“This is never the same show twice,” said Paula Wheeler, the Garden’s Retail Manager and Buyer. “We are excited to present work by several new artists, and the artists we’ve worked with for years keep growing and changing and their art in new and exciting ways.”

The show runs July 31-Septemer 6 and is open during regular Garden hours (10am-7pm Tuesday-Sunday and from Noon-7pm Mondays) and is included with paid Garden admission. Live demonstrations will take place every Sunday from 11am-2pm throughout the show’s run.

Some of the show’s featured artists of note include Japanese woodcarver Masamichi Nitani, several Oregon Potters Association members including Motoko Hori, Kenneth Pincus, and Jim Johnstone, and printmaker Michael DiBitetto.

The Portland Japanese Garden has been proclaimed one of the most beautiful Japanese gardens in the world. The Garden is located above Washington Park at 611 SW Kingston Drive in SW Portland, Oregon and is open daily except on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.

Carved with consummate artistry into a wide variety of imaginative shapes by master craftsmen, netsuke have much to tell us about the customs and folklore of traditional Japan. Worn partially concealed beneath the outer cloaks of the wearer, they served as good luck charms, as humorous personal mascots, or as treasured miniature works of art.

From June 19–July 5, the Portland Japanese Garden will host an exhibition entitled Damsels and Demons: The Hidden Art of Netsuke Carving which celebrates the Marian P. Miller Collection of more than 100 netsuke gifted to the Garden in 1998. The exhibition introduces this little-known art form and explores the often humorous and always fascinating characters from Japanese folklore and legend depicted in these intricate carvings. Top modern-day netsuke carvers, including British-born artist Nick Lamb, will be a part of the exhibition, and a set of 12 photo panels of selected netsuke from the Miller Collection revealed in close-up detail by photographer Jonathan Ley will be on view as well. www.japanesegarden.com/events/netsuke

Internationally known netsuke carver Nick Lamb will demonstrate his craft and be on hand to talk with visitors in the Pavilion on June 19 and 20 from 1-3pm. Nick trained as a graphic designer at the Berkshire College of Art in his native England. In 1973 he started woodcarving as a hobby—by the early 1980s he had won several woodcarving prizes. The demonstrations are free with paid Garden admission.

On Sunday, June 20, from 7:30-9:30pm a lecture by Hollis Goodall, Curator of Japanese Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) will be offered, followed immediately by a reception. Ms. Goodall is an internationally respected expert on netsuke and the co-author of The Raymond and Frances Bushell Collection of Netsuke: A Legacy at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, a complete catalogue of one of the world’s finest collections of netsuke. Tickets are available at www.japanesegarden.com/events/netsuke or by calling (503) 542-0280.

The Portland Japanese Garden has been proclaimed one of the most beautiful Japanese gardens in the world. The Garden is located above Washington Park at 611 SW Kingston Drive in SW Portland, Oregon and is open daily except on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.

Also known as the Star Festival, Tanabata has its roots in a Chinese legend about the love between a young princess, Orihime, who was a weaver, and a handsome young cowherd named Kengyū (represented by the stars Vega and Altair). As a result of their great love for each other, the weaver neglected her work weaving cloth for the gods and the herdsman neglected his cattle. In punishment, Orihime’s father, the emperor of the heavens, moved the star-lovers to opposite sides of the Milky Way and stated that they would only be allowed to meet once a year: on the seventh day of the seventh month. On this night a flock of heavenly magpies use their wings to form a bridge that the weaver can cross to join her lover. The magpies will only make the bridge if July 7 is a clear night; if it rains, the lovers must wait another year. Some say the bending Tanabata bamboo poles made to hang outside your door on this special night symbolize the bridge that the lovers will cross for their brief reunion.

