Author Archives: Lisa Blackburn
Lisa Blackburn is senior editor and special projects manager in the office of communications and marketing at The Huntington.
Archives
Offerings of fruit, rice cakes, fish, and wine; humble gifts of pine sprigs; scatterings of salt; rhythmic chants; and a taiko drum’s deep resonant tones soaring skyward to invoke the spirits. These...
Experts on nomenclature—from Madison Avenue marketing executives to the parents of newborn babies—have long believed that choosing the right name can make all the difference
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The poet John Keats called autumn a season of "mellow fruitfulness." It is a time of ripeness and abundance that completes a life cycle begun with the first buds of spring
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Visitors can discover an expansive new way to look at miniature trees in "Lifelines/Timelines: Exploring The Huntington's Collections Through Bonsai," on view Oct. 17, 2020 to Jan. 25, 2021
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Notebook paper, No. 2 pencils, colorful new backpacks. Hand sanitizer? Some back-to-school essentials never change, but the COVID-19 pandemic has turned an annual rite on its ear
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With the reopening of the Botanical Gardens following a three-month COVID-19 closure, visitors have been eagerly returning to The Huntington
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The Huntington's bimonthly newsletter has been in print for more than a half-century
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Almost every garden has some common requirements: healthy soil, sunlight, irrigation, regular maintenance. But there are those who will tell you that a rose garden needs something more
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When New Year's Day dawns on Jan. 1, 2020, tens of thousands of spectators will line Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, bundled up against the morning chill to be part of a 131-year-old tradition: the annual...
Ask any bonsai aficionado to name the most famous bonsai in North America, and the answer will almost certainly be "Goshin."
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Seven paintings by the contemporary British artist Celia Paul (born 1959) will be on view Feb. 9–July 8 in the Huntington Art Gallery
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A generous bequest from Long Beach art collector Victor Gail (1929–2014) has greatly enhanced The Huntington's American decorative arts collection while underwriting its care and interpretation..
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If the hectic pace of the holiday season has you craving a bit of tranquility, try this centuries-old tip for restoring inner calm—spend some quiet time in the contemplation of stones
The annual
It’s one thing to read about history in a school textbook. It’s quite another thing to engage with it first-hand: to make personal connections with history and, by doing so, to gain perspectives on...
Happy 4714! According to the lunar calendar, that’s the brand new year that began on Feb. 8, ushering in the Year of the Monkey. In China and in many Asian cultures around the world—and in communities...
Southern California is bracing for rain—lots of it—as the predicted El Niño weather system looms. After four years of relentless drought, some precipitation would be welcome, but too much at once...
What comes to mind when you think of the word “orchid”? Do you picture the wrist corsage that you wore to your high school prom? Are you seeing the potted blooms in the floral section of the grocery...
The irony doesn’t escape Ted Matson. Raised on the prairie of North Dakota, without a tree in sight, the one-time farm boy followed a path in life that led to a full-time career in bonsai. That path...
