Zara Muren
Zara Muren, ASLA, is a documentary filmmaker, designer, activist of ecological sustainability and writer based in Northern California. Initially from England, where she qualified as a landscape architect and worked her first job in Liverpool, Zara came to the United States in 1977 to study for an M.L.A. in the Design-Behavior Program at the University of Illinois, and work as a teaching assistant in undergraduate design studios. Finding that she loved teaching, she sought to make it her career, and went on to Assistant Professorships at Utah State University (1979 - 80) and the University of Oregon (1980-82). Also influencing her career path, Zara was awarded the Ryerson Travelling Fellowship in Architecture and Landscape Architecture, for a proposal to research and visit the work of Luis Barragan in Mexico and Roberto Burle Marx in Brazil, and interview each designer about their creative process. Making this journey in June – August 1980 alighted her interest in documenting the work and ideas of visionary designers using the dynamically evocative medium of film.
After a brief period in practice with the SWA Group, Zara took time off to learn filmmaking skills and raise money to produce documentaries that could provide an educational and professional resource to Landscape Architecture, Architecture and Planning. She went on to make two major documentaries, “The Landscape Architecture of Roberto Burle Marx” (1989) and “Dream of The Sea Ranch” (1994) with support from the National Endowment of the Arts, which were distributed to students and professionals at universities, association libraries, offices and museums around the world through Master Design Series. Meanwhile she worked independently in diverse avenues of landscape architecture, ranging from the design of a necklace of ponds addressing the persistent flooding and erosion of a hillside creek to consulting on the development of neighborhood trails. Currently Zara is writing a book with her distinguished visual effects artist husband Dennis Muren, that inquires into creativity in his work and crystallizes principles from his experience that apply broadly in fields of art and design.
Statement: I am excited to join the 100 Woman Campaign in support of the Oberlander Prize! Shining a light on the contributions of such landscape architectural visionaries as Cornelia Oberlander - as I have more modestly sought to shine a light on those of Lawrence Halprin and Roberto Burle Marx through my documentaries - has great power to inspire and guide us. The Oberlander Prize will appropriately reward and elevate the work of select visionaries to broader visibility within and beyond the profession. Now joining the mature Campaign, in view of the strength of the Prize as a compelling and ambitious 2 year offering, with luminaries involved in all aspects of its formation, jury and administration, I am reminded how very much Charles Birnbaum and The Cultural Landscape Foundation have done to build the future of our profession, and at the highest possible level of quality!