Japanese garden grows into its full maturity over 25 years

 

Cultural News, April 2006

 

 

The Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden in the campus of California State University Long Beach, has grown into its maturity over 25 years by supports of Japanese cultural enthusiasts and Japanese American community. (Cultural News Photo)

 

By Chris Aihara

 

     Tucked away on the campus of California State University Long Beach, the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden is one of the most beautiful and widely utilized public gardens in southern California. 

 

    In 2005, more than 60,000 visitors walked the 1.3 acres garden. Visitors were strolling Japanese garden, and attending public programs and private events. School tours and campus related activities also took place in the garden.  First time visitors entering through the garden’s unobtrusive gate are always taken by surprise by the startling beauty of the garden space.

 

    Dedicated in memory of her late husband, Earl Burns Miller, Long Beach philanthropist and supporter of the arts, Loraine Miller Collins, gifted the construction of the garden to the university in 1981. The garden celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.  Her intention was to create a public place of tranquil and natural beauty to counter the concrete, noise and traffic of contemporary suburban life. 

 

    Loraine Miller’s interest and generosity in building a garden in the Japanese style, is an illustration of the on-going interest of Westerners in the culture of Japan. 

 

    In our contemporary lives where things Japanese like sushi, karate and anime have become integrated into American, at least California lifestyle, it is worth noting that Western interest in things Japanese has historically had peaks of high interest, beginning in the 19th century with the influence of Japonisme on European and North American art, as in the paintings of Monet and Van Gogh.  At the turn of the 20th century, Japanese gardens appeared in every world expo from Vienna to San Francisco.

 

    According to Dr. Kendall Brown of CSULB, who has written extensively on Japanese gardens in the U.S., --  At the turn of the century, and then again in the early 1960s, America witnessed a Japanese invasion in landscape architecture… it is no exaggeration to say that in the twentieth century more large scale public ‘Japanese gardens’ were built outside Japan than within.  The great bulk of these are located in North America, particularly along the Pacific coast.

 

    Japanese Americans and the Japanese American community have played and continue to play a significant role in the construction, maintenance and support of Japanese gardens in the U.S. 

 

   In many instances, Japanese Americans engaged in the creation of a Japanese garden as a means of promoting cultural understanding, maintaining their own cultural identity and making a contribution to the civic life of the community overall. 

 

    The Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden is no exception. The original designer of the garden was Ed Lovell, ASLA, CSULB Landscape Architect. However, in the early years of the garden’s completion, noted Japanese garden designer, Koichi Kawana was brought in for consultation and played a key role in the placement of stones. 

 

    Currently the Earl Burns Miller Garden’s cache of trees is maintained by the support of several Japanese American organizations, including the Ueki Art Tree Trimming Club of America.  The overall maintenance of the garden is supervised by Master Gardener Nobuyasu Koreeda. And the Zen Nippon Airinkai, a Japan-affiliated organization of koi enthusiasts, supports the continued beauty of the koi pond, a key focal point of the garden. 

 

     These individuals and organizations work closely with the curator of the garden, Dr. Vergil Hettick, a knowledgeable and articulate expert on diverse aspects of horticulture and gardens.  Cultural artists and performers like Mme. Sosei Matsumoto of the Urasenke Tea School and Kokoro Taiko group from Long Beach participate in special events and programs at the garden.

 

    Public programs at the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden provide diverse opportunities to enjoy the garden, as well as to learn and participate in Japanese culture and horticulture programs. Coming up in the spring is the annual Horticulture Symposium on April 9 and the Spring Festival on May 7. 

 

    The Horticulture Symposium is composed of a series of separate workshops, focusing this year on koi and koi ponds, bonsai and orchids.  The workshops are $50 each or $40 for garden members. 

 

    The annual Spring Festival is a public event for the entire family, featuring aspects of Japanese culture, with cultural performances, displays of iris, fans and Japanese fabric curtains (noren), and fun hands-on activities for everyone.  Admission to the Spring Festival is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors and $5 for garden members. 

 

    “A visit to the garden is a rich experience in any season of the year,” states Director Jeanette Schelin, “but experiencing the garden during one of our public programs or special events is an especially memorable occasion.”