One of the five Go-Sekku seasonal festivals of Japan, Tanabata is traditionally celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month. The Portland Japanese Garden celebrates Tanabata each year on the Sunday closest to this date—this year it will be on July 11 from 1-3pm. The event is free with paid Garden admission. For more information call (503) 542-0280 or visit www.japanesegarden.com/events/star-festival

The Portland Japanese Garden has been proclaimed one of the most beautiful Japanese gardens in the world. The Garden is located above Washington Park at 611 SW Kingston Drive in SW Portland, Oregon and is open daily except on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.

Artists of the AANW work in monoprints, collage, pastels, acrylic, and watercolor. As a group, they come together to support their common interest in art—giving each other encouragement as well as critiques—and to share their life experiences in the world of creativity. Their artwork for this show focuses on creating new ideas and interpretations of the Portland Japanese Garden throughout the seasons.

“This show is always filled with wonderful art that interpret the Garden in many wonderful and often surprising ways,” said Paula Wheeler, the Garden’s Retail Manager and Buyer. “This show generates a great deal of excitement with our visitors who like taking home a work of art that holds special meaning for them and their time in the Garden.”

Many of the artists will be on hand for a show preview event Friday, May 21 from 5-7pm. The preview is free with Garden Admission and no reservations are required. For more information on the show and the preview evening, please visit www.japanesegarden.com/events/aanw

The Portland Japanese Garden has been proclaimed one of the most beautiful Japanese gardens in the world. The Garden is located above Washington Park at 611 SW Kingston Drive in SW Portland, Oregon and is open daily except on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.

June 12–13—The Sogetsu School of Ikebana kicks off the Garden’s summer events with an exhibition featuring a floral installation by acclaimed Ikebana Master Tetsunori Kawana. Known for creating large flower and bamboo displays at venues around the world—most recently at the NY Botanical Garden, National Gallery of Victoria in Australia, and the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow—Master Kawana has created installations as diverse as a football-field-sized bamboo waterfall in Melbourne and a giant bamboo fashion display for Pierre Cardin’s 50th anniversary. See biography, photos, and video at www.kawanaworld.com

photo: Jonathan Ley

June 19–July 5—From Damsels to Demons: The Hidden Art of Netsuke Carving will be the second exhibition in the Garden’s 2010 Art in the Garden Series. Netsuke are the exquisite miniature carvings that were the essence of understated chic during the Edo period (1615–1868) in Japan and were used as toggles to attach lacquered medicine boxes and tobacco pouches to the obi sashes of the fashionably dressed. The exhibition introduces this little-known art form and explores the often humorous and always fascinating characters from Japanese folklore and legend depicted in these intricate carvings. Top modern-day netsuke carvers, including British-born artist Nick Lamb, will be a part of the exhibition. Hi-res images and press release at www.japanesegarden.com/press/2010/05/netsuke

Hollis Goodall

June 20—Hollis Goodall Lecture— Curator of Japanese Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art , Ms. Goodall is an internationally respected expert on netsuke and the co-author of The Raymond and Frances Bushell Collection of Netsuke: A Legacy at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, a complete catalogue of one of the world’s finest collections of this intriguing art form. www.japanesegarden.com/events/netsuke

July 11—Tanabata, also known as the Star Festival, has its roots in a Chinese legend about the love between a young princess, Orihime, who was a weaver, and a handsome young cowherd named Kengyu (represented by the stars Vega and Altair). As a result of their great love for each other, the weaver neglected her work weaving cloth for the gods and the herdsman neglected his cattle. In punishment, Orihime's father, the emperor of the heavens, moved the star-lovers to opposite sides of the Milky Way and stated that they would only be allowed to meet once a year—and thus was born Tanabata. Visitors to the Garden celebrate this special festival by writing their wishes and hanging them on bamboo branches, folding origami ornaments, listening to master storytellers, and enjoying traditional music. www.japanesegarden.com/events/star-festival

