Judith B. Tankard is a landscape historian, author and preservation consultant who received a master of art degree in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and taught at the Landscape Institute, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University for more than 20 years. She is also the author or co-author of eight illustrated books on landscape history including The Gardens of Ellen Biddle Shipman, which was the recipient of a 1998 book award from the American Horticultural Society. In 2000, she was awarded a gold medal by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for her role in the advancement of historic New England gardens.
About Ellen Biddle Shipman
Ellen Biddle Shipman (1869–1950), known as the “Dean of American Landscape Architects,” was one of the originators of the Arts & Crafts-style garden. Celebrated for her formal gardens and lush plantings, among her designs are Bayou Bend Gardens, Longue Vue Gardens, Stan Hywet Gardens, the Graycliff Estate (now under restoration), Stranahan Estate (also under reconstruction), and Duke University's Sarah P. Duke Gardens , often named one of her finest works. Biddle Shipman is considered one of the most important landscape architects during the 1910s and 1920s – the great years of estate building across the United States.
This pioneering landscape architect, distinguished for her innovative designs, described her use of plants as "painting pictures as an artist would." Her planting plans softened the bones of geometric architecture with planting designs that were muscular enough to speak for themselves.
Admission is $5 for Burchfield Penney and Graycliff members; $10 for the general public.
The lecture series is presented by Graycliff with support from the New York State Council on the Arts and in collaboration with the Burchfield Penney Art Center, the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, the Elmwood Village Association and the Richardson Olmsted Complex. Special thanks to Embassy Suites Buffalo.