FIRST SATURDAY PDX
  • Upcoming Presentation, 1 April, 2023
  • Welcome to First Saturday PDX
  • CURRENT SEASON 2022 - 2023
    • Quick Preview of Season 2022 - 2023
    • Season Schedule (2022 - 2023)
    • A Visit to the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art ​at the ​Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art​, 10 September, 2022
    • ​China’s Last Imperial Frontier: Late Qing Expansion in Sichuan’s Tibetan Borderlands 15 October, 2022
    • Girls with Big Ideas: Gidget and Song of Youth 5 November, 2022
    • * DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH!! 19 November, 2022 *
    • Following the Thread: China Along the Road of Silk 3 December, 2022
    • The Chinese Massacre in Hells Canyon 7 January 2023
    • Year of the Rabbit 4721
    • Spring Fundraiser Banquet Lunch/ Auction 18 FEB, 2023
    • "Model Letters" and the Audiences of Calligraphy in Early Modern China , 4 March, 2023
    • Women in the History of Tea in in China, 1 April, 2023
  • THE FIRST 20 YEARS
  • PAST SEASONS & PROGRAMS
    • Past Seasons & Program Highlights >
      • Season 2021 - 2022 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2021 - 2022
        • Season Schedule 2021 - 2022
        • The Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project, 2 October 2021
        • Connecting to our Natural World: The Portland Botanical Gardens, 6 November 2021
        • Lan Su Chinese Garden: ​The Vision of a Classical Chinese Garden, 4 December 2021
        • ​Re-visioning ​Chinese History, ​900-1350: ​The New Look of Song and Yuan, 8 January, 2022
        • Chinese New Year 2022/ Year of the Tiger 4720, 5 February, 2022
        • Auspicious Seals and Chops, 5 February 2022
        • The Erhu and Erhu Music, 5 March, 2022
        • Pictorial Naturalism and "Truth": Contextualizing the Eleventh-century Luohan Sculptures of Lingyan Temple in China, 2 April, 2022
        • Celebrated Stories in Sichuan Shadow Theater,7 May, 2022
        • The Daode Jing's Forgotten Forebear: The Ancestral Cult 4 June, 2022
      • 2020 - 2021 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2020 - 2021
        • Season Schedule 2020 - 2021
        • Collecting Under Socialism: Philately in 1950s China, 12 September, 2020
        • Myriad Treasures: Celebrating the Reinstallation of the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, 3 October, 2020
        • The Real Mulan? Tales of a Female Rebel in 18th century China 7 November, 2020
        • Spice it Up! ​How the Chile Pepper Flavored Chinese Culture 5 December, 2020
        • A Century of Collecting Chinese Painting at Oberlin College 9 January, 2021 ​
        • Chinese New Year 2021/ Year of the Ox 4719
        • Artistic Exchange Between China and Europe in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 6 March, 2021
        • The Scholar’s Retreat: Loss and Resilience in the Chinese Landscape and Garden 3 April 2021
        • Simmering, Whisking, Steeping: Methods for Preparing and Consuming Tea in Premodern China
        • Silk and Sericulture: Beauty Inspired by a Social Contract
      • 2019 - 2020 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2019 - 2020
        • Season Schedule 2019 - 2020
        • Mawangdui: The Tomb of China’s Sleeping Beauty, 7 December 2019
