Be Prepared

CC ALIFORNIAALIFORNIA A A ISEKIISEKI K K AIAI Volume 35, Issue 9 September 2017

Now is the time to begin thinking about your displays for the December Viewing Stone Exhibition at The Huntington. Do you have the right size suiban? Do you have the right sand and do you have enough of it? Do you had a proper daiza? Do you have a suitable jiita? Have you thought about how you would like to present your stones to best advantage? A well thought out display makes all the difference in how it will be received. We have been fortunate that for years GuyJim has been generously educating us on the subject of display from a single stone to multiple stones and everything in between, especially those with a theme. His particularly informative series, Beyond the Stone, began last year with the July 2016 Newsletter, Part I and this issue includes Part IX, pages 4-6. These articles are perfect for those of us who are concerned with an elegant display, which of course, we all are! You already know his genius when it comes to curating our exhibits. Be prepared! Please review GuyJim in our newsletters, all of which are available on our website, http://www.aisekikai.com/1.html

And speaking of preparedness, we are going to the Yuha Desert in November. Remember last April? We bet Phil, Janet and Jesse do – they were stuck in the sand. Al Nelson came to their rescue.

Please arrange for 4WD for this trip. Join us for a fun filled week end! See page 3 for information on our accommodations in lovely downtown Calexico.

~Larry Ragle

September Program "Rocks in my Yard and a bit More" is the subject of Wanda Matjas’ program on September 27th. She will take us on a pictorial journey through an environment filled with imaginative sculptures including rocks and plants, that create her dramatic private world. . . Where each item was placed to bring into existence the harmonious hidden

sanctuary, in the wilds of Rim Rock Canyon, Laguna Beach. The ornamental construction of the designed pieces showcase the places of the world where she has traveled and fabricates a sense of discovery as you wander the paths of the yard. Wanda always takes us to unexpected and exciting places with humor and enthusiasm. Don’t miss her program this month!

Stone of the Month Fall is a great time to view colorful stones. GuyJim has a nice example on page 6, a Ken McLeod find from Stony Creek. Think red and yellow… OK, so we do not have a lot of autumn colors going on in Southern California but maybe that is why we would love to see your fine examples in stone!

‘Pele’s Robe’, Eel River, Alice Kikue Greaves, 6.75w x 7.75h x 4.75d

ANNOUNCEMENTS: We welcomed Candace Key, a member from the Bay Area, and Anita Harris, Paul’s better half. We decided to take another Yuha trip for stones November 4-5 as the water will be too high at the Kern. See page 3. We set our show dates for December 26-30 at The Huntington. Set up is Dec 20-22. Save the dates! The 1 inch w

ide inner margins are designed for use w

ith a 3 hole punch.

VOLUME 35, ISSUE 9 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI

STONE of the MONTH: stones exhibiting snow Measurements are in inches, w x h x d Thank you Rick, Edd, Karen, Peter, and Candace for participating remotely! We love hearing from you. If anyone was in doubt about who is having all the fun, you need look no further than Phil and Larry. Phil found the perfect “tenkei” for his icebergs and when Larry couldn’t come up with a “snow” themed viewing stone, he simply brought a couple he made out of clay, daiza and all. (See page 3)

PAGE 2

August Meeting Notes

Karen Higgins 7.25 X 2.5 X 6.25 Eel River, CA

Peter Bloomer 16 x 8.5 x 9 Purchased at a G&M show in Tucson, AZ

Joseph Gaytan 9 x 8 x 5.5

Karen Higgins 6 x 3.5 x 3.5 Seraphanite from a box at Quartzite

Janet Shimizu 7 x 6 x 4

Edd Kuehn 9 x 1.5 x 4.5 Stillaguamish River, WA (natural)

