We have imagined bold moves and charted courses of action to be realized over the coming century. The challenges are undeniably steep, but they are not insurmountable. So profound are the effects of these forces that conventional responses-rebuilding infrastructure or adding safeguards such as seawalls-will only delay but not prevent, the submersion of the Tidal Basin and its monuments under water. To rescue and transform the nation’s most iconic memorial landscape, we must balance preservation with the realities of climatic, geological, and social changes. “The Tidal Basin Ideas Lab is an urgent call to action. Reads a collective statement from the five firms with proposals featured in the exhibition: Memorial, the Jetty is ambitious and aspirational, providing not only new literal and cultural ground for memorial, growth, reflection, and discourse, but also for new hydrological patterns, areas for Potomac sedimentation, and easing of Tidal Basin loads.” (Courtesy DLANDstudio/Tidal Basin Ideas Lab) Proposed as a new, prominent home for a relocated Martin Luther King, Jr. The proposed interventions seek to improve security – of people, of landscapes, of culture, monuments, and infrastructure – as well as to better connect existing sites and destinations, while establishing a more sensitive, symbiotic, and dynamic relationship with the Tidal Basin environment.” (Courtesy DLANDstudio/Tidal Basin Ideas Lab) From DLANDstudio’s proposal: “The proposed Jetty is a bold extension of the Lincoln Memorial/Washington Monument axis westward, into the Potomac River. The proposed design radically reimagines the land of the Tidal Basin area in form and function, as a phased response to the sweeping, inevitable wave of climate change-driven transformation. From DLANDstudio’s proposal: “Bird’s eye view looking northeast. The participating firms were announced in October 2019. At the heart of the exhibition are forward-thinking design proposals from five landscape architecture firms- DLANDstudio, GGN, James Corner Field Operations, Hood Design Studio, and Reed Hilderbrand-that respond, some radically, to the threats that imperil this unique body of water and the cherished American landscape that surrounds it. Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, 3,000 rather famous cherry trees, and a number of other landmarks and memorials. The Tidal Basin Ideas Lab takes a deep-dive into the cultural significance and sometimes complicated history of the 107-acre partially man-made reservoir-think of it as the largest water feature gracing America’s Front Yard-that’s flanked by to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the Martin Luther King Jr. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, it has been retooled as a dynamic but no less layered online offering featuring digital animations, video, archival photography, essays, interviews, and more. He has settled there with his wife, Kathy and has opened his mind to a new wealth of art, possibilities and challenges.Co-curated by Donald Albrecht of the Museum of the City of New York and author and architectural historian Thomas Mellins, the exhibition was originally envisioned as a physical show at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Although inspired by the remarkable terrain of the West, Dawson traded that environment for the tropical rain forests of Hawaii after a recent assignment in America’s fiftieth state. All his works display a meticulous attention to detail, supported by extensive research, interviews, personal experience in the field and eighteen-hour days at the drawing board. Since then the artist has painted animals and birds for articles, posters, nature guides, first-class postage stamps and even zoo signs, for such prestigious establishments as the National Geographic, the Audubon Society, the National Park Serice, the National Wildlife Federation and the U.S. did Dawson secure enough support to make a living doing what he loved. Only after trips to New York, Boston and Washington D.C. There he experienced some tough early freelance years. But it has only been in the last decade that he has come into his own, gaining recognition as a fine "natural history artist." After graduation from the Art Center School in Los Angeles, Dawson "paid his dues" at the Phillips Ramsey Advertising Agency in San Diego before deciding to follow his muse to the Sawtooth Mountains of the Wood River Valley in Idaho. Although his love of the outdoors took a while longer to develop, both art and nature quickly became integral parts of his work. He can’t recall a time when he didn’t know that art would be his life. About the ArtistAccording to his family members, John Dawson was already drawing at the age of three.
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