Evoking Native Landscape
Using Japanese Garden Principles

with David Slawson: Film and Discussion

Presented by Earlham College

Friday, March 8, 2013
4:00 - 5:30 PM

Earlham College (Richmond, IN)

Landrum Bolling Center #105
801 National Rd. West, Richmond Indiana, 47374

Driving Directions
Free parking adjacent to the Landrum Bolling Center.

Free and open to the public

Landscape artist David Slawson will present his new film, Evoking Native Landscape Using Japanese Garden Principles (32 minutes), followed by a discussion on the principles and aesthetics of Japanese garden design.

Join us on an experiential journey through three key aspects of this universal landscape art form developed in Japan: sources of inspiration, evoking natural habitat, and compositional techniques. The film demystifies the art by showing how aesthetic techniques based on observation of nature and human perception are used to create gardens with the power to move us and soothe our spirit. Click here for a preview!

Dr. Slawson is one of America’s most highly regarded landscape artists trained in the Japanese garden tradition. During his 40 years of design, writing, and teaching, he has defined the leading edge of how the universal principles of this garden art form can be creatively interpreted to evoke the beauty of native landscape in North America and throughout the world. David apprenticed in Kyoto in 1971-72 under Kinsaku Nakane, one of Japan’s foremost 20th century garden makers. Throughout his career David’s work has continued to evolve toward his ideal of creating gardens inspired by the beauty of regional landscape and responsive to the unique attributes of the site, the client’s nature, and the qualities of locally available materials. Three of his best known gardens are at the Cleveland Botanical Garden, Carleton College, and Garvan Woodland Gardens, the latter two of which have been voted among the top ten Japanese gardens in America. His book, Secret Teachings in the Art of Japanese Gardens: Design Principles, Aesthetic Values, is regarded as a classic for its presentation of landscape design principles and translation of the 15th-century Japanese garden manual, Illustrations for Designing Mountain, Water, and Hillside Field Landscapes.

Sponsored by the Japanese Studies Program.
For more information contact Meghen Jones, jonesme@earlham.edu / 765-983-1884.