In celebration of World Landscape Architecture Month in April, the ASLA Northern California Chapter partnered with the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design on their first ever collaboration, joining together to learn and create around the theme of spirit of place. In connection with the Museum’s spring exhibition titled Ruglife, ASLA-NCC organized a free sketch walk event on Saturday, April 12, called Weaving Through the Urban Fabric which explored the rich tapestry of the Dogpatch neighborhood through field sketching, drawing and collaging. Ruglife highlighted the modern practice of weaving through the work of 14 contemporary artists from around the world who use the rug as a medium to address cultural issues such as religion, technology, social justice, housing, and the environment. There are countless connections between the practices of weaving and landscape architecture: both crafts require intense planning to blend seamlessly into their contexts, and much like weaving is created row by row, urban landscapes have layers that develop over time and shape the environment as new design elements and infrastructure are added to the existing patterns.
On the sketch walk, participants strolled through industrial heritage sites and newly designed waterfront parks in search of the creative forces and hidden rhythms of nature and culture woven into the vibrant warp and weft of the city. We concluded the afternoon by enjoying libations and sharing our sketches at The Ramp, an iconic neighborhood watering hole. We thank landscape architects, Elizabeth Boults and Chip Sullivan, the authors of Wisdom of Place, for leading this magical
journey, and we express our gratitude to BLICK Art Materials who generously donated accordion sketchbooks to the first 20 attendees. Special thanks to chapter
president Thea Yang for initiating what we hope will be a long-term relationship with the MCD. A good time was had by all!