Phil Hogan 5.5 x 5 x 6 Paul Vasina 3 x 2.5 x 2

Edd Kuehn 3.75 x 2.25 x 2.25 (cut) Rick Klauber 9 X 5 X 5.25 Thomes Creek, CA

Nina Ragle 10 x 3 x 7, Eel River, CA Candace Key 10 x 2.25 x 4

VOLUME 35, ISSUE 9 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI

PAGE 3

Janet Shimizu 4.5 x 4 x 2

Jim Greaves 6.5 x 5 x 5 Emma Janza 5 x 6 x 2

Phil Chang 6 x 6.5 x 5

Phil Chang 4.5 x 1 x 2.5

Paul Vasina 5 x 1.5 x 2

Phil Chang 5.5 x 4 x 5

Phil Chang 6 x 6 x 5 Larry Ragle 7.5 x 2.5 x 5.5

Larry Ragle 9 x 4.5 x 5.5 Yuha Collecting Trip November 4-5

Because we had so much rain this year (yay!) and snow pack (yay again!) the Kern River will not be accessible for us this November. Those of you who joined us last April may recall the terrific hunting grounds we enjoyed on the Sunday. Assuming the terrain is working with us, Marty Hagbery will lead us out there again this time.

Please understand that the family sedan just won’t do! You will need 4WD. Nobody wants to spend precious tanseki time digging out the unprepared. Start planning now.

The Best Western in Calexico has changed management (again!) so the rate this time will be $74.00 plus tax. Say you are with the “Rock Club”. Call 760-768-0442. Details to follow…

Dear Candace, A brief discussion of katte is well worth a detour because the concepts I have associated with the term have and will continue to reappear in conjunction with our exploration of stone display. My exposure to the term katte was in Felix Rivera’s Suiseki – The Japanese Art of Miniature Landscape Stones where he defined the term as “implied directional flow of a suiseki as determined by its prominent features; a right-flowing stone is called migi-katte (fig 1); a left-ward flow is called hidare-katte.” Over the years I have become inordinately fond of the term as a convenient way to address various factors concerning the visual flow of a stone, or perhaps more correctly, the way our eye flows as it explores a stone. However, your request gave me pause as I realized that I had never seen my personal observations observed/discussed elsewhere. To recheck my premise, I returned to the literature and also discussed ‘katte’ with more knowledgeable friends. To my surprise and chagrin, there seems to be no validation that katte is a term used in suiseki practice, beyond the meaning-less, mundane fact that it simply notes that a suiseki faces left or right as indicated by Rivera. As it makes no sense to continue to use a foreign word incorrectly, katte is out – R.I.P.! However, while the word is rather useless, the observations that I have associated with it remain just as valid. The term has long served me well, as convenient shorthand for multiple applications; but unfortunately GuyJim’s shelf of thesauri does not provide a single English word that encompasses my over-reaching usage, so the following discussion will be even a bit wordier than usual. Et tu katte!

PAGE 4 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI VOLUME 35, ISSUE 9 SEPTEMBER 2017

PAGE 4 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI VOLUME 35, ISSUE 9

Beyond the Stone – considerations for presenting viewing stones within a thematic concept, Part IX: A Basic Consideration of Directional Flow and Dynamic Balance

Suiseki display in Japan is almost exclusively focused on the presentation of a single stone therefore any consideration of dynamic movement is largely confined to the basic left (hidare-katte) or right facing (migi-katte) position of a single suiseki or its relationship with a complementary item. Consideration of directional dynamics, whether of the overall form or internal, is generally irrelevant when a stone is shown by itself. (If the various shapes and lines of the visual forces are so great as to prevent one’s eye from apprehending the stone as a ‘whole’, you would likely, a priori, have rejected it as unsuitable for a viewing stone.) The concepts of directional dynamics only come into play when the stone is used with complementary items or within the proximity of other stones. Our concern is to create an awareness of the directional movement or flow of stones (and other elements) within a display and how to use them to achieve dynamic balance. The use of multi-stone assemblages such as we have been discussing in our Beyond the Stone series does not appear to have ever been seriously practiced in Japan. If encountered, multi-stone presentations in Japan almost always consist of a perfunctory filling of shelves simply to show small stones with little or no regard for visual relationships or dynamics. This is somewhat surprising since the Japanese are very concerned with balancing basic directional movement when creating the best multi-tree shohin bonsai displays. As noted, the Japanese usage of katte, if any, simply refers to whether the stone’s “implied directional flow” faces right or left as determined by movement from its highest peak or greatest mass (fig 1). Some stones have a centered peak and sides sloping away equally e.g., a classic Mt. Fuji. With such

Ask GuyJim Dear GuyJim, In your current series on thematic multi-stone display you have referred to ‘katte’. Would you please discuss the concept in more detail? Candace Key, San Rafael, CA

At left: Fig 1. ‘Mount Vulcan’, Washington, Robert McKenzie ~The overall shape of this nephrite jade mountain illustrates the basic concept of ‘directional flow’ because one looks downward from the peak toward the more elongated open side, in this case, left to right. Note that the muscular internal lines descend to the right as well, increasing the sense of directional movement.

