We asked saige, who joined our team this spring, to introduce themself in a website post. saige provided a professional history and a poetic declaration. Together, they show the various selves we bring to our work. At Dodson & Flinker, we hope our coworkers, collaborators, and the community members we interact with in our projects can bring their full humanity to our interactions. Yes, we have professional identities, but there are often poetic selves under the surface.
This May, saige joined Dodson & Flinker as an intern whilst finalizing their capstone projects at UMass Amherst, fulfilling their dual master’s degrees in Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning. They received their BFA at Alfred University with a broad range of experiences from metal fabrication to printmaking, arts management to philosophy, anthropology to art history, and neon bending to glass blowing. They coordinated with the Village of Alfred to establish a community ice skating rink as a partnership between the planning board, Business Improvement District, and the State College/University in the Village to activate a vacant lot left without identity from a fire on Main Street. This experience of hyper-local place-making led them on the path to the professions of Landscape Architecture and Planning. Between times in school, saige has spent time working on Fine Gardening crews—planting and maintaining gardens at various scales—and has worked in the art world as a Picture Framer and assisting gallery installations. In their free time, saige is the captain of their club ultimate frisbee team, creates pottery in a local ceramic studio, and goes on hikes with their poodle Piper.
saige in their own words:
I see love in abundance and a supportive community through sharing
I strive for exchanges of knowledge and expressions of passion
I seek nature and art with their respective expressions of beauty
I surrender to the golden kisses of late afternoon light
I sleep knowing the world is full of hope and wonder