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The Ring - CCxA

Editorial Board Message

A message from Eric Klaver, Chair, Ground Editorial Board

When the Editorial Board was first brainstorming for this issue, one of the ideas we had was to produce a timeline of colour in landscape design over the years. We planned to collect images of significant projects, sample the predominant colours, and arrange them into a sequence that might show a pattern of, well… something. Needless to say, that project would have been overwhelming, and we abandoned it as a whim of curiosity.

However, what the idea acknowledges is that within the practice of landscape architecture, colour is often a marker of change. As I am writing this, in springtime, the colour of the landscape around me is shifting almost by the hour. Colour from year to year can signify shifts in patterns—a meadow that’s lush one summer may slowly shift to droughty dormancy in other years based on changes in rainfall or available water. Colour has deep meaning for our profession.

What the Editorial Board didn’t know in that brainstorming session was that change would be thrust upon us in other quarters. When we learned that our dear editor, Lorraine Johnson, was moving on to other pastures and that this issue, the Summer issue, would be her last as editor, we were quite anxious about what these changes might bring. Many Editorial Board members stepped up and doubled their efforts to help with Ground’s transition. At the same time, a search committee was struck to find a new editor. In the end, we received submissions from 18 potential—a good many of them very strong—candidates! After much discussion and a tough process, a new editor was finally selected.

The Ground Editorial Board is most pleased to welcome Glyn Bowerman as our new editor. (His first issue will be the Fall issue.) Like a number of candidates for the position, Glyn has a writing and journalism background. What made Glyn stand out to us was his depth of experience in writing about the designed environment, his previous managing editor role at Spacing magazine, his interest in social justice and Indigenous issues, as well as his ideas about where we might take Ground into the future. You will no doubt be hearing from Glyn soon. Colour us excited!

ERIC KLAVER, OALA
CHAIR, EDITORIAL BOARD
[email protected]