Morikami Gardens: A Conversation About Art, History, Design, & Healing

Join Dr. Emily Fenichel from Florida Atlantic University and Michiko Kurisu, from Kurisu LLC, for a wide-ranging conversation about Morikami Gardens in Delray Beach. Kurisu was a part of the team that designed and installed the fabulous Japanese Gardens at Morikami and Fenichel is an Art History professor. Together, they will discuss the history of Morikami, the challenges in making a Japanese Garden in South Florida, the ethos behind the design, the garden’s place in the broader community, and how such gardens can be healing spaces.

Biography of Emily A. Fenichel, Ph.D is an Associate Professor of Art History at Florida Atlantic University who earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. Her research focuses on the art of the Italian Renaissance, specifically the religious art of Michelangelo Buonarroti, on which she has published and lectured extensively. Her forthcoming book, Michelangelo’s Art of Devotion in the Age of Reform (Cambridge, 2023) considers the artist’s late religious works against the backdrop of Counter-Reformation Rome.

Since 1999, Michiko Kurisu has worked together with her father at Kurisu, LLC, a Japanese garden landscape design and construction firm, to develop public awareness about healing gardens and the particular qualities of Japanese garden design that shape therapeutic environments. A professional photographer, she has documented Kurisu’s gardens and the experiences of people who inhabit them to further understand how nature affects human wellness. She holds a BFA from Brown University, studied photography at the Rhode Island School of Design and environmental science in Botswana with the School for International Training. She is based in Delray Beach, Florida.

Cost:

Member - $30 or $100 for any combination of four FAU Lecture Series events. Bundle purchases are non-refundable.

Non-Member and Guest - $35