From the classic beauty of Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto to the contemplative Tenshin-en gardens of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, landscape architect Shiro Nakane understands both the value of tradition and the importance of living your moment in history. As the current head of Nakane & Associates, Japan’s leading garden research and landscape consulting firm founded by his father Kinsaku Nakane, a revered garden master, Nakane is in charge of the restoration of some of Japan’s most prestigious traditional gardens.

Nakane’s lecture that looks at Japanese garden design while posing the question, How does an artist create something new while also drawing from the past?

The lecture is part of a series of Idea Studios programs, generating from the College’s innovative Ford Institute of Visual Education (FIVE). Idea Studios engages leading thinkers and artists from a range of fields and practices to enrich the mix of ideas within the College and its broader community by introducing new elements, questions, possibilities and challenges to the prevailing curriculum.