Visiting Ketchum for the Sawtooth Botanical Garden's speaker series will be acclaimed landscape architect Topher Delaney. Delaney will present a lecture and slideshow, "Digging In: The Garden as Metaphor," at the Gail Severn Gallery in Ketchum on Friday, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m.
"Resource is my word," said Delaney on the phone from her T Delaney studio in San Francisco. "I say that in terms of development for any kind of site. You have to look at what your resources are."
Delaney has spent 35 years as an environmental artist and builder. Most of her work consists of landscape architecture, site installation and public art. Delaney is also an artist who does many sculptural pieces, which are embedded in gardens not to be moved.
She has won awards from California Home & Design magazine for the Grassgreen and Craford residences, Design 100, Metropolitan Home magazine for Avon Comprehensive Breast Center Healing Garden, San Francisco General Hospital and Universal Care's Award of Courage.
Her most significant work is her creation of sanctuary and healing gardens such as "The Inn," a rooftop garden for Beth Israel Hospital in New York City. "The Inn" is a unique retreat or "A Safe Harbor" inspired by the island of Manhattan for children recovering from neurological disorders.
"If someone is looking to develop their physical space, they need to look at the resource of geology and topography and adjoining resources," Delaney said. "It all translates into community."
All of Delaney's public art installations focus upon the environment in which they are placed. Her consciousness about all environments is extremely important in her design and installations.
"Systems are taxed when materials are introduced that need more care and water," Delaney said. "Fertilizers are a silent killer to the environment, and a lot of people don't know that and when you put in lots of golf courses and lawns—how do you keep them green?"
Growing up during the Vietnam War and in the era of the Civil Rights movement had a profound effect on Delaney, which has inspired her work.
"Public gardens and parks are the lungs of democracy no matter anyone's economic level," Delaney said. "Working in this field is about inventing culture and individuality. I am an artist and this is my way of translating my talent into the earth."
Tickets are $20 for Sawtooth Botanical Garden members and $25 for non-members. Reservations are requested for the presentation. For more information, call 726-9358.
The Sawtooth Botanical Garden Speaker Series features landscape architect Topher Delaney.
