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Mighty Oak Monday: Julia Wilson
Mighty Oak Monday: Julia Wilson
Major: Landscape Architecture (M.L.A.)
Hometown: Rhode Island
Class of ‘24
Julia Wilson’s artistry lends itself perfectly to Landscape Architecture. As a fiber artist, Julia has created botanical weavings using grass and leaves as a record of time and place while on her walks. Choosing her current program just felt like the right fit. “I wanted to make sure I was in a place where I could be around people specifically looking at ecological questions that I might not find as in-depth on a purely design-focused campus,” Wilson said.
Julia has been an artist for over 15 years, and when she's not creating new weaving, she is applying her skills to the Syracuse Urban Food Forest Project. It is a joint project between ESF’s departments of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Biology, SU’s Food Studies, and other city and community stakeholders that plants edible species along the Onondaga Creek corridor and Furnace Brook tributary. “I got connected through one of my studio professors, Matt Pottinger, who is on the project,” she said. “I like learning how different entities work together to create space and change that is wanted by the community.”
Julia used this ecological knowledge for her award-winning entry to the Festival International de Jardins in Quebec, the largest contemporary garden festival in North America. Out of 160 international entries, her submission “FUTURE DRIFTS” will be one of the four selected for planting. Her inspiration? New York and Rush asters, and what it would look like if they were to cross pollinate like they did many years ago.
She will begin installation in Quebec in June, and the public will be welcome to view it through October. “Landscape architecture is a way of bringing art into the public realm that is accessible. I like that it is a place where people and community can gather.”