UMW Zen Garden
UMW’s Japanese-inspired “Little Sun” Zen Garden (太陽ちゃん園) is a living contemplative space that supports campus-wide initiatives by providing opportunities and environments for members of the community to engage in whole-person wellness, contemplation, and multicultural awareness within a liberal arts setting.
The site provides a living classroom, where students of the Contemplative Studies program focus their minds, deepen relaxation, and cultivate mindfulness in a serene setting dominated by giant, natural rocks and draping Japanese maple trees.
The Zen Garden was installed in 2018 and designed by Japanese garden designers and bonsai specialists Todd Stewart and Bob Chilton, co-owners of Gardens Unlimited in nearby Caroline County and advisors to the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C.
Madeline Madamba (Psychology major, Class of 2026) created this painting of the Zen Garden, which was displayed at Brompton in April 2026. According to Maddie, the work serves as a personal tribute to UMW and to the Asian and Asian American community on campus, reflecting her identity as a half-Filipina artist. The painting was completed as part of Professor Ashe Laughlin’s Painting I assignment, in which students were asked to depict a location on campus. Maddie chose the Zen Garden, noting that “it is a location that not many know about. It gets beautiful sunshine during the day, has a colorful array of foliage, and is also in a quieter section of campus away from the general sprawl. My goal was to capture this serene feeling in the artwork and allow the viewer to see an angle of the campus seldom experienced by the average student. The process of creating the painting itself was challenging, but enjoyable, nonetheless. The best element is the lantern holder in the center; the geometry is just beautiful, and I wanted to make that the focal point of the piece.”