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The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley Opens at the University of Colorado at Denver –Traveling Photographic Exhibition Honors one of the Most Important Modernist Landscape Architects

 


Media Contact: Nord Wennerstrom | T: 202.255.7076 | E: nord@tclf.org


January 26 Opening Reception and Lecture at CU Denver Bldg. 1250 14th Street

Washington, DC (January 26, 2015) – The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley, a traveling photographic exhibition organized by The Cultural Landscape Foundation that honors one of the most important Modernist landscape architects, opens today at the University of Colorado at Denver (on view through February 28, 2015), and is hosted by the Landscape Architecture Department at the University of Colorado at Denver. There will be an opening reception January 26 at 5:15 PM at the Dean’s Gallery, 3rd Floor of the CU Building at 1250 14th Street, followed by a 6:00PM lecture by Ann Komara, Chair and Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture – both events are free and open to the public. Dan Kiley (1912-2004), worked with equally significant architects, such as Eero Saarinen, Louis Kahn and I.M. Pei, to create internationally acknowledged Modernist icons. His design legacy is substantial, influential and, like the broad swath of our Modernist designed landscape legacy, ephemeral. The exhibition is meant to honor Kiley and his legacy, and call attention to the need for informed and effective stewardship of his work - and by extension Modernist landscape design.

The exhibition features dozens of newly created photographs by noted artists including Marion Brenner, Todd Eberle, Millicent Harvey, and Alan Ward, that document the current state of 27 of Kiley’s more than 1,000 designs including: the Miller House and Garden, Columbus, IN; the Art Institute of Chicago South Garden, Chicago, IL; and one of his final residential projects, Patterns, a garden for Gov. & Mrs. Pierre S. “Pete” du Pont IV in Delaware. A companion 72-page gallery guide – funded through a Kickstarter campaign and available for purchase online – includes exhibition images, brief site descriptions and site plans, and excerpts from recently gathered personal recollections from colleagues (an additional site currently under restoration, the National Gallery of Art’s East Building, is included in the catalogue, but not the exhibition). Alan Ward, who photographed three sites in the exhibition said: “I am challenged to render the subtle beauty of these landscapes in photographs and, at the same time, inspired as a landscape architect.” TCLF’s Web site has a more in-depth treatment of Kiley’s life and legacy.

The complete list of sites and photographers:

  • Agnes R. Katz Plaza, Pittsburgh, PA, photography by Richard A. Stoner
  • Art Institute of Chicago, South Garden, Chicago, IL, photography by Tom Harris
  • Banneker Park (originally Tenth Street Overlook), Washington, DC, photography by Frank Hallam Day
  • Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN, photography by Jeffrey A. Wolin· Cudahy Gardens, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, photography by Tom Bamberger
  • Cummins Inc. Irwin Office Building (originally Irwin Union Bank and Trust Company), Columbus, IN, photography by Matthew Carbone
  • Currier Farm, Danby, VT, photography by Peter Vanderwarker
  • Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, photography by Alan Ward
  • Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, photography by Gwen Walstrand
  • East Farm (Kiley Home and Office), Charlotte, VT, photography by Aaron Kiley
  • Ford Foundation, New York, NY, photography by David Leventi
  • Fountain Place (originally Allied Plaza), Dallas, TX, photography by Alan Ward
  • Hamilton Garden, Columbus, IN, photography by Millicent Harvey
  • Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St Louis, MO, photography by David Johnson
  • John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, MA, photography by Alan Ward
  • Kenjockety (Shapiro Phelan Residence), Westport, NY, photography by Todd Eberle
  • Kiley Garden (originally NationsBank Plaza), Tampa, FL, photography by Maria Bevilacqua and Frederick Pirone
  • Kimmel Residence, Salisbury, CT, photography by Neil Landino Jr.
  • Kusko Residence, Williamstown, MA, photography by Paul Warchol
  • L'Esplanade du Général de Gaulle, La Défense, Paris, FR, photography by David Bacher
  • Miller House and Garden, Columbus, IN, photography by Millicent Harvey
  • Milton Lee Olive Park (originally Central District Filtration Plant), Chicago, IL, photography by Aaron Kiley
  • National Gallery of Art, East Building, Washington, DC, photography by Lynn Silverman (catalogue only)
  • North Christian Church, Columbus, IN, photography by Matthew Carbone
  • Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA, photography by Marion Brenner
  • Patterns (du Pont Residence), Wilmington, DE, photography by Roger Foley
  • Rockefeller University, New York, NY, photography by Benjamin Dimmitt
  • United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO, photography by Brian K. Thomson

This exhibition is meant to prompt questions and discussions about responsible stewardship, which is central to TCLF’s mission. While some Kiley designs are dying quiet deaths, others are extremely well maintained or require modest attention to once again achieve their brilliance. What the exhibition cannot illustrate are Kiley designs that have been lost or severely altered, such as Lincoln Center in New York, NY and Dulles Airport, outside Washington, DC, which architect Jacquelin Robertson says was, “in some ways the most lyrical piece of large-scale landscaping that I know of in this country.”

“When the 100th anniversary of Kiley’s birth in 2012 came and went – and nothing happened – The Cultural Landscape Foundation decided to mount a tribute to this great Modernist landscape architect,” said TCLF Founder and President, Charles A. Birnbaum. “This exhibition and gallery guide are an introduction to Kiley’s life and work, not an exhaustive survey – that would take far longer than the eleven months in which this project was organized,” said Birnbaum. “By design, the catalogue entries, which presents Kiley’s projects chronologically, provide a brief history and documentation of each site (and corresponding site plan), along with excerpts from recollections recently gathered from Kiley’s colleagues including Gary Hilderbrand, Elizabeth K. Meyer, Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, Kevin Roche, Michael van Valkenburgh, Charles Waldheim, Peter Walker and Harry Wolf – lengthier entries including the complete text of the recollections are available on TCLF’s Web site.”

Generous support has been provided by more than one hundred organizations and individuals including: Presenting Sponsors, The Davey Tree Expert Company and Victor Stanley, Inc.; Media Partner, Landscape Architecture Magazine; and Educational Partner, the American Society of Landscape Architects; and The Hubbard Educational Foundation.

About The Cultural Landscape Foundation
The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is a 17-year-old non-profit foundation that provides people with the ability to see, understand and value landscape architecture and its practitioners, in the way many people have learned to do with buildings and their designers. Through its Web site, lectures, outreach and publishing, TCLF broadens the support and understanding for cultural landscapes nationwide to help safeguard our priceless heritage for future generations. TCLF makes a special effort to heighten the awareness of those who impact cultural landscapes, assist groups and organizations working to increase the appreciation and recognition of cultural landscapes, and develop educational tools for young people to better connect them to their cultural landscape environs.