GuyJim

CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI PAGE 5 VOLUME 35, ISSUE 9

center-weighted stones any sense of movement is usually downward and thus stabilizing, grounding the mass of the stone – in effect there is no element leading our attention away from the formal image of a majestic

mountain (fig 2). However, if the peak has special prominence and thrusts upwards, our eye will discern loftiness rather than a grounded mass (fig 3).(While centrally balanced mountains may be majestic and

compelling in the manner that the mountains they reprise appear to us within a natural landscape, if they do not attain a certain level of exceptional quality, balanced stones, especially those of lower profile may become very boring.) Less formal stones having quite active shapes and strong lines of internal movement may still be perceived as ‘centered’ if the various lines

of movement – both those of primary shape and secondary internal features – effectively cancel one another with none directing our gaze away from the stone (fig. 4). Likewise, a nice colored

cobble, figure, or image stone may have a very stable, non-directional formality. Visually stable stones are obviously the exception as most of our landscape stones do not have perfectly balanced shapes, rather their sides flow unevenly away from a dominant peak with the longer slope establishing the direction of flow (fig 1). When a stone is viewed in isolation the fact that there is a perceived flow may be of minor, if any significance; however, once a stone is formally displayed with any other item, e.g., kusamono (accent plant), bonsai, okimono, kakejiku (hanging scroll), its directional movement may become a critical factor to be considered. While the directional flow inherent to the stone’s overall shape will usually dominate, we may find that this most obvious direction of flow – the left or right-facing movement – may, in fact, not be identical to the ‘effective’ dynamics within any given display (fig. 5, next page). (Note that ‘contrarian’ applications of dynamic movement applicable to the display of islands, shore stones and rock formations including desert forms such as mesas in which the steeper slope may control positioning were discussed in CAK Newsletter, Vol.26, No 6, 2008, p. 4-6.) Many scholar’s rocks and contemporary abstract stones jump around visually, but retain a sense of overall stability because of their center of gravity; generally, it is the directional flow of their irregular forms that one must consider while creating a balanced display. Most of you are familiar with the endless diagrams of the formal display of bonsai and suiseki with their triangular arrangement and swooping arrows showing visual connectivity between elements. Unfortunately, while neatly authoritative, they invariably emphasize the two-dimensional silhouettes of the respective elements – thus, the ‘movement’ of a stone is usually considered only in terms of its convenient outline. While generally a stone’s dominant directional movement will be determined by its outline, identifying a stone’s visual momentum is not always a simple question of following the basic mass of the stone (high to low). In practice, another prominent feature might draw our attention and even visually override the stone’s gross form. ‘Counter-flowing’ features, e.g., the direction and opening of a deep valley, stream or waterfall; a series of secondary ridgelines or steps, might impose a more compelling visual flow directing our eye towards one side of the stone or the other, up or down (fig. 5). Even color, for example, a patch of red or yellow, can affect the direction of our gaze. In short, what dominates our attention and thereby controls our direction of viewing may not be the same as suggested

Fig 2 ‘Majestic Mountain’, Trinity River, CA, Ken McLeod ~The steep vertical sides and mass establish downward forces (weight) creating a sense of grounded immobility with no significant left or right movement. The one diagonal line of the shelf in the center is effectively held in place by the much stronger verticals.

Fig 4 ‘Jazz’, Stony Creek, CA, Jim Greaves ~The lines of internal movement are very active and complex, but effectively balance one another leaving the stone as a visually stable unit.

Fig 3 'The Horn', Saddle Peak Hills, CA Alice Kikue Greaves ~Here the stone has considerable irregularity of outline and mass, but the slopes still provide a sense of overall, non-directional balance with no dominant sense of left or right flow. However, the feeling of the stone is less grounded; rather the dominant sense of

movement is actually thrusting upwards. The eye tends to rise along such peaks that thrust dramatically upwards; therefore they are usually ill-fitted if placed on a lower shelf where that directional movement is cut or capped by a tightly overhanging shelf.

