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INTERNATIONAL JAPANESE GARDEN
TRAINING CENTER
PORTLAND, OR

ROLE: FOUNDING ADVISOR, LECTURER, LIAISON & TEACHER 

(2010-2021)

 

Project Team: Curator of Art, Culture, & Education/Diane Durston, Director Kristin Faurest, Ph.D., Garden Curator Sadafumi Uchiyama, & Program Manager Kanako Yanagi

 

The International Japanese Garden Training Center at the Portland Japanese Garden, the only such pro­gram in the world outside of Japan, is committed to combining Western and Eastern educational approaches which teach the living formative art of Japanese gardens.

 

During her tenure, Desirae D. Wood’s responsibil­ities and programs included the following:

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  • Developed program curriculum, strategic planning, and budgets for seminars, design intensives, work­shops, virtual content and outreach, lead communication between Institute and Garden Department staff

  • Worked with and supported visiting Japanese garden, local tea and landscape industry professionals

  • Waza to Kokoro/Hands and Heart Seminar (recipient of 2018 Program Excellence Award from APGA):  A flagship training program for professionals, this week long seminar focused on the traditional, hands-on learning process of stonework in the tea garden, supplemented with theoretical instruction, and practice in topics including garden design, pruning, bamboo fence construction, aesthetics, history, and tradition­al tool use. Certified as an approved Landscape Architecture Continuing Education System program.

  • Japanese Garden Design Intensive/With an Eye Towards Nature: This three-day course provided 25 hours of theoretical and hands-on training in the Japanese approach to designing with nature and its modern use and application. Certified as an approved Landscape Ar­chitecture Continuing Education System program.

  • Japanese Garden Workshops:  These 1-2 day classes and workshops were hands-on or theoretical and covered topics such as maple and pine pruning, bamboo fence construction, nobedan stone path construction, organic gardening, and sand & stone garden gravel raking.

  • Japanese Garden Virtual Content & Outreach Videos:  Time for Tea, Guardians of the Garden - Niwa Mori, & Natural Sceneries

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