The 34
th annual gathering of the Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation will discuss new perspectives in historic landscape preservation when it convenes in Victoria, British Columbia in April 2012. Suggested topics for discussion papers include challenges and approaches to the identification, sustainability and protection of historic landscapes and issues of cultural diversity, identity and meaning in landscape preservation.
Engage in dialogues about the preservation of historic landscapes and the conservation of cultural landscapes of significance. Share your views and broaden your perspective. If there's one thing that the 'converted' appreciate about Alliance gatherings are the debates, dialogues, and yes (at times) arguments, in the realm of historic landscape preservation.
Our vistas will be Canada's powerful, awe-inspiring West Coast landscape. The First Nations people knew it intimately. Emily Carr lovingly interpreted it in her paintings. Now you can see it for yourself.
Vancouver Island
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Fisgard Lighthouse
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And Vancouver Island beckons you to engage in this kaleidoscope of ideas. The City of Victoria promotes itself as being "full of life" and we intend to inject as much of that into your conference experience as we can. Centered at the venerable Empress Hotel puts us alongside the Inner Harbour and in the heart of the city both convenient for exploring by foot or as a launching off point for bus tours. Field visits will look at aboriginal, colonial and multicultural engagements with the powerful landscapes of the Canadian west coast.
Empress Hotel
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And, as always, while we are not able to accommodate all that the Victoria region has to offer in the short time that we will be together, we'll provide some ideas about interesting places that you might explore either before/after the conference (including Vancouver across the Georgia Strait or Seattle, if you are coming Stateside).
Abkhazi Gardens
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Butchart Gardens
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Field trips to cultural heritage landscapes are a hallmark of the our annual conference. In 2012 we will explore current views in managing cultural landscapes through diverse sites in urban Victoria and the surrounding countryside. Evolved and designed landscapes from different periods will include Victoria’s Beacon Hill Park which reveals layers of use by First Nations peoples, the Hudson’s Bay Company, British military, and Victorians who have enjoyed a city park landscape built in1889. West of the city the Edwardian-era Hatley Park is one of Canada’s largest and most diverse national historic site. Located on a coastal landscape of 565 acres the park includes old growth forest, peaceful nature trails, lush heritage gardens, a rare eco-system and bird sanctuary, a castle and a spectacular view of the Olympic Mountains.
Across town at the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association Cemetery at Harling Point simple markers and an altar are found among wildflowers in an ocean-front landscape selected according to the ancient concept of feng shui. An Olmsted Brothers designed subdivision in the east end leads the way to a modernist university campus with a Lawrence Halprin landscape. Abkhazi Garden, Victoria’s “garden of love”, contrasts with coastal fortifications and military installations at Fort Rodd Hill, and rural, vernacular landscapes we plan to visit north of Victoria. In addition to our final banquet held in a west coast garden setting at the University of Victoria, there will be optional evening events such as a pub crawl, dinner in Chinatown and waterfront fish and chips.
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Emily Carr, Big Eagle, Skidegate, 1929. Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
Emily Carr’s paintings are iconic views of the landscape of Vancouver Island. We will see her works at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. |
For those interested in coming earlier/staying later, please consider visiting Butchart Gardens, a story of vision, a place of beauty, and a site of national historic significance. Please visit the City of Victoria tourism website for more information on things to see and do.
So, think about 'goin' coastal' in the spring of 2012. We look forward to welcoming and presenting a powerful regional landscape that will move you!
CALL FOR PAPERS
and POSTERS
