Hanami, Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Cherry Blossom Season, Begins

The Garden’s horticulture staff has observed the first flush of blossoms on the early-blooming Prunus sargentii ‘Fudan-zakura’—indicating Hanami has begun at Brooklyn Botanic Garden! Hanami, the Japanese cultural tradition of enjoying the cherry blossom season from first buds to lush flowers to multitudes of falling petals blanketing the ground, is one of the most extraordinary times of year at the Garden. More than 200 flowering cherry trees encompassing over twenty cultivars—the nation’s most diverse collection—provide a spectacular seasonal show that continuously unfolds over three to five weeks, depending on seasonal weather.

Cherry Blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Photo by Lia Chang

As Hanami progresses, the cherry display is tracked on BBG’s web-based CherryWatch feature, which maps the main part of the collection and provides a daily blooming status for each tree as well as photos of and detailed information about each cultivar. This year, the Garden encourages visitors to share their own cherry blossom images—amateur or professional—on social media including Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook using the hashtag #bbgcherries. Photographers can also post images in BBG’s visitor photo pool on Flickr.

During Hanami, the Garden offers special programs including:
Free tours (April 3–24 on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. and Saturdays at 11 a.m.) focusing on BBG’s Japanese plant collections and specialty gardens, including cherry trees, the C.V. Starr Bonsai Museum, and the Tree Peony Collection.

Hanami culminates in the Garden’s legendary weekend festival Sakura Matsuri—popularly considered New York’s rite of spring. A celebration of traditional and contemporary Japanese culture, Sakura Matsuri (April 27 and 28, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) features over 60 performances, demonstrations, and exhibits—many of which are specially commissioned for this dynamic festival—and attracts one of the largest, most colorful audiences for any cultural event in the city.

For more information about Hanami, Sakura Matsuri, and Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s cherry blossoms, please visit bbg.org/discover/cherries.

Other articles by Lia Chang:
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Celebrates Hanami, the Cherry Blossom Season, Sunday, April 1–Sunday, April 29, 2012
Photos: Fall Foliage at Devil’s Lake State Park
Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s 30th Annual Sakura Matsuri Cherry Blossom Festival: April 30 and May 1, 2011
Photos: Chinese New Year Festival at The Huntington in San Marino
Lunch at The Modern, A Stroll Through The Conservatory Garden in Central Park
Cherry Blossoms, Magnolias, Tulips and Narcissus at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Spring in New York is a Veritable Color Riot
Photos: Cherry Blossoms at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist.
All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2013 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com

Lia Chang’s Lens: Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day! A Cherry Blossom Heart from the Lia Chang Botanical Beauties Collection.



Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Linsanity: Sports Illustrated Cover Guy New York Knicks Starting Point Guard Jeremy Lin
Athol Fugard’s Blood Knot, starring Colman Domingo & Scott Shepherd in The Alice Griffith Jewel Box at The Pershing Square Signature Center through March 11, 2012
Photos: AALDEF 2012 Justice in Action Honorees Parkin Lee, Jean Koh Peters and Fareed Zakaria
Remembering Civil Rights Leader Gordon Hirabayashi,1918- 2012
Broadwayworld.com Photo Flash: Library of Congress’ IN REHEARSAL Exhibit
Cindy Cheung’s solo show SPEAK UP CONNIE, directed by BD Wong at Stage Left Studio has been extended, February 5-15, 2012
broadwayworld.com: Photo Flash: SPEAK UP CONNIE In Rehearsal
Larry Bryggman, Peter Jay Fernandez, Arliss Howard and David Pittu Set for Atlantic Theater Company’s CQ/CX, January 25-March 4, 2012
Ma-Yi Theatre Company Presents Qui Nguyen’s THE INEXPLICABLE REDEMPTION OF AGENT G at Theatre Row’s Beckett Theatre, 2/7 – 3/4
Photos: Eiko Ishioka
Mu Daiko 15th Anniversary Concert and Minnesota Tour, February 9-19, 2012
Photos: Yellow Fever Playwright Rick Shiomi Explores New Territory with An All-Female Cast
Photos & Video: Celebrate Chinese New Year with David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish through January 29, 2012
Mu Daiko 15th Anniversary Concert and Minnesota Tour, February 9-19, 2012
Photos: “How To Succeed” stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rose Hemingway and John Larroquette at Lord & Taylor for Windows Unveiling
Multimedia: Promises, Promises’ Stars Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes at Lord & Taylor Fifth Ave
Photos: David Duchovny, John Earl Jelks, Amanda Peet, Tracee Chimo opening night of Neil LaBute’s The Break of Noon
Andy Warhol, Romare Bearden, Alexander Calder, Lia Chang in Art & Healing Exhibit at Snug Harbor on SI
New York Blizzard of 2010
Snow in New York City’s Central Park
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

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Lia Chang Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. In 2010, the Library of Congress established The Lia Chang APA Theater Portfolio in the Asian Pacific American Performing Arts Collection housed in the Library of Congress Asian Division’s Asian Pacific American Islander Collection.