VOLUME 35, ISSUE 9 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI PAGE 6

by neat theoretical diagrams. The more neutral the overall form, the more our attention and any movement will be controlled by its dominant internal features. Once we expand our discussion beyond the individual viewing stone and begin exploration of multi-element presentations, considerations of directional flow become both more important and more complex. When viewing a landscape stone from across a room or in a tokonoma several feet away, the simplified sense of mass and silhouette may well conform to theory, but with close-at-hand tabletop displays, details within the same stone might result in a quite different sense of directional movement (fig. 5). In

multi-stone displays, secondary ‘lines’ of flow take on importance as they can be used to direct the eye and logically interconnect your stones. Conversely, minor irregularities in outline that would be of no import when looking at an individual stone or looking at one from a distance may suddenly appear prominent and cause a discomforting imbalance relative to other stones, complementary items or the form of the stands themselves. This holds true for many non-landscape stones as well, especially those whose form may not be their primary point of interest. For example, when enjoying an individual color or embedded-image/picture stone, you may easily overlook subtle irregularities of mass and silhouette; these same irregularities might cause unpleasant, even jarring imbalances when ‘framed’ within a multi-stone display. Note that a preponderance of human and animal images are usually easy to deal with since the dynamic direction follows that of the perceived head or its own direction of gaze. In addition to balancing the directional flow inherent in shapes and patterns, one may attain visual stability through considerations of the size of the stones, both absolute physical size and their visual weight – the two are not always identical. Visual weight takes into account the effects of color and patterns, e.g., bright colors and solid colors, larger and/or sharper images, and abstract patterns all have more visual weight, i.e., attract more attention. (Reversing the situation,

sometimes a simple, refined shape or image may draw the most attention among many exaggerated active stones.) In practice, balancing visual weight may prove easier than might be expected because the stones tend to ‘shout at you’ when placement is wrong, e.g., when shelves feel uncomfortably top heavy or you have placed stones that inadvertently create a distracting diagonal row of red stones having no relationship to your intended theme. In summation, when creating multi-stone presentations (especially more refined thematic compositions), particularly those on stands, remain aware of the concepts of directional flow and dynamic balance and the myriad of factors, both obvious and subtle, that may effect them. While strong primary forms will per force establish your foundation, use secondary lines of flow in all directions to construct an overall sense of unity. Features such as a thrusting peak direct our sight up; a waterfall down and/or diagonally, a doha’s plateau horizontally, thus interweaving a tighter composition. Be aware that within a group even a seemingly minor curve on the edge of a pattern stone may have undue impact, positive or negative. Also, be aware that even the slightest repositioning of stones on their shelves may make or break an optimally balanced presentation. Stands that are too small with tight spaces may compress stones to the point that their dynamic connections may not function well; conversely, if stands are disproportionately large, the individual stones may remain so isolated that dynamic functions do not even come into play. Regardless of the number of stones/elements included, the ultimate goal is to choose and place the stones so that the viewer’s eye itself moves, flowing naturally between the stones (and any other display elements) while the whole presentation remains centered and calm. Hopefully this slight diversion will serve as a primer. My apologies for not being able to provide more illustrative examples as my studio is currently overwhelmed with exhibit preparation and documentation projects. I will note specific examples of directional flow and dynamic balance as we continue our consideration of more complex displays.

GuyJim The views expressed in this column are personal, perhaps irreverent, irrelevant or just plain wrong and do not reflect the consensual view of California Aiseki Kai. Send your viewing stone questions (or comments) for GuyJim to jimgreaves@roadrunner.com or 1018 Pacific Street, Unit D, Santa Monica, CA 90405 or call (310) 452-3680

Fig 5. Stony Creek, CA, Ken McLeod ~At any distance, the overall form technically slopes to the left, but when viewed more closely, the prominent waterfall definitely directs our gaze to the right; thus, this stone would likely be unsuitable for use on the right side of an arrangement where it would direct the eye away from the center.

