Lectures and Special Events, 2013
Unless otherwise noted, all events are held at the North Carolina Botanical Garden's Education Center in Chapel Hill off Old Mason Farm Road. These lectures/events are listed in chronological order.
Register NowLife and Spirit of a Kyoto Garden
Sunday, May 19, 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Tenryu-ji:The Life and Spirit of a Kyôto Garden (2012, Stonebridge Press) is Professor Norris Johnson's (UNC-Chapel Hill Professor Emeritus, Anthropology) book on the life history and aesthetics of a Zen Buddhist temple garden in Kyôto, Japan. His presentation places experience of that garden within a spiritual/cultural/aesthetic context, with emphasis on people - garden relationships. In particular, an emphasis on garden stones with plants urges a sustainable style of gardening. He illustrates and interprets this idea of garden through examples from Japanese animistic conceptions of and ritualized behaviors toward stones, both naturally occurring and placed by people. Professor Johnson speaks to the vital importance to humanity of the idea of garden itself. A suggested reading guide will be provided. Free, but advance registration required.
Register NowDown the Wild Cape Fear: A River Journey through the Heart of North Carolina
Wednesday, June 12, 7:00 - 8:30 pm
Join us for this fascinating presentation describing adventures on the Cape Fear River, North Carolina's most important river system. Author Philip Gerard has written three novels and five books of nonfiction including The Patron Saint of Dreams and is professor of creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He lives on Whiskey Creek near the Intracoastal Waterway and sails his sloop Suspense on the Atlantic Ocean. Here's what one reviewer said about Philip Gerard's new book, Down the Wild Cape Fear (UNC Press, March 2013):
"If you’ve ever fallen in love with a lake, river, or stretch of shore, you’ll enjoy this trip down the Cape Fear with Philip Gerard. Between the characters he meets, the historical tales, the beautifully described natural encounters, and the river-running adventures, it’s as varied and engaging as a long day spent drifting downstream.” —Jan DeBlieu
This lecture is free, but advance registration is required.
Bee, I'm Expecting You—a poetry reading
Sunday, June 30, 3:00 - 4:30 pm
It is said that bees are responsible for pollinating every third bite of food we eat! Poet Jeffrey Beam will be reading from his work and also poems from ancient Egypt, Sylvia Plath, Virgil, Pablo Neruda, and others . . . as well as sharing bee folklore and some of his art-song cycle collaboration with Lee Hoiby based on his "Life of the Bee" poems. Fee: $10 ($5 NCBG members)
Register NowFrom Walden Pond to Mason Farm—Thoreau and the "Wild"
Friday, July 12, 12:00 - 1:00 pm (lunchtime series . . . bring your lunch & listen!)
Join Philip F. Gura Distinguished Professor of American Literature and Culture, UNC Department of American Studies, for a discussion of Henry David Thoreau’s search for the "wild" and his discovery of it even in the already domesticated landscape of Concord, Massachusetts. His lesson, for us, is that if we truly know nature, we live surrounded by wildness, even here in Chapel Hill. Free, but advance registration required.
Register NowThe Physical Fitness of Leaves: Science for All of Us
Sunday, July 21, 2:30 - 3:30 pm
Steven Vogel, James B. Duke Professor of Biology, Emeritus, author of The Life of a Leaf (2012, University of Chicago Press), will describe in word and hands-on opportunities how a leaf manages its world and how this tells us a lot about how we manage—or ought to manage—our own. Every organism must contend with its immediate physical environment, a world that both limits what organisms can do and offers innumerable opportunities for evolving fascinating ways of challenging those limits. Professor Vogle will explain these interactions, examining through the example of the leaf the extraordinary designs that enable life to adapt to its physical world. He will provide food for thought and tools for a new way of seeing the beauty and simplicity of the science of life. Free, but advance registration required.
Return to the EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS page to find other public programs, such as Classes and Workshops, Art at the Garden, and Certificate Programs.
Last updated by Laura Cotterman on May 14, 2013 at 12:57:47 pm.
