This forum highlights conversations at the intersection of design methods and social studies of technology. By highlighting
a diversity of perspectives on design interventions and programs, we aim to forge new connections between HCI design and
communication, science and technology studies, and media studies scholarship. — Daniela Rosner, Editor
FORUM DESIGN AS INQUIRY

Landscape architects have historically been tasked with creating spaces that inform individuals’ perceptions of nature and shape public interactions. As communities and demographics shift rapidly in the contemporary U. S., landscape architects are responsible for creating spaces for increasingly diverse communities. The U. S. census reveals that racial and ethnic minority populations are among the nation’s fastest growing [ 3]. Consequently, in an era of extreme nationalism and xenophobia, designers are compelled to rethink the scope of their professional obligations. I believe we are confronted with a moral and ethical duty to design spaces that recognize diverse needs and actively foster inclusion. My project strived to understand the utility of collaborative, inclusive processes to solicit community members’ feedback in the design conception process.

Why did you decide to take the class?

BM: I wanted to participate in this project because co-creating art installations was something entirely new to me. I didn’t come to our landscape architecture program with a very heavy art background, and the idea of collaborative art making intrigued me. I think landscape architects should be able to produce their designs in collaboration with the people for whom they are designing, but the ways in which designers collaborate with the public are often lacking real depth and connection. This project offered the opportunity for design students to practice and observe the process of how art is produced by a group of people. Working to co-create and

This past April, 10 students at the University of Oregon installed two land-art pieces on the Eugene campus. The installations explored the capacity of collaborative art making as a tool to be used in landscape architecture practice to foster inclusion and discern community values. In the end, they illuminated Oregon’s often overlooked racist origins and complicated history, provoking dialogue among students.

The installations were created as part of
a student-initiated class, “Collaborative
Art-Making: A New Method for
Landscape Architecture.”
The class centered around

The Pioneer and The Pioneer Mother, two historically and culturally significant statues located at the University of Oregon. Erected in 1919, sited along what is now a major campus throughway, the Pioneer sculpture depicts a bewhiskered man outfitted in buckskins, a worn hat, and heavy boots.

He stands 13 feet tall atop a base of weathered local stone. The figure carries a rifle in his left hand; his right hand boasts a bullwhip. At the unveiling of the statue, Joseph N. Teal, a prominent civic leader, stated, “The pioneer represents all that is noblest and best in our history” [ 1].

In 1932, The Pioneer Mother, a
donation by University of Oregon vice
president Burt Barker, went up north of
Gerlinger Hall, the women’s memorial
hall. According to the sculptor,
“[Barker’s] conception was of an elderly
woman sitting in repose with her hands
in her lap. In her hands would be a
half-closed book, her fingers marking a
place. Her head would be tilted slightly
for ward in contemplation” [ 2].
She is situated atop a 6-foot-tall
pink granite base and seated on a high-
backed chair, with an open book on her
lap. Bas-relief panels portray the Pioneer
Mother’s arduous journey west, and a
plaque reads, “…but to us there lives
that spirit of conquering peace which I
wish posterity to remember.” One of the
few statues on campus memorializing
women, The Pioneer Mother was erected
to represent the attainment of peace
upon settling in Oregon.
Whitney Holt, the graduate student
instructor, and Brittany Murphy, a
graduate student enrolled in the course,
discussed the project’s process and
subsequent outcomes.

Brittany Murphy: What was the origin of this experimental experience project?

Whitney Holt: In short, it was my master’s research project at the University of Oregon. I chose to research the capacity of collaborative art making as a tool for landscape architects to discern a community’s unique values and foster inclusion in the landscape architecture design process.

 

Insights
→ University of Oregon students
explored collaborative art making
as a tool in landscape architecture
practice to foster inclusion and
discern community values.

→ Student projects centered around two statues, highlighting their roles as icons of frontierism and oppression.

Whitney F. Holt and Brittany Murphy, University of Oregon
Collaborative Art: A New Method
for Landscape Architecture