        • Field Notes from Sichuan: Learning To Be a Foreigner, 5 October 2019
        • In Search of Korean Liberation in China, 2 November 2019
        • From an Architect's Perspective: 3, 5, 7, 9 Column Halls: Status and Hierarchy in a Confucius Society, 7 December 2019
        • China Under the Covers - ​A Bookbinder’s Journey to the Roots of Books 11 January, 2020
        • Lunar New Year Lunch, 1 February, 2020
        • Early Phonetic Rendering Schemes for Chinese Characters, 7 March 2020
        • The Garden of Elk Rock at Bishop's Close, 4 April 2020
      • 2018 - 2019 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2018 - 2019
        • Season Schedule 2018 - 2019
        • Notable Women of Portland, 8 September 2018
        • Mooncakes: A Hallmark of Tradition of the Mid-Autumn Festival, 6 October 2018
        • Music: A Universal Language for Healing and Touching the Soul, 3 November 2018
        • China: In the Pursuit of Happiness, 1 December 2019
        • Babur's Gardens: An Illustrated Introduction, 5 January 2019
        • Chinese New Year Lunch 2 February, 2019
        • Living with Penjing: Three Dimensional Poetry, 2 March 2019
        • Discovering the Intellectual and Sensory Essences of Chinese Literati Gardens, 6 April 2019
        • Sino-Japanese Cultural Connections in the Yuan Dynasty, 4 May 2019 ​​
      • 2017 - 2018 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2017 - 2018
        • Season Schedule 2017 - 2018
        • Developing Patronage: Chinese and Asian Pacific Heritage, 9 September 2017
        • Every Plant Has a Story to Tell: Bamboo, 7 October 2017
        • Wonders to Enjoy: Chinese Snuff Bottles, 4 November 2017
        • Sichuan Shadow Theater: Messages from Hell Courts, 2 December 2017
        • Legacy of the Qing Manchu Culture: The Sibe of Northwest China, 6 January 2018
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 3 February 2018
        • Classical Tradition: Ancient Musical Instruments of China, 3 March 2018
        • Welcome to First Saturday PDX
        • Ancient Traders of the Silk Road: The Uyghur People of Xinjiang, 7 April 2018
        • "Poetic Exposition on Heaven and Earth": A Third-Century Chinese Verse on How the Cosmos Began, 28 April 2018
        • Word Play: The Art of Xu Bing, 2 June 2018
      • 2016 - 2017 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2016 - 2017
        • Season Schedule 2016 - 2017
        • Contemporary Chinese Society: A View from the Films of Zhang Yimou, 6 May 2017
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 4 February 2017
        • The Uyghurs: History of a People at the Center of Asia, Part 1, 4 March 2017
        • Creating a Tea Aesthetic ​in Tang Verse, 3 June 2017
      • 2015 - 2016 Season >
        • Season Schedule 2015 - 2016
        • Guzheng and Erhu: A Dialog Between the Strings, 2 April 2016
      • 2014 - 2015 Season >
        • Season Schedule 2014 - 2015
      • 2013 - 2014 Season
      • 2012 - 2013 Season
      • 2011 - 2012 Season
      • 2010 - 2011 Season
      • 2009 - 2010 Season
      • 2008 - 2009 Season
      • 2007 - 2008 Season
      • 2006 - 2007 Season
      • 2005 - 2006 Season
  • Videos
  • Partners
  • Join our Email List/ Contact Us
  • Zoom!
  • Stop Asian Hate Resources