PAGE 7 VOLUME 35, ISSUE 9 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI

It seems fitting that this talk nearly coincided with the totality of coincidence eclipse of August 21. Looking at the moon passing across the sun provides a visceral visual reminder of our cosmic identity: we are a lithic tribe, living on a rock spinning and orbiting the sun; orbiting us is a rock that broke off from ours, stabilizing our orbit in the process. In a similar vein, Charles Jencks’s gardens invite and induce us to think on planetary and cosmic scales. Jencks states that, “When you design a garden, it raises basic questions: what is nature, how do we fit into it, and how should we shape it where we can, both physically and visually?” and asks, “What is the garden if not a miniaturization, and celebration, of the place we are in, the universe?” (The Garden of Cosmic Speculation, 17). For cosmic orientation, Jencks turns to “the ideas of contemporary science,” which he believes “provide the basis for a cultural awakening and a new iconography,” but that for this vision to come to fruition, ideas “must be made more tangible through art if it is to be assimilated” (20). Gardens, in his view, should not merely represent scientific ideas—he holds garden design to the standard of a "cosmogenic art that …layers ideas and patterns into a complex whole. The layers should make one slow down, think, and wonder about received notions. It should celebrate the beauty and organization of the universe, but above all resupply that sense of awe which modern life has done much to deny” (248). Jencks also states: "A garden should not only present [a] worldview but also heighten our relationship to it, through the senses" (including the sense of humor), and asks, “Understanding demands a certain slowing of time—why else enter a garden?” (5). Jencks, born in 1939, attended Harvard and earned a B.A. in Literature and M.A. in Architecture, and studied with Rayner Badham at University College London. Author of over thirty books, Jencks remains renowned for a paradigm-shifting work in the 1980’s on Postmodernism Architecture. Jencks married Maggie Keswick, daughter of Sir John Keswick, knighted for work on Sino-Chinese trade relations. Maggie grew up partly in Shanghai and visited many imperial and private gardens, and eventually wrote a landmark book, The Chinese Garden, which also features an essay by Jencks. This presentation will focus on The Garden of Cosmic Speculation, built on the Keswick family estate of Portrack House, a Georgian farmhouse built in 1815. Landscaping that

eventuated in the garden began in 1989, when Maggie wanted a pond made for their daughter. As the project evolved, Jencks sought to develop a “new grammar of landscape design” (32) to express his vision, including most famously perhaps, landforms, sculpted mounds with winding paths. Jencks’s landforms are featured elements in many land art sites in Scotland, including Landform Ueda outside the National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh and Mounds of Life at Jupiter Artland (outside the city). The Garden of Cosmic Speculation, open to the public one day a year, encompasses fields and woods bordered by the River Nith. It features several separate gardens and installations, combining elements of Chinese design and scientific concepts, in a complex whole that reflects its local history, both human and geological. This necessarily truncated tour of the site will highlight a few composi-tions. The Universe Cascade, perhaps the most ambitious and in some ways representative work, could be the subject of a separate presentation unto itself; a series of 25 platforms situated on stairways running up a steep hillside, each one depicting a specific event or stage in cosmic, earthly, and human evolution. The Cascade features several large Chinese stones (Taihu and Lingbi primarily), and many compositions integrate stones Jencks collected in local rivers, including red jasper, greywacke, yellow and black rhyolite, and “Liesegang” stones, also called Goethite, which feature red concentric rings made by iron pulsating in the sandstone (see page 11). Jencks prizes these patterns as examples of self-organization, similar to that seen in the famous Beousov-Zhabotinski reaction in slime molds. Jencks writes that, “Recounting the story of the cosmos with rocks and objects” imposes constraints on the designer, calling for a process “approaching the art of mosaic combined with Japanese rock arrangement, constructivist collage, and word art (epigraphy)” (191).

August Program Notes Charles Jencks: The Garden of Cosmic Speculation

Program notes and presentation by Paul Harris

The path through the garden leads the visitor to The Comet Bridge, a steel construction that joins wilderness and pasture landscapes, under which farm vehicles and animals can pass, forming a fenced

enclosure under a shade tree for picnics that keeps out animals. Comets function as cosmic

bridges, in that they convey materials between distant bodies. Thus white comet-shaped tiles on seats in the terraced enclosure have citations from cosmologists about comets as sources of cosmic evolution:

“Cometary material is life, I would say, not simply its precursor”—Fred Hoyle; ”Comet impacts blast microbes into space, perhaps to inoculate nearby planets”—Paul Davies. One tile juxtaposes Linnaeus’s dictum that “Nature does not proceed by leaps” with Jencks’s own rejoinder, “But by cometary jumps.” A more enigmatic tile bears the inscription “Isti Mirant Stella” and a vivid drawing, an allusion to a panel of the Bayeux Tapestry marking the Battle of Hastings, which shows Halley’s Comet appearing in 1066; “isti mirant stella” means These (people) look in wonder at the star, capturing the apprehension and amazement that comets have elicited in people through the ages. The bridge slopes precipitously down to land on grass plots in front of two large boulders, as if to turn our traversing the bridge into a comet’s crashing into a large rock body or planet in space. Adjacent to the rocks are two curious sculptures of spring-like metal links topped by striking geodes, like alien life forms having vertebrate steel spinal columns with mineral faces.

