We are pleased to announce NAJGA’s Midwest regional event held in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, May 17 - 19. This event brings together garden professionals and hobbyists to explore the challenges and benefits of Japanese gardens in the Midwest using six case studies.
Hosted by the famous Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research on one of America’s great estates, the workshop opens on Thursday night and Friday morning with lectures on Cranbrook’s historic 1915 Japanese garden and its renovation plan, then continues Friday afternoon at the house and garden of Charles Lang Freer, America’s first great collector of Japanese art. Friday concludes with a reception at Minoru Yamasaki’s spectacular— and recently restored—modernist water and stone garden at Wayne State University.
On Saturday a full-day coach tour visits the Muedler Japanese Garden at Michigan State University, the Shigematsu Memorial Garden at Lansing Community College then the 8-acre DeVos Japanese Garden at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids. At each location, specialists in charge of maintaining, restoring or managing the garden will share their insights.
Thanks to sponsor AguaFina Gardens International, at the Friday lunch representatives of regional gardens will have an opportunity to introduce their garden.
See the workshop schedule below or click here for a printer friendly document.
NOTES:
NAJGA is not able to provide refunds on cancellations after May 3, 2018.
We highly encourage booking a room at the Birmingham Holiday Inn Express as our tour bus will drop off and pick up from there on Saturday. We recommend booking a room as soon as you register as they may fill up quickly.
NAJGA members receive discounts for his and other events. For membership information, see NAJGA membership.
Thursday, May 17 - Cranbrook Institute of Science Auditorium
7:00 – 8:30 pm: “Cranbrook’s Japanese Garden: A History of a Landscape, 1915 – 2018”
Lecture Presenter: Gregory De Vries, Preservation Landscape Architect, Quinn Evans Architects, Ann Arbor. Note: This lecture is open to attendees of Cranbrook’s “Japanese Garden Lecture Series.”
Friday, May 18 - Cranbrook Institute of Science Auditorium (All day at Cranbrook and in Detroit)
8:15am (Sharp!): Bus pick up at Holiday Inn Express, Birmingham (Note: The Bus on Friday will be a Cranbrook Schools “yellow” school bus)
8:15 – 9:00am: Registration, Coffee and Bagels at Cranbrook Art Museum, deSalle Auditorium
Free All-Day Parking available in the Cranbrook Art Museum Parking Lot
9:00 – 9:15am: Welcome: Kendall Brown (NAJGA) and Gregory Wittkopp (Cranbrook)
9:15 – 9:45am: Introductory Lecture “Six Japanese-Style Gardens in Michigan: A National Context” Presenter: Kendall Brown
9:45 – 10:15 Lecture: “The Cranbrook Landscape, 1904 - 2018: Country Estate, Modernist Utopia, and a Framework for the Future” Presenter: Gregory Wittkopp
10:15 – 10:30am: Coffee and Bagels Break - Cranbrook Art Museum, deSalle Auditorium Balcony
10:30 – 11:45am: Guided Campus Walking Tour. Presenter: Kevin Adkisson, Collections Fellow, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research.
- Art Museum Landscape
- Academy of Art
- Cranbrook Schools, Cranbrook Campus
- Cranbrook Estate (Cascades and Greek Theatre)
- Cranbrook House Gardens
11:45am – 12:30pm: Cranbrook Japanese Garden Guided Walking Tour Presenter: Gregory De Vries, Preservation Landscape Architect, Quinn Evans Architects
12:30 – 1:15pm: Lunch at Thornlea House Sponsored by AguaFina Gardens International
1:15 – 2:00pm: Michigan Japanese-Style Gardens Presentations in Thornlea House (Five Minutes Each):
- Alden B. Dow Home and Studio (and Garden), Midland, Michigan “The Influence of Japan”. Presenter: Craig McDonald, Executive Director, Alden B. Dow Home and Studio
- Delta College, Courtyard Garden, University Center, Michigan Designed by Alden B. Dow in collaboration with Takuma “Paul” Tono. Presenter: Craig McDonald, Executive Director, Alden B. Dow Home and Studio.
- Japanese Cultural Center, Tea House, and Gardens of Saginaw, Michigan. Presenter: Yoko Mossner, Executive Director and others.
- Contemporary Japanese-Style Residential Gardens in Southeast Michigan. Presenter: Daryl Toby, Principal, AguaFina Gardens International, Sylvan Lake, Michigan
2:00pm: Bus Departs for Detroit from Thornlea House
3:00 – 4:15pm: Freer House, Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute, Wayne State University, Detroit
“Charles Lang Freer: His House and Garden” Presentation and Guided Tour
Presenters:
- William Colburn, Director, Freer House
- David Michener, Associate Curator, Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Fred Knight, Horticulturalist, K.C. Runciman Landscapes, Milan, Michigan
4:15 – 4:30pm: Ride Bus to Wayne State University
4:30 – 4:45pm: McGregor Memorial Conference Center
Welcome by Dr. Jerry Herron, Dean, Irvin D. Reid Honors College, Wayne State University, and Chair, Yamasaki Legacy Advisory Board, Wayne State University
4:45 – 5:30pm: McGregor Memorial Conference Center
Lecture: “McGregor Reflecting Pool and Sculpture Gardens: Restoring a Minoru Yamasaki Masterwork”. Presenter: Richard Hess, Senior Associate, Quinn Evans Architects
5:30 – 6:30pm: Reception and Self-Guided Tour, McGregor Reflecting Pool and Sculpture Gardens. Reception Hosted by the Yamasaki Legacy Advisory Board, Wayne State University
6:30pm: Bus Departs Wayne State University for Birmingham and Cranbrook ·
7:15pm: Drop Off at Holiday Inn Express, Birmingham·
7:30pm: Drop Off at Cranbrook Art Museum Parking Lot
Dinner on attendees own in Birmingham
Saturday, May 19 - Lancing and Grand Rapids
8:15am (Sharp!) Bus pick at Holiday Inn Express
8:30am (Sharp!): Free All-Day Parking available in the Cranbrook Art Museum Parking Lot
Bus pick up at Cranbrook Art Museum Parking Lot
8:30 – 10:00am: Drive to East Lansing
10:00 – 11:00am: Kathleen and Milton Muelder Japanese Garden, Clarence E. Lewis Landscape Arboretum, Michigan State University Horticulture Gardens, East Lansing. Guided Walking Tour. Presenter: Dr. Robert Schutzki, Associate Professor, Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University
11:00 – 11:30am: Drive to Lansing
11:30am – 12:00pm: Shigematsu Memorial Garden, Lansing Community College, Lansing
Guided Walking Tour. Presenter: David Siwik, Professor of History, Lansing Community College
12:00 – 1:00pm: Drive to Grand Rapids
1:00 – 2:00: Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids. Lunch and Presentation at Meijer. Presenters:
- Joseph Becherer, Vice President and Chief Curator of Horticulture, Sculpture and Collections
- Steve LaWarre, Director of Horticulture
- David Rettig, Horticulturalist, DeVos Japanese Garden
2:00 – 3:00: The Richard & Helen DeVos Japanese Garden. Guided Walking Tour
3:00 – 4:00: Self-Guided Tour of Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park
4:00 – 6:30pm: Bus Ride back to Cranbrook and Birmingham
· Approximately 6:30pm: Drop Off at Cranbrook Art Museum Parking Lot
· Approximately 6:45pm: Drop Off at Holiday Inn Express
Dinner on attendees own in Birmingham
Printer friendly Workshop Schedule.