James van sweden biography sample
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The Enduring Appeal of Oehme, van Sweden's "New American Garden"
Wolfgang Oehme and James van Sweden / Photograph © Volkmar Wentzel, ca. 1990, courtesy The Cultural Landscape Foundation
The default American landscape before game-changing landscape architecture firm Oehme van Sweden & Associates (OvS) came along was a great expanse of lawn, really an ecological wasteland, with perhaps a fringe of flowers. But all of that changed with James van Sweden and Wolgang Oehme's New American Garden style, which burst onto the scene in the early 1960s. A new exhibition at the National Building Museum (NBM) in Washington, D.C. honors this still-evolving approach, which was inspired by Native American landscapes. As NBM explains, "the New American Garden is characterized by large swaths of grasses and fields of perennials." The style recreates the seasonal splendor of the American meadow while "celebrating its inherent ecological, sustainable, aesthetic, and ornamental values." Eric Groft, FASLA, a principal at OvS, one of the second generation leaders, added that this approach was "sustainable before it was even called that."
The New American Garden was a departure from landscape architect Dan Kiley's formal geometric Modernism. As Groft explained, "Oeme and van
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By James precursor Sweden
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EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR
DIRECTOR/EDITOR
James Sheldon
INTERVIEWER
Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR
VIDEOGRAPHER
James Sheldon
ASSISTANT EDITORS
Nancy Slade, ASLA &
Shirley Veenema
PROJECT MANAGER
Nancy Slade, ASLA
The James van Sweden Oral History Project would not have been possible without the assistance of many people. The Cultural Landscape Foundation [TCLF] would like to acknowledge and thank the following individuals and institutions who donated to this project in myriad ways.
First, thanks to our lead donors Joseph and Sylvia Slifka Foundation and Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation for providing the critical funds to videotape, edit, and produce this fifth module in TCLF’s ongoing series. In addition, thanks to the Oehme van Sweden & Associates (OvS) firm, Barbara and Tim Downs, Darwina Neal, Susan & Elihu Rose Foundation for their support. Thanks also to Arturo and Hilda Brillembourg who provided the support to unveil the project in Washington, D.C.
On the production side,thanks go to James van Sweden, who made himself available for this project without hesitation; and to Oehme van Sweden & Associates for providing TCLF access to their extensive image file