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2011 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at lia@liachangphotography.com.

Lia Chang: Pretty as a Picture: Photographs by KEN SHUNG on view at The New York Public Library Tompkins Square Gallery through March 31

Photographer Ken Shung at the opening night reception for his solo exhibition Pretty as a Picture, at The New York Public Library Tompkins Square Gallery in New York, on March 9, 2011. Photo by Lia Chang

On Wednesday, March 9, the Tompkins Square New York Public Library Gallery was filled to capacity for Pretty as a Picture, photographer Ken Shung’s debut New York exhibition of photographs. With Neal Grover tinkling the ivories, more than 100 friends, colleagues and family members came out to celebrate him and the exhibition, a collection of large and medium scale prints of his recent Portrait / Landscapes, on view through March 31, 2011.

I’ve long been a fan of Ken’s, who began his career spotting prints in the studio of Irving Penn and freelancing in the studios of editorial photographers Annie Liebovitz, Bill King, Bob Richardson, and assorted magazine photographers. Although he was trained in the workings of studio lighting and editorial magazine photography, Ken set out to discover his own style without the limits of the formal studio, producing work with the intention and idea that “The World is my Studio.”

He has worked for countless magazines shooting portrait assignments, alongside commercial lingerie campaigns starting with magazines like “7 days” to New York Magazine, New York Times Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, Vanity Fair, and a host of Time Inc. and Hearst Publications.

The party continued a few doors down in the heated garden room of the Italian restaurant Gnocco, where we noshed on their signature appetizer Gnocco, a homemade deep fried dough, served with Northern Italian cold cuts, Maccheroni al Torchio Integrali con Prosciutto di Parma e Rucola, Gnocchi pomodoro with basil, wafer thin pizzas-Margherita, Tartufata (Truffle Sauce) and Parmigiana with eggplant.

Ken sipped a glass of Montepulciano D’Abruzzo as he chatted up his guests. I snagged him for a moment to talk about the inspiration for the photographs he chose for the exhibition which he created during assignments and personal travels. His latest work exemplifies a new direction and change from his formal portraiture, where he has instead incorporated decisive moments and storytelling in the landscape /portraits genre.

Ken’s monumental images embody the idea of the Pretty Picture, capturing disjunction, viewing our social spaces with wonder and tenderness and a magical decisive moment. In a typical Shung image, something ominous, apocalyptic, paradoxical, pictorial, and timeless has happened.

“It is said that a photographer/ artist is always searching to find his or her own vision and voice, otherwise they just ends up making a bunch of Pretty Pictures. With this collection of recent images I explore the nature of ‘When is a photograph just a Pretty Picture?’” he shared.

Ken considers his landscapes and portraits graphic, simple, psychological, introverted, and uncomfortably romantic, as well as very challenging conception-wise and academically well-conceived. Unsolved emotions and bold slices of life are part of the pleasures and smiles that are felt when you look at the “Pretty Pictures.”

Pretty as a Picture : Photographs by KEN SHUNG
Through March 31, 2011
The New York Public Library Tompkins Square Gallery
31 East 10th St., NYC 10009 212-228-4747
Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday from noon until 5 p.m. Email Ken at kenshung@gmail.com, to schedule an appointment after hours.
www.kenshung.com
Click here to see the photographs in the exhibition.

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2011 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachang@hotmail.com.

Lia Chang Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography

Lia Chang is an actor, performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multimedia journalist.

As a photographer and videographer, Lia collaborates with artists, organizations and companies in establishing their documentary photo archive and social media presence. She has been documenting her colleagues and contemporaries in the arts, fashion and journalism since making her stage debut as Liat in the National Tour of South Pacific, with Robert Goulet and Barbara Eden.

Selections of Lia’s archive of Asian Pacific Americans in the arts, fashion, journalism, politics and space are now in the newly created LIA CHANG THEATER PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO in the ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTION housed in the Library of Congress Asian Division’s Asian American Pacific Islander Collection.

Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, Gourmet, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Broadwayworld.com, Life & Style, OUT, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, thelmagazine.com, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:

A night out with Gordana Rashovich, Flora Goforth in The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore
André De Shields Set for World Premiere of Charles Smith’s The Gospel According to James at Indiana Rep, 3/22-4/10
Photos: A.B. Cruz III and Lillian Kimura Receive 2011 AALDEF Justice in Action Awards
Andy Warhol, Romare Bearden, Alexander Calder, Lia Chang in Art & Healing Exhibit at Snug Harbor on SI
Juicy Buns at Ollie’s
The Dish on Susur Lee and Shang
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive.

