About
ELIZABETH DUDLEY
Expertise: Landscape and Garden Design, Project Installation, Construction Management and Horticulture
Years of experience: 15
MLA (Master of Landscape Architecture) University of Arizona
A.B. Classics, Georgetown University
CLARB (Council of American Landscape Architects) Certified Landscape Architect
Member of Sigma Lambda Alpha (Landscape Architecture Honorary Society)
NH Landscape Architecture License #128
MA Landscape Architecture License #4198
CT Landscape Architecture License #LAR0001329
GSLA (Granite State Landscape Architects) Treasurer 2014-2016
Planning Board, Newmarket, NH 2011-2013
Lamprey River Advisory Committee-Present
Juried Member of the New Hampshire Art Association
As a Landscape Architect Elizabeth Dudley is closely allied to the ideals of Jens Jensen, whose landscape designs articulate a belief in the strong ties to not only the land, but the local native landscapes where one lives. Robert E. Grese in his essay on Jens Jensen “The Landscape Architect as Conservationist” in the volume Midwestern Landscape Architecture, edited by William H. Tishler, writes of Jensen’s Danish background with its celebration of the seasons and legends and mysteries of the land and spirits. Jensen believed that maintaining a vital connection with the land is essential for a healthy society.
At best, our gardens reflect the natural surrounds of one’s immediate locale and bridge the connections between the earth and our spiritual health. The natural philosopher, E.O. Wilson writes that only in the last moment, in terms of the scale of human history, has the idea prevailed that people could flourish apart from the rest of the living world. Wilson has coined a term, biophilia, to describe our attachment to the earth, one that we still carry as part of our evolution from nature despite the intrusions of modern life. Nature persists in our hearts, in our souls and in our heads. It is because of biophilia that we are drawn to the land and labor to connect with it: our connection with nature is based in the very fiber of our being. In her book “The Healing Garden” Gay Search notes that ‘it’s interesting that when people are learning relaxation techniques that involve visualization, the place they most often conjure up is a garden or the countryside. Some choose the seaside initially but don’t stay with it for long while those who chose a garden do.”
Process
I believe that in the very process of designing a garden space one becomes rejuvenated. Thoughtfully considered garden spaces that connect with your home extend the pleasures of being at home many times over. Even the smallest of spaces can add great joy to one’s life by improving one’s environment both functionally and aesthetically. Pleasant spaces offer emotional and spiritual release and help realign people with the cycles of nature.
In my work I consider the sources of food and shelter for local wildlife with the use of native plants in Bird and Butterfly gardens. For both suburban and urban settings I design quiet garden rooms using shrubs and trees to bring wildlife into the living spaces near people. I team with local artists to bring art and sculpture into your gardens-to reveal what Jens Jensen termed, the ’hand of man’ in ways that enhance our relations with nature.
SUPPORT
I always welcome questions and hope that you will free to be part of as much of the design building process as you like. My strength is in customized work and I want your personal goals to be realized to the fullest extent possible.
INFLUENCES
Through her training in Landscape Architecture and professional experience, Elizabeth is drawn to the work of the legendary Prairie School icon Jens Jensen. In her own designs, Elizabeth strives like Jensen, to create form in natural gardens derived from the rhythms of nature.
Landscape planning presents an opportunity to reflect natural patterns and processes: Where to leave areas wild, where to restore native species and purge invasive plants and where and how to form sensitive transitions to cultivated spaces closer to buildings are all questions to be explored with the client.
Gardens which respond to a site’s immediate context and also relate to the broader forms of the New England’s interior and seaside landscapes foster joy and self awareness. Garden spaces bring connections with nature and other people in the outdoor world beyond. Use of native stone in dry stacking or horizontal layering, use of evergreens as spatial grounding for the displays of deciduous trees and shrubs in seasonal change.
In addition, Elizabeth enjoys employing her extensive training in the visual arts and interest in sculptural detail in the creation of Japanese gardens.
