Ron Wigginton was born in Oakland, California in 1944. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Montana in 1966. He then continued his arts education and received his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Oregon, School of Architecture and Allied Arts in 1968 where he concluded his degree with a thesis and exhibit entitled “Landscape Sculpture”.

Prior to his career in landscape design, Wigginton was an exhibiting artist and instructor at the Cornish College of Art in Seattle. He began working in the profession of landscape architecture in 1980 with the firm Wimmer Yamada and Associates in San Diego, California. He then went on to establish the landscape design and planning firm, Ron Wigginton/Land Studio in 1981. He became a full registered landscape architect in 1982. His practice was based in the San Diego area for a number of years and then moved to the Berkeley area in the 1990s.

During his years of private practice, he was also involved in education. He taught in the landscape design departments of UCBerkeley (1996, 1998) and UCDavis (1993-1996), Harvard Graduate School of Design (Spring, 1989) and Stanford University (Spring, 1995). He was also awarded an Individual Grant for Design Innovation by the National Endowment for the Arts for his research with Dr. Rehfield, aerospace engineer, into the use of space-age materials in built projects. Additionally, he was the first landscape architect to be appointed a Resident Fellow at the University of California Humanities Research Institute.

He has been recognized for his art informed approach to landscape design, continuing to work on art installations and paintings throughout his professional career. He is also recognized for his incorporation of new technologies and uncommon materials in his built work. Wigginton was the first landscape architect to use fiber-optics in a built landscape design (Star Troughs/La Jolla Center). His temporary installation, City Forest, completed in 1984 was the first artwork and temporary installation to receive an ASLA award for design excellence. Additional major design projects by Wigginton include: Star Walk (1984), a residential proejct for which he received an ASLA design award; Wheat Walk for the UCDavis Arboretum (1988, unbuilt); Vision Harlem (1993-1995), a planning project focused on renovating physical space to address social concerns. His work has been published in design magazines and he has received several ASLA design awards for his projects.

Wigginton collaborated on several of his projects in the San Diego area with the architect Rob Wellington Quigley.

He was nominated in 2002 to be a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Sources:

Wigginton, Ron. “Curriculum Vitae.” Ron Wigginton Collection, (2006-7), Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley.