduates and Christina indeed possesses these skills.” Christina’s writing samples submitted to TCLF as part of her application demonstrated her ability to communicate about cultural landscapes: “Glory in the Birmingham Landscape” delved into the complexities of that city’s industrial past, with a discussion about the cultural identity that is visible at Sloss Furnaces, a complex of blast furnaces dating back to 1902 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1981. Christina’s description of the site makes apparent the inseparable industrial past and questionable future that is inherent in so many of our nation’s vernacular landscapes. Christina will spend two months in TCLF’s office in Washington, D.C. researching some of SWA Group’s legacy projects for the What’s Out There database and will also help with social media and communications initiatives.

Cheryl Miller, 2015 What's Out There Virginia Research Fellow

Cheryl Miller will also be working with TCLF this year, helping to document landscapes in Virginia as we finalize research for the National Endowment for the Arts Art Works grant we received in 2013. Though there is no end to significant landscapes in the Commonwealth, Cheryl’s work will put the final touches on the more than 100 landscapes that are being added to the What’s Out There database in fulfillment of that grant. After receiving her Ph.D. in molecular genetics and cell biology from the University of Chicago and working for a number of years in biotechnology, Cheryl experienced an epiphany about her career. Having been interested in historic landscapes since her childhood, she realized that helping others become excited about their surroundings was her real passion. In 2004 she received her Certificate in Landscape Design from Harvard University’s Landscape Institute and spent the next several years developing a residential landscape design/build firm in Massachusetts. After relocating to Richmond, VA in 2011, Cheryl received the Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship through the Garden Club of Virginia and conducted research at Belvoir, a historic Colonial Revival estate located in Fauquier County. This year, she received her master’s in historic preservation from the Boston Architectural College. Cheryl will spend the next two months researching Virginia’s landscapes from Richmond, continuing to increase our understanding of the Commonwealth’s rich collection of nationally significant cultural landscapes.

TCLF is committed to providing opportunities for exceptional candidates to develop their skills through our fellowship programs. Our mission statement of “stewardship through education” is one of the primary drivers of these opportunities. We are inspired by the diverse backgrounds of the individuals who applied for these fellowships and are excited for the energy and enthusiasm they will bring to our programs this summer. If you or someone you know is passionate about cultural landscapes, watch our employment page and social media announcements for future exciting opportunities.