Landscape Architects & Others Design “Masks For Unity”

Here’s a new spin on COVID-19 mask wearing. The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is hosting “Masks for Unity,” an online auction of masks designed by landscape architects, architects, and other design professionals. You can view the Auction Gallery Guide, which includes photographs of each mask, artists’ statements, and biographies, and then bid exclusively online at the One Cause website from now until Monday, June 29.

“As landscape architect Ken Smith said: ‘Socially distant doesn’t mean anti-social,’” said Charles A. Birnbaum, TCLF’s President and CEO. “We hope that these masks – whether through humor or solemnity – provide a common, unifying bond during this challenging period of great turmoil.”

Blank unadorned white pleated cotton masks were hand-made by Alissa Ujie Diamond, a doctoral student in the Program in the Constructed Environment at the University of Virginia. More than 40 design professionals were invited to transform the blank white cotton masks into unique works of art. No restrictions or specifications were imposed. For each mask created for TCLF’s online auction, a mask was made and donated to MASK UP in Charlottesville, VA, and to essential workers. The online auction will benefit TCLF’s educational and advocacy initiatives.

Just some of the participating design professionals include: