Fwd: Imminent threat: crane removal scheduled for tomorrow

**N* S* <n*@plantsoup.com>**

Please help us save an important treasure….

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "The Garden Conservancy" <gshakespear@gardenconservancy.org>
> Subject: Imminent threat: crane removal scheduled for tomorrow
> Date: January 17, 2012 1:53:01 PM PST
> To: nsterman@plantsoup.com
> 
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> THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY 
> P.O. BOX 219 • COLD SPRING, NEW YORK 10516 • 845.265.2029/9620 FAX
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> 
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 17, 2012
> Media contact: George Shakespear, 845.265.2029 (Cold Spring, NY) gshakespear@gardenconservancy.org
> Photos available
> 
> Historic UCLA Hannah Carter Japanese Garden
> Threatened
> 
> Removal of priceless art underway Tuesday, January 17
> The survival of the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden, a place of cultural significance and extreme beauty in Bel Air, California, is in critical danger. The garden, an asset to the community for fifty years and owned by the University of California, Los Angeles, has long been open to the public and serves as a teaching resource for the local community and for students of garden history, landscape architects, and garden lovers from around the world. That all may change very soon: the University has announced plans to place the garden on the market by the end of January, after first removing valuable art objects that are integral to the design of the garden.
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> On Tuesday, January 17, the removal of the objects has begun.
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> The garden is an exceptional Japanese-style garden built in America in the post-World War II period. It represents the work of Nagao Sakurai and Koichi Kawana, two of the leading figures who created Japanese gardens on the West Coast in the mid-twentieth century.
> 
> Bill Noble, the Garden Conservancy’s director of preservation, notes that the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden is important not only for its exceptional beauty, but also for its cultural significance. “It demonstrates how, soon after the war, California quickly turned to the inspiration, timeless beauty, and healing qualities of traditional gardens in Japan. A spirit of authenticity as a private retreat also permeates the Hannah Carter garden; it’s one of the very few private Japanese gardens open to the public.”
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> Dr. Kendall H. Brown, professor of Asian Art, California State University, Long Beach, describes the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden as “ ...the biggest and best private, residential [Japanese-style] garden built in America in the immediate post-war period.
> 
> “It also shows… a new sophistication in American domestic culture, in which garden styles including ‘California patio,’ ‘Hawaiian tropical,’ and ‘Japanese teahouse’ are combined into something that is distinctly American and wonderfully Californian.”
> 
> The Garden Conservancy, among others, has expressed its concern in writing to the UCLA Chancellor, urging the University to seek ways to preserve the garden and assure public access, perhaps by selling the house and dedicating funds to an endowment. It is also in communication with other preservation leaders and organizations in Los Angeles.
> 
> The Garden Conservancy feels strongly that the university should respect the garden donor’s intent that this significant garden be preserved with public access. The artifacts, stones, plants, and other design features that contribute to the importance and exceptional quality of the garden should be restored to their original positions. The integrity of the garden is essential to any strategy to preserve it; its value would be severely compromised if the original design is altered in any way.
> 
> How people can help: The Garden Conservancy encourages people to send an e-mail to info@gardenconservancy.org with their contact information and a brief description of how they might be able to participate.
> 
> We also encourage interested parties to write to the UCLA Chancellor and urge him to withdraw the sale of the garden while an effort is made to assess and organize community support for preserving it.
> 
> chancellor@ucla.edu
> Phone: 310-825-2151
> Fax: 310-206-6030
> UCLA Chancellor's Office
> Box 951405, 2147 Murphy Hall
> Los Angeles, CA 90095-1405
> 
> For more information on the threat to the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden, see www.gardenconservancy.org.
> 
> 
> The Garden Conservancy was founded in 1989 by renowned plantsman Frank Cabot. Seeing a critical gap in America's preservation efforts, he established an organization to preserve exceptional gardens for public enjoyment and education. The Conservancy remains the only national organization dedicated to saving gardens as part of our natural and cultural heritage. 
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