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The Meadow

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Minimalist Regionalism: aesthetics of the Meadow

Katie Kingery-Page is an assistant professor of landscape architecture at Kansas State University. Kingery-Page has studied sculpture, art theory, ecology, and landscape architecture in the United States and Brazil. Her design work includes streetscapes, school yards, and stormwater meadows. Kingery-Page is focused upon art as a mode of knowledge for landscape architects, meaning both humanities research and design as a conceptual art practice.

 

The Flint Hills southwest of Manhattan, Kansas, dusted with a spring snow. Image by Katie Kingery-Page.

Living in northeast Kansas can be a constant aesthetic and intellectual experience with the Flint Hills. The tallgrass prairie landscape of the Flint Hills is rare, globally-speaking, and is both challenging and satisfying, aesthetically. The Flint Hills (and indeed other grasslands) challenge conventional wisdom regarding landscape aesthetics. For decades, professional evaluation of a landscape’s scenic value (such as that conducted by the National Forest Service) has been based upon notions of diverse visual experiences.

Quoting the Forest Service Manual, a “Class A” landscape scores high in the “…visual perception attributes of variety, unity, vividness, intactness, coherence, mystery, uniqueness, harmony, balance, and pattern.” While “variety” and “vividness” in landscape scenes may work very well as criteria for evaluating forest, mountain or seaside landscape, I argue that these criteria are inherently less relevant to the aesthetics of the Flint Hills. The Flint Hills can be understood as scenes of unity, intactness, and subtlety.

Flint Hills landscape shortly after spring burn at the Konza prairie near Manhattan, Kansas. Image by Katie Kingery-Page.

When I experience the Flint Hills from a distance (let’s say while driving), it’s the unity of form, texture and color within a single scene that is so compelling. This minimalist landscape aesthetic can be understood through many lenses: the study of 20th century minimalist art; the wabi-sabi aesthetic of Japanese landscape; and even the high lonesome aesthetic of country and bluegrass music. The Beach Museum of Art collection contains work by many artists who capture the minimalism of the Flint Hills grassland, such as Larry W. Schwarm’s Two Hills with Burned Grass, Chase County, Kansas, 1994.

When observing the Flint Hills up-close (the immersive experience of walking through the grassland) what strikes me is the bodily experience of topography and the limitless complexity of tallgrass species which hold in tension visual unity and (yes) variety: look ahead and see a unified sea of grasses and forbs, look down and see the many structures of individual species. This tension of unity and complexity is what my colleagues and I have begun to term “meadow-thinking:” an ability to move seamlessly between the whole and its parts, between detailed concerns and the big picture.

As a native planting designer, I was mentored early in my career by landscape architects, a landscape ecologist, an agronomist, and landscape design professionals. I mention my mentors because I value the informal learning that occurs when designing and building landscapes. The first native plants establishment I designed and helped to install (advised by Dr. Tim Keane and Dr. Clenton Owensby) is a large seeded and plugged landscape near Olathe, Kansas, now in its sixth season of growth. This planted prairie gives a hint of what’s to come in the Meadow.

Prairie establishment at the Johnson County Nolte Office building, shown in late winter 2012. Image by Katie Kingery-Page.

As the Meadow at K-State lies dormant, just beginning to show its life through sprouts of new grass and wildflower shoots, it’s difficult to visualize the intended aesthetic of the Meadow. Over the next two years, the Meadow’s maintenance regime will require it to be mowed to six inches height. It won’t be until the Meadow’s third growing season that the aesthetic created by plant selection, planting strategy, and path design will be fully visible.

So, I reveal a bit of the aesthetic intent here. The Meadow at K-State (just through the Beach Museum of Art archway) is designed to be a unified landscape fabric of grasses and wildflowers, all less that 40 inches in height. This fabric is incised with a simple system of crushed limestone paths. The path color will contrast strongly with the green, summer growth of the Meadow, but in fall and winter, the effect will soften as the plants mature to tan and rust colors.

