Winter Works in Progress presentations are a wrap! Student teams presented to a full Coach House audience, with additional clients, family, friends and alums cheering them on via Zoom. We were honored to have three guest reviewers with expertise in agricultural land conservation, environmental policy, planning, and affordable housing development, who along with project clients gave students insightful feedback to inform their projects as they continue to work on them.
You can read more about this winter's community partners here, and keep reading below about one of our student projects that was featured in the local news.
Students and Alums Making a Difference
Nothing makes us happier than seeing Conway students and alums out in the world and engaging with communities in meaningful ways. On February 28th NOFA Mass held its annual winter conference, which included several events on soil health facilitated by Conway alums. Members of Regenerative Design Group Rachel Lindsay '15 and Conway digital design faculty Bas Gutwein, seen above left with fellow RDGers Fen Johanson '25 and Jono Neiger '03, presented "Beyond the Horizon: Taking Action for Health Soils," reflecting on the past, present, and future of the Massachusetts Healthy Soils Action Plan. Landscape Interactions Principal Evan Abramson '18 (above right) and Landscape Designer/Planner Jenny Goldleaf '22 joined members of several area farms and nonprofits in a conversation about their two-year collaboration to build above- and below-ground biodiversity on sites across Western Massachusetts.
Deerfield team members Celine Voyard '26 and James Riley '26 facilitate an engagement session with Deerfield community members.
One of this winter's student teams was featured in the Greenfield Recorder for their work with the residents and town employees of Deerfield, MA. The students are helping the town to identify potential paths for growing housing while weighing factors such as affordability, policy, and environmental concerns. Read the article>>
An Exercise: Blind Contour Sketching
A student's blind contour sketch of a hand at left, and the same scene sketched without blind contour.
What is blind contour sketching? It's a drawing practice that students learn as part of the Graphics class. It is common for students to feel uncertain or insecure about their drawing skills when they start here in the fall. That's no surprise, as the way that sketching is often presented leads many of us to develop a perfectionist approach, focusing on the outcome rather than the experience itself. Faculty member Kim Erslev, who teaches landscape design, graphics, and site engineering, encourages students to embrace the joy of the sketching experience by getting out of their "judging minds" and instead draw by feeling the object in addition to seeing it. The goal is not a picture-perfect illustration, but a deeper understanding of the object and observation process as well as stronger hand-eye coordination, practices which will ultimately improve one's illustration technique.
Try it yourself:Select an object to draw, and observe it in detail. Pick a point along the object's edge to use as a starting point, and put your pencil to paper, imagining that the pencil is touching the object. Without looking at the paper, begin drawing the object. Coordinate the movements of your eye with the movements of your pencil as though there were an invisible thread connecting the two. Do not look at the paper or worry about what the illustration looks like. Instead focus on the object and its details. You might be surprised at how much better you "see" things when you look at them instead of the paper.
Online Information Session April 15th
7-8:30pm ET on Zoom
Students practice their sketching during a fall field trip.
We are still accepting applications for the 2026-27 academic year!
Sign up for our next Admissions Online Information Session on Wednesday, April 15th at 7pm ET. Faculty and staff will be available via Zoom to discuss Conway's program and curriculum in detail and answer any questions you have.
Our alum guest speaker will be Tamsin Flanders '18, Senior Land Use and Natural Resources Planner for the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG).
Seeing our learning environment in person and talking to faculty and current students can give you a great sense of the Conway experience. Email admissions@csld.edu to set up a time.
Apply
If you've already decided to apply, you can download our application form and instructions below. Please email admissions@csld.edu if you have any questions about the application or the admissions process.
Rainfall is essential. It supports life and sustains the water bodies we use for swimming, fishing, drinking water, and more. It can also be a nuisance, and even a source of fear, when basements flood and rivers overflow their banks. In this talk, we explore our part in the big picture. There are actions we can take in our yards and shared community spaces to allow water to soak in rather than run off. By choosing trees, shrubs, and garden plants wisely, and by including features such as rain gardens, we can allow the soil to clean and infiltrate water while also providing habitat and beauty. Even in our own yards, our land management practices impact the ability of downstream waters to support both aquatic life and human uses.
This talk will:
Examine environmental impacts of yards and other landscaped areas
Share how residents can learn more about drainage on their sites
Explore ways to infiltrate and clean runoff on site, while also protecting our homes
We will also touch on the concept of land management vs. land care: How can we all become stewards of the landscape, and support healthy communities?
Stop by Our Table
Spring is on its way, and we plan to be tabling at several upcoming events over the next few months. If you plan to be in the area, please stop by to say hi!
Save the dates for two Conway gatherings next month! Join Conway staff, faculty, current students, and alums for food, drinks, and conversation about all things ecological design and beyond. We'll be sharing location and registration details soon.
“There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”
