Watch for the June Issue!

The June issue of the on-line magazine Total Landscape Care will feature Art of the Land’s “Hillside Terrace”, an award winning project in the Denver area’s Applewood neighborhood.

Art of the Land’s founder and principal Nancy Eastman teamed with colleague Paul Briggs to transform a dated hillside outdoor living space into “an open and spacious haven.” In addition to the rock work and structured pergola, a key to the success of this project is the extensive planting of “water-wise” plants suitable to Colorado’s semi-arrid climate.

The project was awarded an Excellence in Landscape Award for 2011 by the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado.

This nationally distributed Total Landscape Care article appears in the June issue, so check back here for a direct link to the coverage.

Art of the Land's Award Winning Hillside Terrace Project

The story discusses the recent award for Excellence in Wall Construction given to Art of the Land for its Hillside Terrace project in Lakewood. The award was presented by the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado.

But, this Sentinel article also highlights the overall mission of Art of the Land founder Nancy Eastman, citing her belief that “landscaping is really a form of design and art.” Look for more 2012 news and accolades for Art of the Land!

To visit the Heifer site, click here. To view the entire February article and magazine issue, click here or on the picture below.

We all saw a hugely significant birthday come to pass recently when our fragile and beautiful Earth became home to its 7 billionth person. Over the next 30 years, another 2 or 3 billion people will join us. What does this monumental population growth mean?

For one thing, the global food system is struggling to provide for us all. Food prices peaked in 2008 and again in 2011, sparking riots and export bans. Land grabs, rising oil prices, biofuel development, distribution failures and water shortages are all reshaping our world and the very character of poverty and hunger. All these forces are also surely contributing to geopolitical disturbances and the distressing spike in malnutrition and poverty around the world.

We are at the age of the unthinkable, in which struggles over land, water and resources are becoming more common and more dangerous. I believe we are shifting into a level of disorder that will increasingly surprise us. The reality is that with poverty and food insecurity rising, it will be even more difficult to feed all 7 billion of us.

Agricultural productivity is now the hottest issue in development. Organizations and foundations are rediscovering the critical importance of agriculture and are promising to do more to help smallholder farmers feed themselves and their neighbors.

Click to View the Entire Issue

There are substantial opportunities in the short term. By using the best seeds, plants, fertilizers and husbandry, yields can be multiplied by factors of three or four. Reversing ill-advised political moves such as susidies for biofuel can free up vast acreage for human food production. We can drastically cut food waste, now estimated around 30-50 percent.

At Heifer, we’re spearheading what’s been called the livestock revolution. We must reach a rapidly growing group of smallholder farmers to inspire agroecological productivity, biodiversity, financial security and health to create the surplus needed to feed the surging population. There are 650 million smallholder farmers in the world – 80 percent of them women. They grow 70 percent of the food that is eaten every day. By doubling their productivity, they can feed the world! It can be done.

“The power of individuals has never been greater,” said Danish physicist Niels Bohr. I believe we need to ask ourselves, as we enter this age of the unthinkable, “What does it demand of us?”

This small memorial park is dedicated to Peter Dominick Jr., a former prominent Denver architect.  The inlaid labyrinth was inspired by one inside the 13th century Chartres Cathedral in France.  It provides a spiritual, meditative walk within an enclosed, serene setting of trees and falling water.

Composite decking with a new airy pergola above replaced an aging wood deck and low overhead cover. The deteriorated railroad tie retaining walls were removed, and a fewer number of wider terraces were configured with short, separated stairways to the top of the hillside.  The sitting-height wall along the new deck provides some additional informal seating.  The backyard was further enhanced with expanded flagstone patios and a hot tub alcove.

Hillside Terrace

“Hillside Terrace”,  in the Applewood neighborhood of the west part of Metropolitan Denver, received the award in Wall Construction from the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado.

Judging in this category is based on overall appeal, design, materials and quality.

According to Nancy Eastman, principal of Art of the Land, “The deteriorated railroad tie retaining walls were removed, and a fewer number of wider terraces were configured with short, separated stairways to the top of the hillside.  The wider terraces allowed larger plants to be used on the hillside garden. The sitting height wall along the new deck provides some additional informal seating.”

Adding Informal Seating for Entertainment

The award will be given at a ceremony February 8, 2012 at the Seawell Ballroom in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. The ALCC promotes the Excellence in Landscape Award as a way to showcase to the public the value of industry professionalism. For over 40 years, the organization has been comprised of professionals who understand the unique climate of Colorado and promote responsible use of water and other natural resources.

Land Art by Nancy Eastman

The first featured item shown was work by Nancy Eastman, Founder and Principal of Art of the Land. This basket is one of a series that eventually goes back into the environment but provides both aesthetics for the garden and habitat for wildlife in the process. Eastman showcases similar work at the website here.

Marcogliese said, “Art simply works alongside the plants to enhance enjoyment of our outdoor environments.”

Sarah Marcogliese is affiliated with the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado, participants in both the Water Wise Garden and the 9NEWS Kitchen Garden. You can see more information about that organization here.

Two of the works by Eastman are shown here. She describes the background of her work:

“I sense a disturbing loss of cultural knowledge and an indigenous loss of the meaning of the surrounding landscape. As an artist, I try to confront that loss, determining what I can do about it and how we can go on and keep moving through that loss. That results in a more intimate relationship with my diminishing and changing environments. This acute awareness reflects myself, my art and my landscapes.”

“Iowa” is, indeed, the Iowa Landscape, using paper made by harvesting from the land. In Asian and Western paper making applications.

“Cowboy Ranch” speaks to the disappearing small ranches and cowboy ranches, as well as the difficulty of making a living.

The exhibit and the Opening are, of course, free and open to the public. You are all cordially invited!

Bird's Eye View of Blooming Belcaro Green Roof

One recent Art of the Land project is this contemporary installation in Denver’s Belcaro neighborhood, at a home featured in the May, 2011 issue of “Colorado Homes & Lifestyles”. The flat areas of the home’s roof are covered in greenery that’s planted over a waterproof membrane helping cool the home in the summer and prevent water runoff. Art of the Land Founder and Principal Nancy Eastman collaborated with landscape designer Vicki Alexander and associate Andy Creath to bring the project to life.

“Green Roofs are a new type of nature,” says Eastman. “There’s a movement among some architects to make buildings less important and landscape more important. Green Roofs support that. They represent an integrated approach to living architecture.”

Key to the Green Roof is a combination of materials, protective membrane, planting medium and plant selection. Of course, there are both environmental and engineering considerations. Professionals working in the field are the first and most reliable resource to aid in design and installation of a Green Roof. Then, as the Roof matures, the obvious and measureable benefits become apparent.

Green Roofs help to reduce energy costs. Green Roofs can help to insulate in the winter and reduce the heat load of the roof in the summer. Green Roofs can help with storm water runoff through retention and detention of rainfall, and the detention of runoff from roofs.

Green Roofs provide sound insulation. The growth media, plants and layers of trapped air in a green roof system serve as excellent sound insulators. And, Green Roofs can extend roof life by blocking ultraviolet radiation, providing insulation and preventing puncture.

Importantly, many owners of Green Roof buildings and homes enjoy both the added value and the aesthetics provided by the spaces, both to view and to use.

Contact Art of the Land for a professional consultation about your Green Roof ideas. You can also read more at this site for a non-profit industry association, www.greenroofs.org. Or, read and learn more at this on-line publication, www.greenroofs.com. We look forward to hearing from you…and going up on your roof!