Seed Keeper

TCLF: Masks for Unity

The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) hosted “Masks for Unity,” an online auction of masks designed by landscape architects, architects, and other design professionals from June 15-29, 2020.

This face mask, created by Phoebe Lickwar, records an imprint of Chasmanthium latifolium seeds, using the same 19th century cyanotype process employed by botanist-photographer Anna Atkins in her extensive examination of the vegetal world.

The work celebrates the uniqueness of each seed and the promise of life it contains. Chasmanthium latifolium is ubiquitous across designed urban landscapes in its range, but it is rarely recognized for its historic significance as a source of food. Inland Sea Oats were once harvested by the Cocopah and Yuma Native American tribes, stored for future use, or ground into a flour for making bread.

The mask is a daily reminder of our dependence on plants for the air we breathe, for food and medicine, for health and well-being. Wearing the mask is commitment to cultivate an ethic of care, for each other and for our companion species. The pandemic presents an opportunity for positive transformation. As we experience sweeping change across our daily lives and in our communities, what actions can we set in motion to sow the seeds for our future becoming?

Participants:

Tiffany Beamer, OLIN

Kofi Boone, North Carolina State College of Design

Pamela Burton, Pamela Burton & Company, and Richard Hertz

Robert “Bob” Chipman, Robert Chipman Landscape Architect

Shane Coen, Coen+Partners

Stuart “Stu” Dawson, Sasaki

Michelle Jeffrey Delk, Snøhetta

Angela Dye, A Dye Design

Gina Ford, Agency Landscape + Planning

Frederick Fisher, Frederick Fisher and Partners

M. Paul Friedberg, MPF&P, and Dorit Shahar

Adriaan Geuze, West 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture,

and the West 8 Design Studio

Lisa Gimmy Landscape Architecture

Deb “Deb” Guenther, Dakota Keene, Mithun

Ron Henderson, IIT College of Architecture

Gary Hilderbrand, Reed-Hilderbrand

Walter Hood, Hood Design Studio

William “Bill” Johnson, University of Michigan (ret.)

Mark Johnson, Civitas

Mia Lehrer, Studio-MLA, and Michael Lehrer, Lehrer Architects LA

Phoebe Lickwar, FORGE Landscape Architecture

Joeb Moore, Joeb Moore & Partners

Oehme van Sweden

Laurie Olin, OLIN

Ken Radtkey, Blackbird Architects, Inc.

James Richards, Jim Richards’ Sketchbook

Mark Rios and Nate Cormier, RIOS

Martha Schwartz, Martha Schwartz Partners

Ken Smith, Ken Smith Workshop

Lauren and Stephen Stimson, STIMSON

Christine Ten Eyck, Ten Eyck Landscape Architects

Victor F. “Trey” Trahan III, Trahan Architects

Susan Van Atta, VAI/Van Atta Associates, Inc.

Michael Vergason, Michael Vergason Landscape Architects, Ltd.

Edwina von Gal, Edwina von Gal + Co

Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi, Weiss/Manfredi

Marcel Wilson, Bionic

Sara Zewde, Studio Zewde