Employees of public and private Japanese gardens, landscape architects and professionals, as well as gardening enthusiasts can learn about design, maintenance, management and aesthetics from 25 national and international experts at the International Conference on Japanese Gardens Outside Japan, sponsored by the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden and the College of the Arts at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), March 26-29.
Landscape architect Ron Herman, noted designer of many of North America’s largest and most intricate private gardens, is the opening featured speaker on “In Search of an Unknown Aesthetic: Japanese Gardens in America,” at 7:30pm Thursday, March 26, at the Long Beach Hilton Hotel, 701 W. Ocean Blvd.
Herman’s commissions include the 25-acre Japanese-style Bay Area estate of California software billionaire Lawrence Ellison, as well as residential projects for Joe Montana, Neil Young and numerous other sports, entertainment and high-tech personalities. Herman has authored numerous papers on Japanese garden design and co-authored A Guide to the Gardens of Kyoto, which is often noted as an authoritative text on Kyoto’s historic landscapes. In the area of public landscapes, he completed the Oracle Corp. world headquarters in Redwood City, Calif., and has recently designed the East Wing Garden at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.
His presentation is open to the public and general admission is $20, which includes parking and refreshments, or $50 for the program and a private reception afterward. Attendance also is included in the general conference registration fee. Reservation deadline for his address is Friday, March 20.
Events on Friday, March 27, will convene at the Daniel Recital Hall on the CSULB campus, off Atherton Street near Bellflower Boulevard, and include opening keynote addresses on “Japanese Gardens: Parallels and Context” by Marc Treib, professor of architecture emeritus, UC Berkeley; and “Evolution of Japanese Gardens” by Makoto Suzuki, professor, Department of Landscape Architecture Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture.
Programs on Saturday, March 28, take place at the Long Beach Hilton Hotel, including a presentation by Kendall Brown, CSULB professor of Asian art history, and a banquet at 6:30pm honoring Takeo Uesugi, professor of landscape architecture emeritus, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; and principal, Takeo Uesugi and Associates, a landscape architecture firm in West Covina, Calif.
Conference fees are $275 per individual or first member of an organization; $200 per subsequent organization member or any faculty, staff or alumni from a California State University campus; $100 per person for one day; and $75 for any student with identification.
For more information and a complete schedule of speakers and events, visit www.csulb.edu/~jgarden.