Schematic Site Plan showing path and gathering space layout for the Meadow. Image by Katie Kingery-Page

Because the Meadow site is relatively small and surrounded by a diverse scene, a simple, unified design seemed best to achieve our goals. These goals include creating a quiet place for restful contemplation and setting the stage for close observation of plants and processes in the Meadow. Aesthetic decisions have been made in context of the Meadow planning team discussions and charrette, considering diverse viewpoints. Many functional, pragmatic factors (which for sake of focus, I have not discussed here) have affected the team’s decisions. Guiding all decisions has been a conscious appreciation of the minimalist landscape aesthetic of the Fint Hills eco-region.

 

Meadow Seeded

Karen spreading prairie straw over already seeded areas. Image by Richard Dean Prudenti.

Last Friday and Saturday, dedicated and generous volunteers enjoyed a morning learning to mix and hand broadcast seed. The weather was hot, but the company was stellar!

Volunteers begin to broadcast seed. Image by Lee R. Skabelund.

Thank you to all our volunteers and participating project team members:

Diane Barker
Troy Britt
Dede Brokesh
Michaeline Chance-Reay
Sandra Contreras
Linda Duke
Jordan Faucett
Pam Foster
Rachel Fox
Joe Gelroth
Hayden Gwinner
Betsy Haddox
Jonathan Haney
Cornelius A. Hugo
Karen Hummel
Sue Hunt
Katie Kingery-Page
Richard Dean Prudenti
Kathrine Schlageck
Lee Skabelund
Lindsay Smith
Chelcie Sutherland
Gabriela Weber

Friday volunteers (two people not pictured). Image by Kathrine Schlageck.
Saturday volunteers (a few camera shy individuals not shown). Image by Katie Kingery-Page.
Katie raking the very last area of the day. Image by Richard Dean Prudenti.
Cornelius opens a fresh bucket of seed mix. Image by Richard Dean Prudenti.

We accomplished seeding the vast majority of the site with 20 different plant species. These species were divided into a sun mix and a shade mix, combined with sawdust to bulk up the mix for proper distribution, and broadcast by hand. The planning team selected a June planting because this timing tends to favor growth of warm season grasses over cool season weeds. The site will now be watered periodically throughout the growing season.

Sunday morning, just hours after seeding, we received plenty of water from a rain and hail storm. A few small areas of seed were washed out by the rain, but most survived. We expect to see the first seedlings in about a month.

Sandra seeding. Image by Lee R. Skabelund.

Now we need to come up with a name for the Meadow’s volunteer cadre, because it’s clear that involvement with the Meadow may be habit-forming. The Prairie Hearts? Meadow Tenders? …something better? Please post a comment with your suggestions.

What is The Meadow?

The Meadow is a learning landscape of native plants adjacent to the Beach Museum of Art in Manhattan, Kansas.

The creation of The Meadow on the K-State campus will foster:

  • a demonstration of sustainable landscaping that requires less watering and pesticide use than conventional lawn,
  • a natural laboratory for a variety of both graduate and undergraduate research projects,
  • a resource for the teaching of plant identification and native plants establishment,
  • an experiential component for Beach Museum tours, allowing visitors to examine, touch, and smell some of the plants depicted in regionally significant art displayed in the Museum’s galleries,
  • an extension of the work of Beach educators and faculty across campus to make meaningful connections among art, science, and enjoyment of the natural world.

From a recent Pitch article by Nancy Hull Rigdon: “When complete, the building’s mirrored archway will give way to native grasses amid a backdrop of limestone buildings, a scene intended to highlight the commonalities between art and science. ‘Looking carefully, noticing details, finding words to describe visual discoveries, thinking about meaning and significance — these activities go on when people study the world scientifically, experience it through art, or just enjoy nature,’ says Linda Duke, the museum’s director.”

Volunteers will broadcast seed The Meadow June 21st (Friday) and June 22nd (Saturday) 2013, weather permitting. Interested volunteers can meet at the Beach Museum of Art Arch at 8am both days. To learn more about this project, or to get involved,  please contact beachart@k-state.edu