TCLF’s First Instagram Guest Curator: Millicent Harvey
Last week, TCLF tried an experiment and asked photographer Millicent Harvey to take over its Instagram account as its inaugural guest curator. She was encouraged to post images and commentary about designed landscapes that inspire her.
TCLF’s Instagram account is relatively new, but because Harvey shared some never-before-seen images of Dan Kiley’s designs at the Miller House and Garden and the Hamilton Garden, both in Columbus, IN, and Reed Hilderbrand’s new work at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA, the number of followers of TCLF’s Instagram account more than doubled in just a couple of days.
No surprise, as Harvey, a transplant resident of Palm Springs, California, by way of Boston, is an award-winning artist who photographs landscapes, architecture, and portraits for publications, designers, architects, and landscape architects. She attended the Tucson Museum of Art School and the Art Institute of Boston and has taught classes at the New England School of Photography. Her extensive black-and-white photo essay is featured in the monograph Visible | Invisible: Landscape Works of Reed Hilderbrand. Harvey’s work is also part of The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley, the travelling photographic exhibition on view this month at the Dallas Center for Architecture. Discussing her photographs of landscape architecture, Harvey says she likes to focus on the visual subtleties that express more than just the strong form of the design, and that showcase how the designer’s built work actually lives in the world.
TCLF is very pleased with the results of this experiment, and has begun reaching out to other artists and practitioners to be guest curators. Meanwhile, if you haven’t visited TCLF’s Instagram account, here’s a sampling of the photographs and commentary Harvey provided. And, by all means, please follow TCLF and Millicent Harvey on Instagram.
“This image incorporates elements of photography that I am most drawn to—form, shape, texture, light, and shadow,” said Harvey in posting the photo. “I like the simple, strong architectural elements of this image and how they work with the quiet of the landscape.”
“Every view from the Miller House looking out to the garden is significant!” Harvey posted. “The side view of the honey locust trees with weeping beech looks completely different than previous image. The texture, shadow, light, black, and white make this image and brings out the beautiful detail in Dan Kiley’s landscape designs.”
“Dan Kiley’s clients, The Hamiltons, asked for Shangri-la and he created this outstanding garden,” said Harvey in posting the photo. “Important elements to achieve this goal include the 7-foot, yellow brick wall built for privacy. This garden has so much going on visually in such a small yet it is very peaceful—the soft light was just right to see the details of the landscape design.”