Lia Chang Photos: Chinese New Year Festival at The Huntington in San Marino

My father Russell Chang and sister Tami. Photo by Tami Chang

I loved celebrating the Year of the Rabbit with my father and sister Tami at The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Rd. in San Marino on Saturday, where their Chinese New Year Festival kicked off at 11 a.m., with a performance by lion dancers and drummers near the north entrance to the Chinese garden.

The two day festival, features Chinese shadow puppet theater, maskchanging (bian lian) performances, music, folk songs, children’s book readings, painting and calligraphy demonstrations, and more until 4:30pm.

Amaryllis, chrysanthemums, gladiolas, orchids and tuberroses are among the flowers for sale at the Chinese New Year Festival at The Huntington Library and Botanical Garden. Photo by Tami Chang

Amaryllis, chrysanthemums, gladiolas, orchids and tuberroses were among the flowers available to buy today at the entrance of the garden – having freshly cut flowers and different potted plants are a special tradition to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

The Garden of Flowing Fragrance, the Huntington’s Chinese garden and one of the focal points of the festival, was inspired by the traditional scholar’s gardens of Suzhou, China. Photo by Lia Chang

The Garden of Flowing Fragrance, the Huntington’s Chinese garden and one of the focal points of the festival, was inspired by the traditional scholar’s gardens of Suzhou, China. This breathtaking landscape features a large lake, tile roofed pavilions, stone bridges, a tea shop, and native Chinese plants set against a wooded backdrop of mature oaks, redwoods, and pines.

Lion Dancers at the Chinese New Year Festival at The Huntington Library and Botanical Garden in San Marino. Photo by Lia Chang

SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES:
(except where noted, activities are offered both days)
Lion dancers 11 a.m., 1 p.m., & 3 p.m.
Brown Garden lawn
(near Chinese garden entrance)
Shadow puppet theater 11 a.m. & noon
Friends’ Hall
String & Bamboo Orchestra 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Chinese garden
Chinese brush painting demonstrations 11 a.m.–2 p.m.
Library lawn
Calligraphy demonstrations 11 a.m.–4 p.m.
Boone Gallery foyer
Children’s book reading/signing:
Pauline Tsui, Grandpa’s Treasure Box
Saturday: 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
and 3:30–4:30 p.m.
Sunday: 3:30–4:30 p.m.
Overseers’ Room
Children’s book reading/signing:
Oliver Chin, Year of the Rabbit

Alexandra Bertolini (age 4) and Angelina Bertolini (age 6) in their Chinese New Year finery display their papercuts-the Chinese Character for Spring, at the Chinese New Year Festival at The Huntington in San Marino. Photo by Lia Chang

*Sunday only*
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Overseers’ Room
Tai chi demonstrations 12:30 & 2:30 p.m.
Rose Garden lawn
Children’s folk songs performance
(students in grades K2 from Pasadena Unified School District’s Mandarin Dual Language Immersion Program)
1:30–1:50 p.m.
Chinese garden
Maskchanging
2 & 3 p.m.
Friends’ Hall
Chinese Music Ensemble
(from UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music)
2:30–4 p.m.
Chinese garden

Flower market *Saturday only*
All day – Entrance pavilion area
Folk art demonstrations
(artists from Chongqing, China)
All day – Chinese garden
Penjing display (miniature trees & rockery) courtesy of the Southern Breeze Society
All day – Chinese garden
Scavenger hunt for children All day

All festival activities are included with general admission to The Huntington: $20 adults, $15 seniors, $10 students (age 12-18), $6 youth (age 5-11), and free for children under 5. The group rate is $14 per person for groups of 15 or more. Members are admitted free. For additional information call (626) 4052100 or visit www.huntington.org.

East West Bank is the corporate sponsor of the event. Additional funding provided by the Justin Vajna Memorial Fund for Educational Programs in the Chinese Garden. Special sponsorship has been provided by ICN TV Network enabling a delegation of artists from Chongqing, China, to demonstrate traditional art.

ABOUT THE HUNTINGTON: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens is a collections based research and educational institution serving scholars and the general public. More information can be found on the Web at www.huntington.org.