Hoichi Kurisu

July 22—Hoichi Kurisu Lecture: The Japanese Garden in the 21st Century—One of the most respected Japanese garden designers in the world, Kurisu is the owner of Kurisu International and was the principal designer of the Morikami Gardens in Florida, the Anderson Japanese Garden in Illinois, and the roof garden on the Contemporaine, a groundbreaking high-rise in Chicago—among many other works (including landscape design at the Portland Japanese Garden). Over the last twenty years, Kurisu’s practice has focused on the creation of what we know today as "restorative or healing gardens" he has built throughout the US. www.japanesegarden.com/events/lectures

Wataru Sugiyama

July 31–September 6—Behind the Shoji Art Show features top artists from the Pacific Northwest who create Asian-themed ceramics, glassware, metal art, woodblock, textiles, and more. This show features such acclaimed artists as Deloss Webber, Walt Padgett, Wataru Sugiyama, and Aki Sogabe. The display of traditional art forms, superb craftsmanship, and variety of mediums make this show a compelling draw for visitors.www.japanesegarden.com/events/behind-the-shoji

photo: Stephen Bridges

September 22, 23, & 24—O-Tsukimi (Moonviewing)—There is no better place to share the romance and mystery of the full moon in autumn than from the eastern courtyard of the Portland Japanese Garden Pavilion, cup of sake in hand, gazing at the harvest moon as it rises above the city. Moonviewing, or O-Tsukimi, is a traditional Japanese festival which honors the full moon in autumn. Guests enjoy a quiet evening in the Garden, observe Chado (the Way of Tea) by candlelight in the Kashin Tei Tea House, write haiku, and listen to the elegant music of talented musicians performing on traditional Japanese instruments. www.japanesegarden.com/events/moonviewing

October 13–15—Portland Japanese Garden Directors Reunion—For the first time in its 46-year history, the Portland Japanese Garden will bring together its past and present Garden Directors for a reunion celebration. Some of the industry’s most prominent garden designers and landscapers have worked at the Garden, and they will be on hand for three days of public lectures and panels, Garden tours, a visit with the Consul General of Japan, and a final gala dinner in their honor. Current Garden Curator Sadafumi Uchiyama will serve as host to such notable past directors as Kinya Hira, Hoichi Kurisu, Hachiro Sakakibara, Michio Wakui, Masayuki Mizuno, Kichiro Sano, Takao Donuma, and Toru Tanaka. www.japanesegarden.com/events/reunion

The Portland Japanese Garden has been proclaimed one of the most beautiful Japanese gardens in the world. The Garden is located above Washington Park at 611 SW Kingston Drive in SW Portland, Oregon and is open daily except on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.

On Sunday, May 2, the Portland Japanese Garden celebrates Kodomo no Hi with a variety of children’s activities and performances for families, including “A Taste of Tea” for children in the Garden’s Kashintei Tea House, the raising of our brilliantly colored new koi nobori carp banners, the making of paper kabuto helmets and paper koi kites, and other perennially popular Children’s Day activities for the entire family.

New this year, Children’s Day at the Garden will also feature a special performance of folk dance and taiko drumming by Portland Taiko guest stars Michelle Fujii and Toru Watanabe to take place in the Garden Pavilion, in addition to a Tanuki Taiko performance with audience participation on the Garden’s east veranda.

For as far back as anyone can remember, taiko has been associated with dance in Japan. Legend has it that the earliest taiko was created by the Goddess, Uzume. With taiko accompanying her, she used dance to lure the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, out of the cave where she had hidden herself so that together dance and drumming could bring light to the world. Taiko sometimes accompanies dance, and at other times drummers dance with the drums.

Children’s Day at the Portland Japanese Garden will be celebrated on Sunday, May 2 from 1-pm. All activities are free with paid Garden admission. For more information visit http://www.japanesegarden.com/events/childrens-day

The Portland Japanese Garden has been proclaimed one of the most beautiful Japanese gardens in the world. The Garden is located above Washington Park at 611 SW Kingston Drive in SW Portland, Oregon and is open daily except on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.

