The Stone Bridge Podcast
Marc Peter Keane on the Art of Japanese Gardens
Episode Summary
Landscape architect Marc Peter Keane, based in Kyoto, talks about art and aesthetics in Japanese gardens.
Episode Notes
Landscape architect Marc Peter Keane, based in Kyoto, talks about art and aesthetics in Japanese gardens.
Topics include:
- Marc's background – when did he first come to Japan and what brought him back?
- What has changed in terms of Japanese garden design aesthetic since his first arrival and now?
- What it's like for a foreigner working in garden design in Japan.
- The three levels the Japanese garden works on: aesthetic, narrative, and spiritual.
- What are karesansui gardens and the levels of interaction of each design component?
- Can Japanese gardens save the world?
- Why there isn't a mainstream movement to incorporate conceptual ideas into architecture and design.
- Are there "modern" Japanese gardens?
- What constitutes an authentic Japanese garden? Can you make a Japanese garden in Arizona using cactuses instead of pine trees.
- Educating clients on thinking beyond the cliches of the Japanese garden.
- Marc's writings and its recurring themes of process and change in the natural world.
- Sourcing materials like stones: How it’s done in Kyoto and how it's done abroad.
Garden designer and writer Marc Peter Keane (www.mpkeane.com) has made Kyoto his home for over twenty years. He has written several books on Japanese gardens, such as the following, all published by Stone Bridge Press:
The Tiger Glen Garden designed by Marc is open to the public. It is at the Johnson Museum of Art on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, New York.
Marc and be found online at:
Peter Goodman is publisher of Stone Bridge Press in Berkeley, California, which for over thirty years has specialized in books on Asia, especially Japan and China. For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.