An Illustrated History

Charles ‘Chip’ Sullivan, professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, specializes in site planning, garden history, and the garden as an art form. He encourages creativity and hand drawing in his classes to enhance visual awareness and develop problem-solving skills. Commissioned for the LAEP Centennial publication, this is his cartoon history of the Department.

David Mandel (BA ’93) describes his class with Chip:

“Chip, never a big lover of automotive travel, led us [on] a merry footrace through San Francisco’s design bookstores and the East Bay’s sculptural and sculptured backyards and industrial lots. He discussed model trains, watercolor techniques, the Italian Renaissance and related hydrology, topiary and Zen, and generally ran a tireless all-embracing design brain-o-rama that left us excited if not breathless. With his occasional sidekick Gary Strang, Chip exposed us to design and drawing techniques for an expanding (or maybe collapsing) universe. When we weren’t rendering Villa Lancellotti-to-AIDS hospice, Chip had us depict beatnik worldviews, high-end urban-edge housing, and martinis with an olive (grove) twist or gestalt hedges.”[1]