During Mother’s Day weekend, May 8–9, the Bonsai Society of Portland (BSOP) will hold its annual Spring Bonsai Exhibition at the Garden. The show will include dozens of bonsai from members’ private collections, presenting conifer, deciduous, fruiting, and flowering species in sizes ranging from large three-feet-tall specimens to tiny shohin trees small enough to hold in the palm of your hand. In addition, displays with scrolls, stones, and accent plants will be on view, including a traditional Japanese tokonoma alcove display. There will also be an educational table and live demonstrations throughout both days of the exhibition where visitors may ask questions and watch BSOP members at work.

Along with the Spring Exhibition, BSOP members will hold a marketplace with bonsai supplies, tools, and materials for sale. Materials include trees that have some styling as well as starter trees and raw field-grown material, including pines, maples, junipers, elms, azaleas, and many others. Vendors will also have bonsai pots, wire, soils, accent plants, and specialty tools available for bonsai artists of all levels of experience—from novice to expert.

The Portland Japanese Garden has been proclaimed one of the most beautiful Japanese gardens in the world. The Garden is located above Washington Park at 611 SW Kingston Drive in SW Portland, Oregon and is open daily except on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.

Lisa has appeared nationally and internationally, winning several competitions including first prize in the Young Keyboard Artists’ Association in Michigan, The Japanese-American Society Music Competition in New York, and the ABC Music Awards in Osaka. She studied with Ellen Masaki in Honolulu and continued her studies at The Juilliard School in New York City where she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees under the tutelage of Martin Canin. Her doctoral degree was awarded from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

“While serving as the Executive Director of the Honolulu Symphony, I had the pleasure of working with the very talented Ms. Nakamichi when she appeared in a concerto performance with the orchestra,” commented Steve Bloom, Executive Director of the Portland Japanese Garden. “The Garden in spring is a perfect setting for Lisa’s beautiful music.”

Lisa is a prizewinner of many national and international competitions and was awarded first prize in the Young Keyboard Artists’ Association in Michigan, The Japanese-American Society Music Competition in New York, and the ABC Music Awards in Osaka, among many others. Ms. Nakamichi has been awarded honors in the Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition (Cleveland) where she received a special Mozart Prize and the International Music Competition of Japan (Tokyo). While at The Juilliard School, she was a recipient of the prestigious William Petzchek Scholarship. Lisa currently lives in Tokyo.

Ms. Nakamichi’s concert at the Garden on April 29 will run from 7-9:30 in the Garden’s Pavilion. Tickets are $25 for Garden Members and $35 for Non-members. Space is limited and reservations are required—order online at www.japanesegarden.com/events , email events@japanesegarden.com , or call (503) 542-0280.

The Portland Japanese Garden has been proclaimed one of the most beautiful Japanese gardens in the world. The Garden is located above Washington Park at 611 SW Kingston Drive in SW Portland, Oregon and is open daily except on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.

More than 25 Portland-area nurseries will be selling an outstanding selection of conifers, peonies, camellias, hydrangea, bamboo, bonsai, Japanese maples, azaleas, rhododendrons, and more. “These native Asian plants can be used in any garden and are particularly suitable for Asian-themed gardens,” commented Virginia Harmon, the Garden’s Director Grounds Maintenance.

Ed McVicker, President of the Garden’s Board of Directors and Chairman of the Plant Sale Committee added, “This sale offers a unique range of plants for gardeners of all types—from the weekend gardener to specialist in Japanese gardening.”

Members of the Portland Japanese Garden will enjoy a members-only sale time from 9-10am. The general public is welcome from 10am-4pm. For more details and a list of vendors, please visit www.japanesegarden.com/events

The Portland Japanese Garden has been proclaimed one of the most beautiful Japanese gardens in the world. The Garden is located above Washington Park at 611 SW Kingston Drive in SW Portland, Oregon and is open daily except on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.