2008 Woodie Awards
Beyond Office Hours: Nina Antonetti
Prof. Emits Infectious Love for Landscaping
Lise Bradford
Issue date: 9/22/05 Section: Features
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Nina Antonetti is excited about Landscape Studies, and her excitement is infectious. Any Smith student who experiences the campus simply as a backdrop to the daily routine should consider a visit to Antonetti's office in Wright Hall to pick her brain, or to sit and listen, as I have, to Nina explain her passion for landscape and the program available at Smith.
Raised on the rural eastern shore of Maryland, surrounded by the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean, Nina developed an appreciation for landscape-except for her own. "To me, it [Maryland] seemed bland and boring. Going to the cities meant the world to me."
En route to Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia and New York, the young Nina wasn't plaguing her parents with cries of "are we there yet?" She was usually too busy staring out the window, intrigued by the changing landscapes as they passed by.
Then, at age five, she went to Great Britain. "First it was the cathedrals, the country houses, the parks; by the end of the two month trip, I was spending all of my time in the parks. Twenty years later I was doing graduate work in those same gardens, calling it research, when really I was just reconnecting to my favorite landscapes." After high school, in which Nina was able to take several classes in architecture, Antonetti returned to London for college and graduate work. While there, she worked at the Victoria and Albert Museum, studying everything from design to decorative arts and the landscape. Her doctoral work at the University of London's Victorian Study Centre focused on architecture and landscape history, which, she adds, "you couldn't really do in this country."
But, you can now. You can do it here at Smith. Nina Antonetti and the Landscape Studies department are designing a curriculum similar to that which she thrived on in London. "I'm finding that more and more students want this multidisciplinary approach. The motivations and ambitions of students entering higher learning in this country...it's much more job oriented. What should I study to become this kind of person? Whether it's a doctor, lawyer, teacher or designer: programs tend to be professionally driven. You can do anything with a minor in Landscape Studies."
Raised on the rural eastern shore of Maryland, surrounded by the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean, Nina developed an appreciation for landscape-except for her own. "To me, it [Maryland] seemed bland and boring. Going to the cities meant the world to me."
En route to Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia and New York, the young Nina wasn't plaguing her parents with cries of "are we there yet?" She was usually too busy staring out the window, intrigued by the changing landscapes as they passed by.
Then, at age five, she went to Great Britain. "First it was the cathedrals, the country houses, the parks; by the end of the two month trip, I was spending all of my time in the parks. Twenty years later I was doing graduate work in those same gardens, calling it research, when really I was just reconnecting to my favorite landscapes." After high school, in which Nina was able to take several classes in architecture, Antonetti returned to London for college and graduate work. While there, she worked at the Victoria and Albert Museum, studying everything from design to decorative arts and the landscape. Her doctoral work at the University of London's Victorian Study Centre focused on architecture and landscape history, which, she adds, "you couldn't really do in this country."
But, you can now. You can do it here at Smith. Nina Antonetti and the Landscape Studies department are designing a curriculum similar to that which she thrived on in London. "I'm finding that more and more students want this multidisciplinary approach. The motivations and ambitions of students entering higher learning in this country...it's much more job oriented. What should I study to become this kind of person? Whether it's a doctor, lawyer, teacher or designer: programs tend to be professionally driven. You can do anything with a minor in Landscape Studies."