ABOUT STEPHEN - (scroll down)
Stephen Coan of Stephen Coan Garden Design is an award-winning independent Garden and Landscape Design & Consultant Specialist, Horticulturist, Plantsman, Craftsman, Artist, Endurance Athlete, Cyclist, Mountain Climber, Outdoorsman, and Adventurer. Born in Philadelphia, PA. He studied at and is certified by Longwood Gardens in Landscape Design and Ornamental Horticulture Levels 1, 2, and 3 and is trained in ecological and sustainable landscape practices. Since receiving the certifications from Longwood Gardens he has independently studied under many of the World's top landscape designers: Peit Oudolf, Noel Kingsbury, Nigel Dunnett, Cassin Schmidt, Larry Weiner, Claudia West, etc.
Stephen states: I love creating ecologically and horticulturally significant habitat gardens that are not only lush and beautiful but they immediately attract and support pollinators and birds throughout the seasons and years. And as an artist I've thoroughly learned my medium (plants) so that I can sculpt and build the beautiful gardens and landscapes that I create. It's fascinating to watch how fast the pollinators show up and are supported by the new gardens. Many of his gardens are certified wildlife habitat gardens through the NWF and certified pollinator habitat gardens through the Xerces Society using many native and beneficial pollinator and bird attracting plant species.
He’s a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Art, where he studied under Ben Lifson, Alida Fish, Peter Rose, Ron Walker, Gene Baguskas, and Al Ignari. After college, acting upon a suggestion from photographer BErt Corman, he apprenticed under Seymour Mednick, a disciple of Alexi Brodovich of the Bauhaus school of design.
As an adventurer, he has taken his still and motion cameras throughout North America, Central America, the Caribbean and Europe. He's a retired semi-pro downhill mountain bike racer, an accomplished ice climber, rock climber, mountaineer, backpacker, sea kayaker and has also sailed and crewed on historic tall ships. One of his favorite places to climb was The Bugaboos in British Columbia Canada, "an amazingly beautiful place." He now trains on an all-Italian Fausto Coppi, Columbus foco steel and carbon fiber frame set road-bike equipped with Campy-Record components doing long-distance endurance rides, does extreme day hikes climbing mountains into alpine conditions throughout the year loving the challenges of climbing in extreme conditions, ice and snow, and is a long-time skiboarder. (see below)
He was co-founder of the weekly mountain bike race series that takes place on Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia that started in 1989 and is still ongoing every Thursday night throughout the year while there is still light out to race in the evening. It was designed to allow first timers to pros to show up, learn, and do training races. Also he was the founder of the Crazy Cruiser Crawl, a 32 mile bike ride on fat tire bikes going throughout the different areas in Philadelphia starting at City Hall, circling through the different neighborhoods in and around center city, up through Fairmount Park, and ending at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Both had been copied across the country in different cities and towns.
As a result of when others experience 'when things go wrong' Stephen is Certified in Wilderness First Aid (WFA) and CPR through the SOLO School Program by Robert Giolito of the Killington Mountain Guides after assisting others in the back-country, on mountain climbs, and sidewalks with injuries and medical emergencies. He uses and recommends using a wrist ID bracelet called a Road iD so if something happens on any of your adventures all of your info, contact info, emergency, and medical information is readily available to rescue, emergency, and medical personnel.
He has taught at the University of the Arts, been a guest lecturer at a number of other colleges and schools, and has been the mentor to numerous college students from around the country through college student intern programs. He had been on the Academic Advisory Board for the Photography Department of the Philadelphia Art Institute for many years and had contributed to the development of their four-year BFA program in photography.
He has lectured for a number of organizations including: The Association of Professional Landscape Designers, - APLD, The Native Plant Socient of New Jersey, The Tri-County Sustainability Alliance, Audubon Sustainable Green Team & Oaklyn Green Team. Perkins Cemter of the Arts, Moore College of Art, University of the Arts, The Philadelphia Art Institute.
APLD - (Association of Professional Landscape Designers) former professional member & former president of the international virtual chapter
NWF - National Wildlife Federation - community habitat team leader
As a classically trained artist he has worked with many different mediums depending upon the concept and what the execution of the ideas call for from jewelry to clocks, hand built clay, woodworking, furniture, land art, landscape design, photo, film, computers, sound, sculpture, etc. For many years now he has been focusing on land art and landscape design with one of his favorite design projects being done for the Montessori Academy of a conceptual labyrinth and wildlife habitat that is based upon the sunrises & sunsets of the equinox's and solstice's and the passage of time.
He has received international recognition in both Communication Arts and Graphis and has received three Philly Gold Awards. He was an associate producer on an award-winning indie feature film "My Best Friends Wife" starring John Stamos, Meredith Salenger, and Daniel London. One of his patrons writes, “Stephen Coan's 'works' capture the spirit of his subjects with style, substance and story that is uniquely his own.
As a conceptual artist he has been working upon a large scale project that is based upon the melding of the different concepts and philosophies of Chaos Theory, “M” Theory or Super String Theory, and Quantum Mechanics and how they relate to the inception, organization, and presentation of ideas and thought. He has published a signed limited edition book titled “QuantuM Chaos” that contains the allegorical imagery of these concepts using clouds to represent the formative, mutable, and transitory nature of thought and existence.
His work has been represented nationally and internationally in many solo and group exhibitions and is contained in many public and private collections including the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.
Click here for the fine photography projects of Stephen Coan
click here for the commissioned photography projects of stephen coan
For a further bio information:
Skiboarding:
ski boards are short and wide highly maneuverable skis. They're like ice hockey skating or rollerblading but going downhill on snow covered mountains with lots of terrain to play on.
My Favorite Skiboards:
RVL8 skiboards:
RVL8 - Playmaker Skiboards – 107's Rockered with Zero Camber - stiff - great for all terrain including powder and groomers with Tyrollia Attack release bindings. These are my favorites.
RVL8 - Sticky Icky Icky Skiboards – 104's with 5mm Camber with Tyrollia Attack release bindings, great for hard pack and/or icy conditions.
Also:
Head - Shape Skiblades with Tyrolia Sympro release bindings - lightweight and short, good to use for attaching to backpack for climbing up a mountain and skiboarding back down.
Skiblades are old school, no longer available, and have evolved into Skiboards. Two good sites for info and equipment are skiboardsonline.com and skiboards.com The first one carries my favorite Rvl8 boards and the other one carries other brands plus a lot of information in their Learn > Skiboard University section.
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Ice & Rock Climbing Locations:
The Bugaboo's - British Columbia - mountaineering/rock climbing
Canmore, Banff, Radium Highway - Alberta & British Columbia, Canada - Ice Climbing
Smith Rock, OR - rock climbing
Frenchman Coulee, Vantage - WA - rock climbing
Ouray, CO - ice climbing
Vail and Breckenridge, CO - Ice Climbing
The Gunks, NY - rock climbing
Seneca Rocks, WV - rock climbing
Various cliffs around Philadelphia, PA - rock and ice climbing
Stowe, VT - rock and ice climbing
Adirondacks, NY - rock climbing
Mt. Rainier, WA - mountaineering
Mt. St. Helens - spelunking in Ape Cave, a lava tube
plus others I can't remember the names of in the States and Canada...