Saturday, March 6, 2:00 pm – The Untermyer Gardens Conservancy Winter Lecture: The Islamic Garden as Sacred Art, Online
Emma Clark, a lecturer at the Prince’s Foundation School for traditional arts and a renowned garden designer, will present an illustrated online lecture on the Islamic garden as sacred art and its ability to bridge cultures. Her work focuses on gardens as sacred spaces and her designs include the garden for the Cambridge Mosque and the Persian garden at Prince Charles’ Highgrove. The talk is sponsored by The Untermyer Gardens Conservancy and begins at 2:00 pm Eastern on March 6. $15. Register at https://www.untermyergardens.org/lectures.html
This illustrated lecture introduces the concept of the Islamic garden as sacred art, assesses the principal elements of the traditional Islamic garden and examines how some knowledge of its design principles and spiritual significance may contribute to an understanding of the culture behind it. It is hoped that this introduction to the Islamic garden may open hearts and minds to its timeless and universal beauty, demonstrating how such gardens may offer great opportunities in building bridges between communities. Ms. Clark will also speak about designing and installing gardens informed by the history and cultural tradition of Islamic gardens. Her designs for Prince Charles’ Persian Garden at Highgrove, and the recently installed garden at the Cambridge Mosque are two examples of Islamic gardens adapted for different climates.
Emma Clark:
Emma Clark is a garden designer specializing in Islamic gardens and gardens of other sacred traditions. She has recently designed the garden for the new Cambridge Mosque, UK, completed 2019. She is Senior Tutor on the Masters Programme at The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in London where she focuses on teaching the universal and timeless principles of sacred and traditional art. Emma has published two books on Islamic gardens: The Art of the Islamic Garden (paperback edition 2010), and a monograph, Underneath Which Rivers Flow’, The Symbolism of the Islamic Garden, (1996) as well as many articles on Islamic art and architecture, gardens and the garden carpet.
