As the President of Michael Vergason Landscape Architects, Ltd. (MVLA), Michael Vergason has founded the firm on the belief that landscape architecture is a poetic, humanizing discipline responding to the fundamental human need for connection to our surrounding world. Vergason’s emphasis on a seamless integration of the built and natural environments, merging form and function while taking cues from natural and social processes, is an outgrowth of his training in both architecture and landscape architecture. He received his BS in Architecture and his MLA from the University of Virginia. He is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and a Fellow of the ASLA. Vergason seeks ways to integrate human uses and creative interventions with the land's distinctive qualities: its form, materiality, and vegetation. He values the temporal nature of his craft and strives to create memorable places that engage the senses and the imagination.

Artist Statement: This work was executed while teaching a seminar on drawing trees. It focuses on recording the structural framework of a tree, which varies by tree species and habit. It also illustrates the evocative nature of each tree, capturing its character through shading, line, and gesture.