Joya: AiR / Kate Terry / USA
photo Simón Beckmann
Joya: AiR / Kate Terry / USA
"I felt like I became a child again at Joya: AiR. I ran through the meadows, played in the grass, and laughed with my electric, imaginative friends. It was like realizing I’d spent my whole life speaking another language--and found there are other people who speak it, too.
After an intense first year in my Master of Landscape Architecture program, I arrived needing room to breathe, to observe, and to reconnect with my work without the pressure of deadlines. The work I did at Joya will carry through not just in my artistic practice, but in the art of designing outdoor spaces that people occupy.
Much of my time was spent studying the native plants of the region. I was drawn to their sculptural qualities--how their structure alone could define space, cast shadow, and shape the experience of a place. With no agenda beyond curiosity, I used the plants themselves as tools for observation, exploring how line, mass, and texture move through the landscape. This deepened my interest in how plants function--not only to hold the ground and support life, but experientially--how they create atmosphere and engage our senses.
Beyond the studio, I found inspiration in the presence and generosity of the other artists. Nights unfolded over dinners on the patio, then wine on the back bench, where we watched sunsets we never wanted to end and traded 'who’s' with the neighboring owls.
It was a magical two weeks that left me with new clarity about my direction, and infinite gratitude for the creative community I found."
- Kate Terry
Kate is an emerging visual artist and landscape architecture graduate student exploring the intersection of environment, memory, and time. Her work centers of observational drawing and painting, focusing on ephemeral experiences. She is influenced by abstract expressionism and the works of landscape architect James Corner. With a background including global travel and a previous career in tech, she brings a multifaceted lens to her creative process, which is grounded in field work (studying plant ecologies and site histories).