This post is part of an ongoing spotlight on members that began on the first edition of our NESBA newsletter. I thought it best to interview Lauren so you can get know her as I have and revel in the work on the Frederick Law Olmsted book. When you read it and you will find out what you didn’t know about a man that so affected our lives in New England and beyond with his work.
For many of us that join a group, it is often the people in the group that we are often drawn to and the subject matter is just an added benefit! My experience with NESBA has been just that - I have met people that I now consider good friends and cherish my relationship with them! Lauren is one of those people so I may be a bit biased writing this post!
Lauren is a very talented artist second only to her knowledge of botany and nature. She has been the go-to for anyone in our botanical art classes that has a question regarding the subject matter at hand. Not only did she study as a Botany major, she continued on to get a Master of Landscape Architecture degree at Harvard Graduate School of Design. Needless to say, she is a force to be reckoned with in the botany world! She has been working on this book for a few years now and those that know her have been enthralled with the information she has shared with us through presentations and her artwork.
Lauren Meier and Frederick Law Olmsted
Lauren, why did you choose to focus on Frederick Law Olmsted?
I first learned about Olmsted in graduate school - from Al Fein, who had written extensively about Olmsted and his importance to the American environmental tradition and in a joint architecture/landscape design studio where we looked at the collaborative work of HH Richardson and Olmsted in North Easton, Massachusetts. For a landscape architect, Olmsted and the successor firm is the foundation of professional practice. I was struck by the vision of Olmsted, which remains relevant today, and his interesting life story which greatly enhanced his final career as a landscape architect. I met Charles Beveridge (Olmsted scholar and editor of the Olmsted Papers) in the mid 1980s when I was working for the Department of Environmental Management, which had the first state program in the country devoted to the rehabilitation of municipal Olmsted parks. In 1991, I joined the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site (Fairsted) to direct the restoration of Olmsted’s own home grounds in Brookline, which is a National Park historic site. Since then, I have focused on cultural landscapes in general, but often including Olmsted firm designs for parks, parkways, campuses, cemeteries, private estates, etc. I’ve been a Trustee of the National Association for Olmsted Parks and President of Friends of Fairsted. In addition to preservation projects, I’ve edited the Master List of Design Projects of the Olmsted Firm 1857-1979, and two volumes of the Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted and published many articles about landscape preservation practice and historic plant material.
How did your background influence your career and interest in Olmsted?
I grew up on Puget Sound in Washington state. My father was a scientist and my mother a textile artist; they built a spectacular house designed by an architect and landscape architect with views of the Sound and Mt. Rainier and a designated backyard wildlife habitat. I guess science, art and design are in my DNA. I attended Pomona College, receiving a B.A. degree in Botany in 1979 and I took a lot of studio art classes; I worked for a bit as a field botanist then headed east to attend Harvard Graduate School of Design where I got a Master’s of Landscape Architecture degree in 1983. My professional career has focused on cultural landscape preservation and I’ve worked in public and private sectors, as an independent consultant, and as an editor of the Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted.
When did you discover botanical art?
Many folks have heard my story. I discovered botanical art during my student days at Pomona. I loved illustrating lab reports, looking in microscopes and capturing the details of plants through drawing. When I asked my professor Sherwin Carlquist about being a botanical/scientific illustrator, he told me there wasn’t a future in it so I abandoned the idea and instead went to graduate school in landscape architecture – which was another way of combining my interests in plants. Then, thirty years later a very close friend told me about the Wellesley program suggesting I might like it. I enrolled in my first foundations class with Sarah Roche in 2018 and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I immediately applied to be in the program!!!!! I’m hoping to finish my final project by 2022!
Have you worked or spent time in other local areas in New England?
That’s a great question. There are so many wonderful parks and open spaces in Massachusetts it is hard to name just a few! I absolutely love the Arnold Arborteum – a collaboration between Olmsted and Charles Sprague Sargent. Other Olmsted landscapes I appreciate include the Emerald Necklace parks and their adjacent parkways, Franklin Park, World’s End in Hingham, and Fairsted in Brookline of course! I spend summers on Cushings Island in Maine, which Olmsted visited in the late 1880s and prepared a plan for the summer community. I’m also very interested in the work Olmsted’s son, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (there were 3 Olmsteds by the way), who was instrumental in writing the enabling legislation for the National Park Service and who made a significant contribution to Acadia National Park as well as parks, memorials and monuments in Washington, D.C. following in his father’s footsteps (Olmsted Sr. designed the U.S. capitol grounds). I am doing my final project at Mt. Auburn Cemetery and many people think it was designed by Olmsted but in fact it predates Olmsted’s work as a landscape architect. Interestingly, Charles Eliot worked in the Olmsted firm and was instrumental in creating the metropolitan park system in Massachusetts so there are many parks and open spaces that are connected to the principals and practitioners of the Olmsted firm even if they aren’t an Olmsted design per se. I spend time in the conservation land in Belmont where I live, and Rock Meadow, Beaver Brook and Lone Tree Hill all have tangential Olmsted connections. And, our local Audubon sanctuary, Habitat, sits on an historic estate designed by Olmsted Brothers.
Here's the link to the Johns Hopkins University Press web page for her recent book:
https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/frederick-law-olmsted-0
Frederick Law Olmsted: Plans and Views of Communities and Private Estates is the final volume of the 12-volume series, The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted, published by Johns Hopkins University Press. This book and the previous (Plans and Views of Public Parks) are illustrative volumes that supplement the documentary papers volumes. Let me know if you want an image of the cover. There are reviews and a short description on the Press's website.
Written by Vicki Rellas 11/24/20
Lauren Meier