Laurie Matthews is a landscape historian, artist, educator, and nationally recognized leader in cultural landscape preservation. Through her work, she explores the intersection of place, history, culture, and spirit, revealing how landscapes embody our collective stories and shape our understanding of the world. She believes that landscapes are living records of human experience—places where memory, ecology, and culture converge—and invites others to discover the stories they hold.
She teaches in the Landscape Architecture and Historic Preservation programs within the University of Oregon's College of Design, and serves as Director of Preservation Planning + Design and the Cultural Places Studio at MIG. She holds a BLA and MLA from the University of Oregon and BA in Art from Lewis & Clark College. Laurie is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), recognized for her contributions to the preservation and stewardship of cultural landscapes.
Over the course of her career, Laurie has helped preserve and rehabilitate some of the nation's most significant cultural landscapes, including Yosemite National Park, Crater Lake National Park, and Point Reyes National Seashore. Her work is grounded in the understanding that preservation is not about preventing change but about thoughtfully managing it. By uncovering the layered histories, cultural meanings, and natural processes inherent in landscapes, she seeks to renew their relevance for contemporary communities while honoring their enduring significance.
Her current research explores the relationships between landscapes, identity, and cultural memory. She is investigating sixteenth-century British landscapes associated with four generations of women and the ways these places functioned as sites of refuge, rebellion, and revelry. Her work also examines archetypal landscape forms found in myth and folklore, and animistic and pantheistic traditions associated with features such as sacred springs. Alongside this historical research, she is developing new approaches to documenting sense of place, experimenting with methods for capturing landscape color.
Laurie is currently teaching Introduction to Cultural Landscapes and co-teaching History of Landscape Architecture, focusing on landscapes from ancient times through the late 19th century.
