Shifting Boundaries: Perspectives on American Landscapes

As a child, Lauren Brandes’s family vacations involved watching seemingly endless miles of urban skylines, forests, and countryside pass by during long road trips to visit far-flung national parks and American cities. Now as a parent, she enjoys sharing that love of travel and adventure with her own family. Lauren’s interest in both nature and the built environment led her to the profession of landscape architecture. As a landscape architect with Smithsonian Gardens, she hopes to help others feel a sense of delight and stewardship about the natural world through public gardens.

Dennis Chestnut is the board chair of the Ward 7 Resilience Hub Community Coalition in Washington, DC, and former founding executive director of Groundwork Anacostia River DC. Dennis is a native Washingtonian, vocational and environmental educator, and community organizer. He is a civic ecologist and works to improve the quality of life for DC residents through building stewardship of their natural environment and local community. Dennis was named 2019 National River Hero by the River Network at the 2019 River Rally.

Jerome Foster II is an African American climate activist, social entrepreneur, and public speaker. He is one of the organizers of Fridays for Future, a youth-led climate strike movement, and has been a leading voice for Black visibility in climate activism. In March 2021, Foster was appointed as an advisor to the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, becoming the youngest person ever to do so. Foster also led the OneMillionOfUs initiative to register one million young people to vote. He is the cofounder and executive director of Waic Up, a climate justice advocacy nonprofit organization that uses art, journalism, and civic engagement to create change.

2023 NEA National Heritage Fellow Elizabeth James-Perry is an Aquinnah Wampanoag whaling descendant, a writer, and an artist. She designs wampum jewelry, naturally dyed weavings, and porcupine quillwork. Her garden installations encourage pollinators and educate about Native land stewardship. Her art was in the play Manahatta and was featured on the TV series Rutherford Falls. Perry has a marine science degree from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. As a member of a tribal nation on Noepe (Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts), James-Perry’s perspective combines Traditional Ecological Knowledge, genealogy, art, and science.

Born in New York City, Lorette grew up in upstate New York as the daughter of an engineer and a talented artist. She graduated from the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University and holds a master’s in education from the University of Hawai’i. She began working on policy with interfaith communities in Washington, DC, on the food and farm crises of the 1980s. Joining Rural Coalition as executive director in 1991, she now works with a diverse board and leaders in the long struggle for civil rights and equity in agriculture. She is currently engaged in her ninth Farm Bill debate to support these farmers.

Stephanie grew up in one of Massachusetts’s oldest townships, surrounded by landscapes reminiscent of Dwight Tryon’s paintings. After attending Smith College and the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in history and cultural anthropology, Stephanie joined the National Park Service. She supported parks and partners in preserving cultural resources and carrying out National Historic Preservation Programs in the Pacific West and across the nation. After retiring in 2017 as associate director for cultural resources, partnerships, and science, Stephanie returned to her home in Seattle, Washington, and continues to support local preservation groups. She continues to represent the National Park Service for special partnership projects.

Melinda Whicher has been a supervisory horticulturist with Smithsonian Gardens for four years, and her responsibilities include all of the South Mall gardens from the National Museum of Asian Art to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Prior to this role, she was the manager of Kings Landing Park in southern Maryland, where she completed several natural and historic preservation projects. Whicher also spent seven years as a horticulturist at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. She holds a bachelor’s degree in horticulture from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree in recreation and park management from Frostburg State University.