 

    Many first-time visitors to the garden are invited guests to special events, like weddings, anniversary celebrations and retirement parties.  The completely out-door venue is host to more than 130 weddings a year.  Although constructed in a Japanese style, the garden is a welcoming neutral site which is conducive to weddings of diverse religions and cultures. 

 

   A bride and groom originally from India painstakingly created a mandab, or wedding canopy in the garden, and in accordance with tradition, the groom entered the garden astride a white horse. Lynette Roberts, Marketing Sales Coordinator recalls a 55- minute dual ceremony, reflecting both Jewish and Chinese traditions.

 

   The Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden has grown into its own over the last 25 years.  A garden in its full maturity, supported by meaningful and creative programs, it has much to offer.  Becoming a Friend of the Japanese Garden and joining as a member is an important way to support the continued programming of the garden and stay up to date on all garden happenings. 

 

   Garden members are invited to special members’ events and receive discounts on admission to public programs.  For more information on the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden regarding membership, garden rental or program information, call (562) 985-2187 or look up the garden website at www.csulb.edu/~jgarden.

 

   Regular public hours are: Tuesday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.; closed on Saturdays and Mondays. 

 

   Chris Aihara is the Director of Development & Community Relations for
the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden.  She is active in the Japanese
American community and a consultant to the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center.

 

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American naturalist managing aesthetics in Japanese garden

Cultural News, April 2006

 

 

Dr. Vergil Hettick, right, curator of the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden, and Jeanette Schelin, Director of the garden. (Cultural News Photo)

 

By Gavin Kelley

     Dr. Vergil Hettick, curator of the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden, California State University Long Beach (CSULB), has been involved with the garden since 1981, when he first used to take lunch breaks from his work as an administrator in the Orange County school system to do research in the garden.  Recognizing Hettick’s expertise, Stephen Horn, then president of CSULB, requested his assistance with the garden which eventually resulted in Hettick’s assuming the curator title.

 

    “In an art museum, the curator is the one who makes the selection of work, chooses the aesthetic arrangement and is responsible for its maintenance,” Hettick explained.  “In a garden, the curator works with the various elements of the garden, taking into consideration their needs and attributes, arranging them so that the result is aesthetically pleasing.”

 

    “It took us several years to bring things into balance,” Hettick continued. “We wanted to create a screen of trees and plants to block out the view of buildings and other evidences of city life so that visitors would forget they were in a big city. One thing we can’t have in a garden dedicated to meditation is distractions.”

     Standing over six-feet tall, Hettick is a Long Beach native, born in 1933, the same year as the “big earthquake.”  Hettick has spent a lifetime studying and working in gardens and ponds, even if just in his own back yard. “When I was younger I began collecting aquatic things, tadpoles, fishbowls … I built my first fishpond in 1961 and designed my garden in a somewhat Japanese-style, from what I saw in books.”

 

     Hettick holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from CSULB in Biology, with an interest in Botany.   He received his Ph. D. from Claremont Graduate School in Educational Research.  After completing his Ph.D., Hettick went to work in the Orange County school system as an administrator in the City of Orange before moving on to the Santa Ana School District. While working as an administrator, Hettick’s interest in nature and aquatics did not diminish. When he and his wife moved into their first home in Yorba Linda, one of the first things he did was build a pond.

 

    “We had the koi pond and landscaping all done before even the curtains were put up,” Hettick explained.

 

    Hettick’s deep interest in Japanese gardens led to his seeking resources within the Japanese community.  He attended meetings frequented by Japanese American gardeners in Gardena.  First he attended koi club meetings then later Art Tree Trimming clubs, as well as Orchid clubs. At that time, the orchid club meetings were held in a large hall, conducted completely in Japanese, a smaller portion of the room was designated for meetings in English.  Today, the meetings in English are conducted in the main hall, while the meetings in Japanese are in a smaller hall. 

   An avid koi fan, Hettick is a long-time member and is currently a judge in the Zen Nippon Airin Kai (All Japan Koi Enthusiast Association).

    A full-time retiree from his administrative duties for the past five-years, Hettick is able to spend more time in the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden now. “As a living thing, a garden is ever-changing and ever-challenging. And never completed.  There are so many more projects to tackle.”

   Gavin Kelley is a Los Angeles-based writer who is currently working on a compilation of short-stories.