VOLUME 35, ISSUE 9 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI

Along the banks of a stream, Jencks created the Quark Walk to express The Standard Model of particle physics. The Standard Model emerged from the search for the ultimate particles, or smallest units of matter, that began in the 1960’s: smashing atoms, protons, and neutrons in particle colliders, to reveal sub-atomic particles. Jencks builds the composition around Murray Gell-Mann’s postulation of the existence of quarks in terms of an “Eightfold Way” (a term Gell-Mann borrowed from Buddhism); he sites eight red posts that display letters representing the different elements in these particles. The walk is bounded by wire fencing with curving elements in it that create moire patterns, and spiral steel cable sculptures bent in sinusoidal curves simulate particle explosions or collisions in cloud chambers. The ephemeral glimpses one gets of these patterns mimics the physics, which reveals a fundamental reality where paths of particle elements are but traces of events; matter is less real or stable than processes of transformation; matter becomes energy, in a balanced dance of opposites in particles and anti-particles. The Standard Model is also displayed as a panel in a pyramidal stone sculpture

showing its particles and properties, including the Higgs Boson, as yet undetected when Jencks made the installation. (In the book, Jencks includes a photo of Peter Higgs sitting on the standard model sculpture, wryly commenting that Higgs is a modest recluse by nature, as elusive as the particle named for him.) The pyramidal structure is stunning in its stonework and

PAGE 8

PAGE 9 VOLUME 35, ISSUE 9 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI

geometric complexity; the two faces along the ground are tiled very differently, and they end at a bench facing due north on which one sits to contemplate the model, accompanied by an observing eye tucked beneath the top of the structure. Adjacent to the Quark Walk is the Fractal Bridge, a bright red wood walkway that jumps over two

streams and dives into the ground, made from intricately tiled fractal pieces. Its dynamic curves and tilt through space; the steps up bridges increase in height in precise increments, and the self-similar but different patterns in left and right railings create a flow and ripple patterns that mimic the stream and ripples below the bridges, while the

sight-lines and trajectories of bridges and railings mesh with the landform curves and paths in the background. Walking the Fractal Bridge several times, one’s body becomes attuned to its fractal topology, a curvilinear and constantly tilting-away-from-itself spatial flow that sets fractal dimensions in our conventional, familiar three-dimensional world. Following the bank of the River Nith, we come to The Railway Garden, an installation that dates to 2002, when Scotland Railtrack approached Jencks because they needed to replace the existing rail bridge that runs through the estate. Jencks negotiated an exchange of land access for resources and labor in constructing a garden that would be a tribute to Scottish identity; he also used discarded rails and train

materials in the garden. Next to the striking bridge Jencks designed a cantilevered pier with tracks parallel to the railroad; and created fractal scaling with medium and small models of the bridge, along a sightline that allows one to see all three aligned. In the foreground Jencks laid rail scraps and track ballast stones in the shape of Scotland, with the rails representing the four faults that form the basis of the country’s geologic history. Along paths parallel to the rail tracks, Jencks created two other tributes to Scottish history: The Bloodline, a sequence of names of Scottish rulers hanging from a line of poplars, capturing a violent history, and the Worthies, marking the rich contributions of the Scottish Enlightenment, expressed as a train of cars, evoking images of linear time and progress. On panels lined up like cars on a track, Jencks mixes epigraphy with architecture in presenting names and quotations of representative Worthies: David Hume, James Watt, Adam Smith, James Hutton (“the mind seemed to grow giddy by looking so far into the abyss of time”), and a stunning passage from Mary Sommerville: “I saw the edge of the moon leave the limb of the sun/The perturbations are only the oscillation of that immense pendulum of eternity which