Visitor information
The Huntington is located at 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, Calif., and is open to the public Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from noon to 4:30 p.m.; and Saturday, Sunday, and Monday holidays from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Summer hours (Memorial Day through Labor Day) are 10:30 a.m. to 4:30p.m. Closed Tuesdays and major holidays. Admission on weekdays: $15 adults, $12 seniors (65+), $10 students (ages 12–18 or with fulltime student I.D.), $6 youth (ages 5–11), free for children under 5. Group rate $11 per person for groups of 15 or more. Members are admitted free. Admission on weekends and Monday holidays: $20 adults, $15 seniors, $10 students, $6 youth, free for children under 5. Group rate $14 per person for groups of 15 or more. Members are admitted free. Admission is free to all visitors on the first Thursday of each month with advance tickets. Information: 626-405-2100 or www.huntington.org.

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2011 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com.

Lia Chang Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography

Lia Chang is an actor, performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multimedia journalist.

As a photographer and videographer, Lia collaborates with artists, organizations and companies in establishing their documentary photo archive and social media presence. She has been documenting her colleagues and contemporaries in the arts, fashion and journalism since making her stage debut as Liat in the National Tour of South Pacific, with Robert Goulet and Barbara Eden.

Selections of Lia’s archive of Asian Pacific Americans in the arts, fashion, journalism, politics and space are now in the newly created LIA CHANG THEATER PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO in the ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTION housed in the Library of Congress Asian Division’s Asian American Pacific Islander Collection.

Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, Gourmet, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Broadwayworld.com, Life & Style, OUT, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, thelmagazine.com, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Up Close and Personal with Darren Pettie, Star of The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore
Marva Hicks to Star in Concert of Pat Holley’s R&B/Pop Musical, Me & Caesar Lee at Triad Theatre, 3/27, 4/3 & 4/10
André De Shields Set for World Premiere of Charles Smith’s The Gospel According to James at Indiana Rep, 3/22-4/10
Photos: David Duchovny, John Earl Jelks, Amanda Peet,Tracee Chimo opening night of Neil LaBute’s The Break of Noon
Photos & Video Disney’s The Lion King Las Vegas-In the Makeup Chair with Thom Sesma
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive.

Lia Chang’s Lens: New York Blizzard of 2010

New York Blizzard of 2010 Photo by Lia Chang

The New York Blizzard of 2010- my view of the New York Public Library, Bryant Park and Fifth Avenue, after 20 inches of snow, on December 27, 2010.

Other Articles by Lia Chang
Snow in New York City’s Central Park
Multimedia: Snow in New York on New Year’s Eve 2009
Photos: Chinese New Year Festival at The Huntington in San Marino
THE NEW DEAL & other plays from The Christine Toy Johnson Portfolio & TRANSCENDING: THE WAT MISAKA STORY
Kevin Anderson, Catherine Dent, Tracee Chimo, John Earl Jelks in Neil La Bute’s The Break of Noon at the Geffen 1/25-3/6
Photos: David Duchovny, John Earl Jelks, Amanda Peet,Tracee Chimo opening night of Neil LaBute’s The Break of Noon
A.B. Cruz III of Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc., Lillian Kimura To Receive 2011 Justice in Action Awards
Photos:The Working Theater’s Off-Broadway production of HONEY BROWN EYES by Stefanie Zadravec at The Clurman -2/6/11
Jarlath Conroy Leads Cast of Pinter’s The Homecoming at CENTERSTAGE in Baltimore, 1/26-2/20/11
Reverend Jesse Jackson & Beau Sia slated for 1st Annual Fred Korematsu Day Celebration on 1/30/11 at UC Berkeley
Museum of Chinese in America Programs in January to Celebrate the Lunar New Year in NYC
Sesame Street’s Alan Muraoka & Friends celebrate Lunar New Year at Metropolitan Museum of Art on 2/5
Andy Warhol, Romare Bearden, Alexander Calder, Lia Chang in Art & Healing Exhibit at Snug Harbor on SI
André De Shields leads cast of Charles Smith’s Knock Me A Kiss at Abrons Arts Center
Photos & Video Disney’s The Lion King Las Vegas-In the Makeup Chair with Thom Sesma
Multimedia: Promises, Promises’ Stars Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes at Lord & Taylor Fifth Ave
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive.

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2011 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multimedia journalist.

As a photographer and videographer, Lia collaborates with artists, organizations and companies in establishing their documentary photo archive and social media presence. She has been documenting her colleagues and contemporaries in the arts, fashion and journalism since making her stage debut as Liat in the National Tour of South Pacific, with Robert Goulet and Barbara Eden.

This year, selections of Lia’s archive of Asian Pacific Americans in the arts, fashion, journalism, politics and space will become part of newly created LIA CHANG THEATER PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO in the ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTION housed in the Library of Congress Asian Division’s Asian American Pacific Islander Collection.

Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, Gourmet, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Broadwayworld.com, Life & Style, OUT, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, thelmagazine.com, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog.