Dwyer, Gary  

Gary is a irish drunkard like myself, but unlike me, he has very high standards. You also have to approach him if you have design questions, because he most likely wont approach you, unless of course you are a beautiful blonde-haired supermodel, or if you have a bottle of Jack Daniels on your desk. Overall, a quite challenging teacher.

Dwyer is a character, and his routine as provocateur can grow tiresome and repetitive after awhile. However, he is also one of the best professors in Landscape Architecture and will make you think and question the profession better than just about anyone else. Along with Tryon, they are the quintessential landscape professors.

Explain to me why this guy is teaching landscape architecture? He has never been a licensed landscape architect, he didn't graduate as a landsacpe architect and he doesn't even practice landscape architecture to any degree. Sure, he is an interesting guy, but a typical professor who has never been in the real world. If you put this guy in an office he would be fired in a week as he would have no clue what to do. He is an "artist", whatever that means. The only good part about him being an LA prof. is that you don't have to work to hard. Just throw together some crap the night before and BS your way through the crit. He will probably tear it up, but he would do the exact same thing if you spent 40 hours on it. In the end, if you kiss his ass he gives you an A. If you don't, he gives you a B.

I think Gary is a brilliant man, landscape architecture or otherwise. He has a lot of life experience and I think you could probably spend an entire year following this guy around and you still wouldn't learn everything he can teach you. Unfortunately, he can be an occasional asshole and is very difficult to please (at least I thought so). Some words of advice: Don't piss him off, don't question his methods, and do what he says. If you do that, you might actually learn something. It took me half the quarter to finally realize that and I actually learned a few things in the end. I highly recommend taking him at least once.

After experiencing numerous "dywer-esque" lectures on his past works and creations, along with numerous legnthy chats, I have come to the conclusion that Mr. Dwyer is a very opinionated, highly intelligent, and moderatly grumpy man who you must aproach as an equal more so than as a teacher. Durring my second year at cal poly, i probably learned more collectivly about art, motivation, and design from dwyer than all of the other professors combined, even though he was never actually my "official" teacher. Although he can be repetitave at times, and somewhat harsh to people who either slack off or dont care, i feel that he has much to offer an incomming landscape architecture student.

As a graduate of the program who did not fully understand the class nor the professor, this man has come back to haunt me many times over. While you may think he is way out there, he knows his stuff. When you are in the real world and realize that most LA's think like squares, you will fall back on the energy and creativity that Gary tried to inspire you. Take my advise ans sponge it up, because once you get out there its nothing but parking lot landscapes and wanna be environmentalist.

First, don't worry about your grade because everyone gets a B unless you are one of his favorite students, then you get a B+. (He has a policy to not give perfect scores.) He wants to be an artist well before a Landscape Architect and it shows. If you go into any of his classes thinking you will get any kind of practical experience in Landscape Architecture, think again. You learn to think abstractly, which is good or bad depending on your philosophy. The class is usually split between those who love him and those that think the class is a waste of time. If you somehow had the choice, take AutoCAD over this class anyday.

Unfortunatly, Dwyer is retiring. Thus the LA department looses one of its better and (in my opinion) most gifted artist/designer. Yeah, the other professors are good too, but they are really focused on the "real" world. Drainage. Construction. Parking space width. Designers need classes that teach creative through process in addition to design fundamentals. Designing something for purely "functional" purposes is bullshit. Gary is one of the few professors who realizes that a student must be pushed to look beneath the layers of a project to the core of why we design the way we do. Some students think his design labs are BS, that students just do arty stuff for a quarter. This is true, I did do some artsy projects. But after having taken two quarters of "normal" design studios, I have realized his projects were exercises for the students who wanted to foster their creativity. I got allot out of it, others didnt. But alas, this class will not be taught by him in the future. And considering that Beth D. just resigned, the LA department is really in need of some creative designers, not a bunch of wannabe ecologists.

This teacher is by far my favorite teacher at Poly. He understands students & understands life. He will tell you many hilarious stories and definitely keep you motivated! TAKE HIM!

Prof cried today.... What a weirdo hahahah get a grip of your life.