CGleadership.htm

Chinese Garden Leadership Team

June Li, ( ) Curator of the Chinese Garden
June Li comes to The Huntington from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where she worked in the department of Chinese and Korean art for 14 years, the last seven years as Associate Curator of Chinese Art. A native of Hong Kong, June is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Oriental Studies, specializing in Chinese art history, and an undergraduate degree in Art History and Far Eastern Studies from the University of Toronto. June has been an adjunct lecturer in East Asian Art for Temple University, the University of Delaware, and Swarthmore College. At LACMA, June curated an exhibition, “Paintings of Zhi Garden: revisiting a 17th century Chinese garden.” Her research on Chinese art has appeared in numerous publications. She has served on grants panels for the California Community Foundation and the Cultural Affairs Department of Los Angeles. June’s new role as curator of the Chinese Garden encompasses participation in the design and construction process to ensure that all elements of the garden are in keeping with classical tradition; formulating education and outreach programs; and representing the Chinese Garden to the community at large.

Jin Chen, () Project Designer

Jin Chen is a native of Guizhou, China. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Tongji University in Shanghai. While at Tongji University, he held an internship with the distinguished Chinese garden scholar, professor Chen Congzhou. Jin Chen worked for six years as an architect in his native China before coming to the United States in 1989. Here he pursued post-graduate studies, receiving a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and a Master’s degree in Architecture from the University of Oregon at Portland. He worked for firms in San Francisco and New Orleans before being chosen to serve as project coordinator for the Portland Chinese Garden, which was completed in 2000. Jin Chen’s travels have taken him all over the world, allowing him to study and compare architectural and garden traditions in many countries and cultures. He frequently gives public lectures on Chinese garden design.

Jim Folsom, Director of the Botanical Gardens

Jim Folsom received his BS in botany from Auburn University, his MA in biology from Vanderbilt University, and a PhD in botany from the University of Texas. He joined The Huntington Botanical Gardens in 1984 as an assistant curator and then became the Director of the Huntington Botanical Gardens in 1991. Prior to coming to The Huntington, he was a collector for the Flora of La Selva Project in Costa Rica and was curator and collector for the Missouri Botanical Garden at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. He has extensive international field experience, having conducted research in Panama, Peru, Costa Rica, Colombia, Jamaica, and Mexico. He has been awarded a Fulbright Predoctoral Fellowship and sundry academic fellowships and research awards, including a National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship. Jim has also written numerous studies, as well as articles, which have appeared in national publications.

Laurie Sowd, Project Director

Laurie earned her Bachelor of Music Education and her Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. She also received her Master of Business Administration, Arts Management, from UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Management. Laurie has previously served as a pianist, vocal coach, and music administrator for the San Francisco Opera and as ticketing manager for the M.H. DeYoung Memorial Museum in San Francisco. Prior to coming to The Huntington in August of 1992, Laurie served as the Manager of Office Services at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu for four years. At The Huntington, Laurie is responsible for overseeing and managing the facilities, security, risk management, emergency planning, information systems, and development of all construction work. She has co-authored a book and is a regular speaker at national conferences on topics of security, emergency preparedness, visitor services, and risk management.

Suzy Moser, Assistant Vice President for Advancement

A graduate of Scripps College and The University of Chicago, Suzy spent 10 years teaching in private schools (Lake Forest Academy and the Harvard School, now Harvard-Westlake) and the last 20 years in development. She began as Director of Development at Westridge School in Pasadena, then moved to New York and became Director of Annual Giving at Barnard College as well as a consultant with Charles Webb and Company, working with a variety of cultural organizations through New York and New England. From 1991 to 1998, Suzy lived and worked in Hong Kong and was a fund-raising consultant to both Hong Kong institutions that wanted to learn about American-style fund-raising and to American institutions that wanted to raise money from Asian sources. After leaving Hong Kong in 1998, she continued to be a consultant, specializing in international development, and then became Senior Development Officer at Caltech, working in the Major Gifts Office. Suzy joined The Huntington as Assistance Vice President for Advancement in 2003.

Suzhou Institute of Landscape Architectural Design, Collaborating Designer

The Institute has completed several domestic and international garden engineering projects in such countries as the United States, Singapore, Canada, and Malta. The Ming Hall (Astor Court) designed by the Institute for the United States was the first garden project ever exported from China. They have won numerous awards, including an Excellent Design award from the New York City Art Committee for its Jixing Garden, as well as over fifty domestic awards at municipal, provincial, and ministerial levels.

Valley Crest Landscape Development, US Contractor

Valley Crest Companies is the nation’s leading provider of landscape development and maintenance services. They have been awarded such commissions as the Gardens at The Getty Center, the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando, and the Olympic parks in Los Angeles and Atlanta. In addition, they have designed the landscapes of hundreds of master-planned communities, resorts, golf courses, shopping malls, and urban parks throughout the country.

Peter Paanakker (1925 - 1999) Major Donor for The Huntington Chinese Garden

Peter Paanakker, a member of The Huntington's Board of Overseers, passed away on October 15, 1999. His interest in The Huntington will live on and enrich visitors’ experiences thanks to an important gift of $10.2 million for the creation of a Chinese Garden. Paanakker was born in Paris in 1925, the son of Katherine Kolb and Anthony Paanakker. As a boy he spent summers in Capri where he developed a life-long appreciation for architecture, decorative arts, and the sea. These interests later translated into patronage, and Paanakker was an ardent supporter of art, music, and archaeology. He was the treasurer of the Kolb Foundation at the University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. His involvement at The Huntington began when he joined the Society of Fellows in 1984. He was appointed to the Board of Overseers in 1994, where he served on the Art and Gardens committees. He also made generous donations to The Huntington, including a gift to the Art Collections and two Lincoln letters to the Library. Paanakker’s final gift to the institution, the establishment of a Chinese Garden, will serve as a testimony to his commitment to this institution and its future.