beats centuries as ours beats seconds,” which connects nicely to the experience of watching the eclipse evoked at the beginning of the presentation. The Railway Garden demonstrates the nested timescales in Jencks’s vision: a technological construction occasions a look back at a place’s human and geologic history. Next to the Universe Cascade, the most intricate composition on the site is The DNA Garden of the Six Senses. The garden began with the idea of representing the senses, before integrating a notion of placing a DNA sculpture at the center of each of six sections, emanating outward from the middle of the “cells” of the garden. This garden features beautifully layered hedges and sections of pruned wedges, which each have different plantings, in a series of variations on purple. The stonework in walkways combines linear and curving patterns to mimic a stream flowing; the same undulation runs through the vertical plane of

VOLUME 35, ISSUE 9 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI PAGE 10

walls, inspired by Chinese garden walls Maggie had seen, and installed expertly by local stoneworkers. As in a Chinese garden, windows in the walls introduce geometric patterns and add layers of depth in sightlines.

Most gates on the site feature ironwork that makes soliton wave patterns, a ripple that passes across gates moving as waves, where twists render parts of the bars almost invisible. Soliton waves are focused energy forms that travel without losing their form or coherence in collisions with other waves. Jencks relates that Scottish engineer John Scot Russell theorized them after seeing one in a canal in 1834—a wave in front of a boat built up at the prow, and then went faster than the boat and absorbed all small waves in its path. He also emphasizes that soliton waves persist on all scales in the universe: the Red Spot of Jupiter is a soliton wave, as are laser beams and tsunamis (77 – 80). The DNA Garden also features striking verbal elements Jencks calls ambigrammi (ambiguous grams), word compositions that can be read in reverse and/or upside down. The words chosen all express fundamental concepts or tropes in the garden as a whole, so they represent a rich meshing of form and content: among the words embedded in sidewalk panels are synthesis, relativity, ambiguity, and symmetry (the latter word is written twice in mirror formation, in raised and indented letters, so that it seems to flips over

itself as it splits in two along a mirror rim—enacting both symmetry and symmetry-breaking, a key notion in Jencks’s vision. Each of the senses is represented by a separate installation and DNA sculpture. Sight is a mound, with a double helix path to climb for a vantage point over the garden. Around back, one enters the hollowed mound, which becomes a womb, in which black and white lines (we want to see things in black and white) are disrupted by color elements. The mound is like an Observatory, with a clear top overlaid by a galaxy-like composition at the peak. Smell is represented by mirrored steel nose sculptures embedded in double helical paths surrounded by four types of Thyme. Hearing is seen as a radar-receiver-like disc atop a wooden double helix structure, which revolves in the wind, in turn making chimes hanging below ring next to an ear hanging from a spiral chain. Taste is depicted by a twisted tongue in steel replicating a twisted steel DNA form; the lips at ground level are tasting wild strawberry plants growing. Touch is a hand on springs waving in the breeze, with exaggerated long fingers able to brush against the prickly Scottish thistle and nettle and soft dock weed and lamb’s ear species growing around it. Finally, there is a ‘sixth sense,’ which plays off of women’s intuition, inspired by Maggie’s observation that “intuition is sensing the winds of change, which way the wind is blowing, the mood of the moment, how it will affect the future” (163). The display shows a woman’s head, cantilevered on a spring so she waves in the wind, contemplating her

September Contributors: Paul Harris, Jim Greaves, Larry Ragle. Mailing: Flash Partch Editor: Nina Ragle

Contact People

PAGE 11 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI VOLUME 35, ISSUE 9

Newsletter Committee

We hope you will participate. Please send any submissions to ragle@cox.net no more than 10 days following our monthly meeting. Thank you!

