Volunteers to learn karesansui raking techniques for Friendship Bell Garden

Gene Patterson, center, of CNS Y-12, watches as volunteers rake designs in the karesansui garden at the International Friendship Bell in Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)

Volunteers who are designing and maintaining the new Japanese dry landscape garden at the International Friendship Bell Peace Pavilion received special rakes for the garden earlier this summer from Consolidated Nuclear Security, the contractor for the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

CNS-Y12 presented the volunteers with rakes featuring stainless steel blades, made by craftspeople at Y-12 especially for the karesansui garden, which features patterns in fine gravel raked around boulders or stones, a press release said.

“We believe these are the first stainless steel rakes to be used in these traditional karesansui gardens, a centuries-old garden tradition,” said Pat Postma, co-chair of the International Friendship Bell Citizens Advisory Committee. “The rakes have traditionally been made from wood, but I find the weight of the stainless steel rakes makes deeper furrows and longer-lasting designs. CNS and Y-12 continued Oak Ridge’s tradition of innovation by creating these rakes with stainless steel blades. We are glad that CNS offered to make these for us.”

The first rakes for the Oak Ridge garden were made by woodworker Duane Starr. He crafted a ceremonial rake of exotic woods to be used for special occasions, the press release said. He also made five traditional white oak rakes for everyday use in the karesansui garden.

“Duane came up with the idea of using stainless steel for the rake blades, thinking about durability and precision,” Postma said.

Starr, retired from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he was a research and development staff member in the National Security Sciences Directorate, suggested contacting CNS to see if someone there could create the blades needed for the rakes. CNS readily agreed, the press release said.

“Oak Ridge is a great community, and CNS is a part of this community,” said Gene Patterson, community relations lead for CNS at Y-12. “Building and contributing the rakes for the karesansui garden at the International Friendship Bell is a way for CNS to give back and support efforts that are important to Oak Ridge.”

Craftspeople from Y-12 who constructed the stainless steel rakes were Sanford Freeman, a painter; Chris Curran and Wesley Roland, carpenters; and Jessie Cox and Hunter Evans, sheet metal workers.

Home Depot in Oak Ridge also has donated Masonite rakes for the dry landscape garden. Shawn Boothe, assistant operations manager there, devised rake blades from Masonite and used handle and braces from squeegees, providing several replacement blades for use when needed, the press release said.

More than 30 volunteers, who are called curators of the garden, learned the art of raking patterns in fine gravel for karesansui gardens last January from Martin McKellar, Asian garden specialist at the University of Florida’s Harn Art Museum. McKellar volunteered to care for a karesansui garden there after he retired from the university’s International Center, knowing little about the gardens when he started.

Interested in learning more, McKellar has traveled to Japan 11 times to question karesansui gardeners as he studied their raking patterns and gardens. An author of several articles on the gardens, he presented a program on karesansui gardens at the University of Tennessee Arboretum in January before spending a weekend training the new volunteer gardeners, the press release said.

Postma had read about McKellar and the gardens, inviting him here to help establish a karesansui garden at the International Friendship Bell Peace Pavilion, the release said.

“The Karesansui Contemplation Garden at the Bell site is a way for us as residents to disengage from our busy lives and rebalance for a minute or an hour. A second practice garden is a way for the community to physically engage with the Bell site and the Peace Pavilion,” Postma said.

Duane Starr displays the exotic wood rake he made for the karesansui garden at the International Friendship Bell Peace Pavilion in Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)

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