Talk: Water Music: Blue Spaces in Olmsted's Landscape Design

(Image Credit: Elm Park study sketch by Urban Green and Blue Exhibition participating artist, Keri Anderson)

"Service must precede art," Frederick Law Olmsted once wrote, "since all turf, trees, flowers, fences, walks, water, paint, plaster, posts, and pillars in or under which there is not a purpose of direct utility or service are inartistic if not barbarous. … So long as considerations of utility are neglected or overridden by considerations of ornament, there will be not true art."

Water is the ultimate utilitarian feature, and finds level in a universal quality, such that how Olmsted and his brother set trees, of turf, water, rocks, bridges, in relation to water is of central concern. This presentation will consider examples of how Olmsted set trees, water, rocks, and bridges in relation to blue spaces, and finally explore what Olmstead sought to create: an unconscious awareness of elegance and beauty. We will conclude…