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Parc National Forillon, Gaspé, VAF Annual Conference,
June, 2013. Chris Wilson.
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After I
finished graduate school in 1981, I was fortunate to be able to find a mentor
in the cultural landscape writer, J. B. Jackson, who lived about an hour away from
me near Santa Fe. I visited him every month or so, usually Sunday afternoon for
conversation, coffee and camembert on crackers. After this had been going on
for a few years, as I was leaving one day, Jackson handed me a check for $500,
and said, “Here, why don’t you go to a conference?”
I chose the next Vernacular Architecture Forum
conference the next May of 1988 at Staunton , Virginia--a memorable conference
organized by Pam Simpson and Ann McCleary. I met such important later advisors
for my research as Catherine Bishir, Richard Longstreth and Dell Upton at that
first conference. The combination of opening and closing receptions with live
local music, two days of field trips with meals by the likes of the Daughters of
Rebecca, and the substantive field guide, with a single day of papers seemed
perfect to me.
I was
warmly welcomed by the old hands, especially when I mentioned that I was from
New Mexico. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to hold a conference in Santa Fe?” they
all asked. Boyd Pratt--my research partner since grad school days, who was also
at the conference--and I began thinking of ourselves as the pretty girl in high
school, unsure if people liked us for our brains or just for the stunning good
looks of the New Mexico landscape. We will always remember the hard work and the
enduring pleasure of having hosted the VAF conference in Santa Fe, in 1991.
I have
preached the importance of attending conferences for comradery and intellectual
growth to my students ever since. Much in the spirit of Jackson’s gesture of
encouragement years ago, the recently established Pamela H. Simpson Presenter’s
Fellowships supports the expenses of students and recent graduates who attend
the conference to present papers. Twelve who have had their papers accepted for
the Down Jersey conference will receive Simpson Fellowships this year.
I have
attended fifteen of the past twenty-six VAF conferences--and served stints on
the board and as Second VP--but had not been as active in the past ten years as
a I was in my first fifteen. I welcome this opportunity to serve an
organization that has been indispensible to my intellectual development, and has
given me so many long-term friends. Below are three links by way of further
self-introduction.
I also look
forward to seeing you all at what promises to be one of those great VAF
conferences, next May in South New Jersey.
Regards, Chris Wilson
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
Plazas of New Mexico book website: http://plazasofnewmexico.com
