20C women in landscape design FOLAR + The Gardens Trust
LEFT Hawkesley Farm Moat Estate, Turves Green, Birmingham, CREDIT: Bridgman Family Archive RIGHT Photo of Mary Mitchell, CREDIT: Mitchell Family Archive
Speaker: Joy Burgess
Mary Mitchell was a prolific and influential landscape architect during the post war period. Much of her early work was influenced by Lady Marjory Allen’s approach to play which could be seen across the north of England during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Mary Mitchell was Birmingham City’s first ever landscape architect, which was where she began to explore her own convictions over creative, playful and art-filled landscapes seen most clearly in a number of housing sites that she worked on with Sheppard Fidler, the City Architect. It was also here that she made a name for herself on the International stage as a world renowned designer before setting up her own practice which she ran successfully for more than twenty years. The full extent of Mitchell’s work and the impact it had on the north of England is yet to be fully understood. This talk will explore Mitchell’s life, some of her creative collaborations, as well as some projects which show her approach to design and what made it so unique.
Joy Burgess is a lecturer in landscape studies at the University of Liverpool where she is currently carrying out her PhD in collaboration with Historic England. Her PhD looks to tell the histories of female landscape architects in post-war Britain. Joy also works on the editorial team for the Women’s History Network Journal and has recently been a research assistant alongside Professor Luca Csepely-Knorr on the AHRC projects - IFLA 75: Uncovering hidden histories in Landscape Architecture and Women of the Welfare Landscape