LITERATURE + LECTURES

Architecture Center Houston and the Houston Public Library are pleased to announce Authors in Architecture: Yard Art and Handmade Places: Extraordinary Expressions of Home by Jill Nokes, Thursday June 17th. 6pm Houston Public Library Downtown, 4th Floor – Author Presentation; Central Library-Program Place (4th Floor) 500 McKinney, Houston, TX. 7pm Architecture Center Houston(ArCH) – Reception and Book signing, 315 Capitol, Suite 120, Houston, TX.

Relatively few Americans build their own homes, but many yearn to make the places they live in more truly their own. Jill Nokes traveled across Texas, seeking out residents who had transformed their yards and gardens into oases of art and exuberant personal expression to assemble her second book, Yard Art and Handmade Places: Extraordinary Expressions of Home. Rather than viewing yard art as a curiosity or oddity, Nokes treats it as an integral part of home making, revealing how these places become invested with deep personal and social meaning. She presents their stories, told in their own words, about why they created these handmade places and what their yard art has come to mean to them and their communities.

Jill Nokes is a landscape designer and author living in Austin, Texas. Her educational background includes a bachelor of arts degree in the Plan II Honors program at the University of Texas, and a master's of science degree in horticulture from Texas A&M University in 1977. Her special interest and experience is in the planning of naturalistic landscape designs that incorporate local materials and plants to re-create authentic settings with regional flavor.

Nokes’ first book, How to Grow Native Plants of Texas and the Southwest, published in a revised edition by the University of Texas Press in 2001, records the knowledge of several generations of plant experts and growers. It is widely recognized for increasing awareness of the value of native plants in both vernacular and built landscapes.

Debuting in January 2009, Authors in Architecture is a collaboration between the Houston Public Library Downtown and Architecture Center Houston (ArCH). Our aim is to create a dialogue between two downtown cultural centers and their patrons,while educating the public about current architectural issues.

This series is free and open to the public.