open brain, which is receiving signals coming in through antennae fingers that also wave in breezes. Jencks named this sense “Fingerspitzgefuhl,” a feeling at the tip of the fingers, a word Einstein evoked for the sense of being on the brink of a major discovery. Charles Jencks is a brilliant, generous, and mischievous person. He invited me into the house for a drink after my first of several unforgettable days exploring The Garden of Cosmic Speculation. After exchanging pleasantries, he asked me, with a twinkle in his eye, “Did you meet my Medusa? Did she turn you to stone?” Seeing my confusion, he went on, “Well, what were some of your favorite things in the garden?” That question was also difficult to answer, but on reflection, I said that I had liked the tree root systems turned upside down and used as displays, and was especially impressed with a very large set of roots, in a field next to some stumps. They resembled ones I’d seen in Chinese gardens in Suzhou, so we discussed Chinese stone appreciation for some time, after which he drew me a map so I could meet Medusa in subsequent perambulations through the garden. The next day, I had a good laugh at my own expense when I discovered that the tree roots I had liked and the Medusa were one and the same. I stood marvel-ing at the roots winding around the trunk and branches like snakes, at the stones caught in tangled branches, and the overall appearance of a striding figure. I walked

closer, took several close- ups of various parts of the piece towering 15 feet above me. It was only when I touched it that I realized,

California Aiseki Kai meets on the 4th Wednesday of each month at 7:30 pm at the Nakaoka Community Center located at 1670 W. 162nd St, Gardena, CA. Second floor. We do not meet in Nov-Dec.

Programs: Larry Ragle 949.497.5626 crimescene@cox.net Treasury/Membership: Nina Ragle 949.497.5626 ragle@cox.net Annual Exhibit: Jim Greaves 310.452.3680 jimgreaves@avsrc.org Exhibit Set Up: Marge Blasingame 626.579.0420 margeblasingame@att.net Refreshments: Janet Shimizu 310.822.6012 janet.shimizu46@gmail.com Beverages: Jack Levy 626.794.4572 jnlevy@earthlink.net Historian: Ray Yeager 760.365.7897 ryeager890@aol.com Webmail: Chris Cochrane 804.918.4636 sashaichris@gmail.com

with a shock and burst of laughter, that the Medusa was in fact a sculpture, a bronze cast. In one stunned moment, I was turned to stone: Jencks had realized that I mistook the roots for a natural object, asked me if I’d encountered the Medusa, and then sent me, dumb as rock, back to look at what I had not actually seen. Jencks later divulged that the Medusa was in fact a gift from Richard Rosenblum, a sculptor whose collection of Chinese stones and art has been shown in many museums. Rosenblum’s own interest in Chinese scholars’ rocks was rooted in the “flip between nature and culture” they embody, the “profound surprise” provoked by seeing natural objects turn into cultural things and back again (Rosenblum, Art of the Natural World, 3). Rosenblum left the sculpture to Jencks in his will; after he died, his widow had it flown to Scotland; Jencks expressed his joy in the image of Medusa flying across the sea to come live in his garden. Charles Jencks is at the forefront of Land Art in Scotland, along with other well-known figures such as Ian Hamilton Finlay and Andy Goldsworthy. Jencks’s work is distinctive in its geologic and cosmic scope. All petromaniacs will find touring Scotland for its natural and historical wonders rewarding, and making time to absorb Jencks’s work brings one especially close to wonder and awe and appreciation for the cosmos and humanity’s place in it.

Charles Jencks holding a split piece of Goethite

Ragle P.O. Box 4975 Laguna Beach CA 92652

Coming Events

Leaves no stone unturned

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

aisekikai.com

Thank you to Paul Vasina, the Ragles, Joseph Gaytan, and Naomi Yoshida for the August treats! Yum! September snacks will be provided by Linda Gill, Mika Brefogle, Angelina Casas, and Joseph Gaytan.

Refreshments

Always check Golden Statements Magazine Calendar section for additional coming events

GOLDEN STATE BONSAI FEDERATION 40th Convention, “Bonsai New Horizon”. October 26-29, Riverside, Convention Center. Viewing stone exhibit, bonsai exhibit and vendor area are free. See gsbfconvention.org Stone Sales Ken McLeod

209-605-9386 or 209 586-2881 suisekistones.com

Freeman Wang 626-524-5021 Suiseki-Viewing Stone Sale

stores.ebay.com/thestoneking

SAN DIEGO BONSAI CLUB 52nd Annual Fall Bonsai Show, Sept 23-24, Balboa Park, Casa del Prado, Room 101, San Diego. 10-5. Sales Area Info: sandiegobonsaiclub.com

CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI Tanseki in the Yuha on November 4-5. Save the date! Details are coming, see page 3.

CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI 28th Annual Exhibition at The Huntington, December 26-30, 10:30-4:30. Set-up Dec 20-22. Save the dates. 5 days only. Preparation time is here!