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Film Screening: The Life and Gardens of Beatrix Farrand

Wed Nov 28, 2018 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
UC Botanical Garden
This is the first documentary ever produced about the life and gardens of Beatrix Farrand, the most successful female landscape architect in early 20th century America and one of the founders of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Join us for a special screening and Q&A with the filmmaker, Karyl Evans, presented in partnership with UC Berkeley Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning. This compelling film chronicles the life of Beatrix Farrand (1872-1959), the niece of Edith Wharton, who grew up in the privileged world of the East Coast elite and fought through the challenges of working in a male-dominated profession to design over 200 landscape commissions during her remarkable 50-year career. The documentary takes viewers on an inspiring journey across the country as we explore her personal story and many of her most spectacular gardens, including Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C.; the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden; Garland Farm in Bar Harbor, Maine; the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden in Bar Harbor, Maine; and her California gardens. Six-time Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Karyl Evans has combined her two greatest professional loves - landscape architecture and filmmaking - to create the documentary film The Life and Gardens of BEATRIX FARRAND. Over the past three years, Evans has focused her attention on researching Farrand’s life and work as many Farrand gardens were being rediscovered and restored, visiting over 50 Farrand garden-related sites from Maine to California and Washington, D.C. to photograph the gardens and to talk with curators, scholars, professional gardeners and volunteers. Karyl also conducted research at the Beatrix Farrand Archives at the University of California, Berkeley, where she discovered never-before-published materials now included in her film. The resulting documentary is an inspiring film about Beatrix Farrand’s challenging life and her stunning 50-year career as a landscape architect.