Landscape and the arts at WUC Campus

 

Undergraduate landscape and garden design students explored the process and value of creating an ephemeral artwork on campus to share with the wider community of Writtle University College.  The multi-stemmed Betula utilis var. jacquemontii (Western Himalayan birch) were transformed with rings of Cornus sericea 'Flaviramea' (golden-twig dogwood) and a carpet of golden Ginkgo biloba foliage. Finally to brighten a winter’s evening and create an unexpected moment for people as they ended their day the students placed rings of candles around each tree and in one of the rings suspended in a tree’s branches. 

This environmental art intervention follows in a long tradition of such events at Writtle University College which have been fostered over the years by the lecturers Steve Terry and Dr Jill Raggett. They have worked with their talented students and in a number of collaborations with professional artists, designers and architects. Read more about this work in their keynote chapter in the recently published: J. Sellers and B. Moss Learning with the Labyrinth, Creating Reflective Space in Higher Education. London: Palgrave Teaching and Learning. Chp. 2. : Raggett, J. and Terry, S. (2016) ‘Treading Lightly: Learning, art and landscape’.

 

Dr Jill Raggett, Reader in Gardens and Designed Landscapes

Steve Terry, Senior Lecturer in Design