Season 2021 - 2022

新年快樂 !  Happy Lunar New Year!


5 February, 2022
9:30 - 11:00 am PT - Webinar

11:00 - 12N PT - First Saturday PDX Tea House 
Special Tea House celebrating Chinese Lunar New Year !
​
An Online Presentation, Registration Required
Video



Auspicious Seals and Chops

​Presenter:
Dan Lucas (Lu Kesi)

this season quick preview
season schedule (2021 - 2022)
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Auspicious Seals and Chops 
Dan Lucas
5 February, 2022
​9:30 am - 11:00 am, PT
Join First Saturday PDX as artist Dan Lucas shares the history of the Chinese seal script. Seals have a long history in China -- the earliest known dating back to the 5th century BC, but their use is thought to have started centuries before. Used as signatures on dynastic court documents, personal documents, contracts, and other official papers, seals also graced works of calligraphy and paintings. Collectors of books and art often added their seals to works.  This talk will include the various uses of seals: learning how artists place them on their work and how seals are being used in modern times -- including those found in Lan Su Chinese Garden.  Molded from metal or carved from stone, ivory, wood, or jade, seals were traditionally inked with red cinnabar paste. The materials and tools used in their design will be discussed, as well as the Xiling Seal Society in Hangzhou, China.

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​Artist's Statement:
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​"Several years ago I participated in an art exhibit in Shenzhen, China along with other students of Portland artist/ teacher Wang Gongyi. At the time I didn’t have a seal to stamp on my work so, on my teacher’s suggestion, I used my thumb print instead. Since there was then no one to make a seal for me I decided to try to make one for myself. Little by little, over several years and with the help of my teacher, I have made some progress in the art of Chinese style seal carving. I continued this, in 2011, with a month at the National Art Academy in Hangzhou, China in order to further my practice of seal carving. Since this art is relatively unknown outside China—although with over three-thousand years of history and development—it is my ultimate goal to help educate the English speaking world about this ancient art form." 
About the speaker:
Oregon artist Dan Lucas uses the name Lu Kesi (魯可思) when painting in Chinese style or carving seals. After receiving a degree in art history from Portland State University, he worked in the library of the Portland Art Museum for nearly two decades. Dan volunteered at the Lan Su Chinese Garden, where he spent 18 years giving tours. During this time, he met Chinese artist Wang Gongyi and learned Chinese calligraphy, landscape painting, and seal carving. In 2011 he spent a month at the National Art Academy in Hangzhou, China, studying seal carving. He has exhibited in both China and the United States and currently works as a graphic artist. To learn more about Dan, visit his website: https://www.lu-kesi.com.
​
Dan's website on the Chinese art of seal carving: 
www.sealsociety.org
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Some Recommended Reading:
  • Lai, T.C. Chinese seals. Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh, 1976. ISBN 0-295-95517-1. This was one of the first, and is still one of the best, books on the subject. There is a very interesting section in the back that shows examples of seals in different scripts. Available from Amazon.
  • Sun, Weizu. Chinese seals: carving authority and creating history. San Francisco: Long River Press, 2004. (Arts of China) ISBN 1-59265-013-9. Only eighty small pages but a good overview of the history of Chinese seals with excellent color reproductions. Available from Amazon.
  • Sun, Weizu. The History and art of Chinese seals. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2010. — 1st ed. — ISBN 978-7-119-06603-5. 573 p., color and b&w photos. This is by far the best book in English on the history of Chinese seals. If you look hard enough you can find it on Amazon.com; it is expensive, but worth the price. Available from Amazon.
  • National Palace Museum. Lasting impressions: seals from the museum collection. Taipei: National Palace Museum, nd. ISBN 978-957-562-514-6. 95 p., color photos with text in Chinese and English. Beautifully illustrated but the text isn’t much help.
  • National Palace Museum. Masterpieces of Chinese seals in the National Palace Museum. Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1976. Color illustrations with text in Chinese and English. These are mostly ancient seals. Available from Amazon.
  • Niu, Kecheng. Chinese seals. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2008. ISBN 978-7-119-04197-1. 91 p., color photos. Very good. Though he is not credited in the (English) text, many of the illustrations are of the artist Wang Shihong (王士宏) and his work.
  • Pann, Yunn. Ancient art of the Chinese seal. Philadelphia: Running Press, 2005. (Miniature Editions). This is part of a boxed set which includes seal ink and four small pre-cut wooden seals. The book, although only three inches tall, has eighty-eight pages of worth-while text. Available from Amazon.

For even more recommendations and comments, please go here

Video of this presentation can be seen here

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Dan will be giving a seal carving demonstration during Lan Su Chinese Garden’s Lunar New Year celebrations on Friday, February 11th, 2022 from 1 to 3 PM.  For more information on this event, please go here.  


​Join us after the webinar from 11 - 11:30am in our First Saturday PDX Tea House to further the discussion and online social time.  Bring a cup of tea! 
​
(Separate  access link for this will be provided in your single registration for this event.)
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This presentation is offered via Zoom Webinar:
  • Join with computer, tablet, or smartphone. 
  • Register here  and receive the links to join the webinar and Tea House in the same registration confirmation email.
  • See our Zoom page for information on how to connect to the event.  

Our program series is supported by Portland State University's Institute for Asian Studies, Northwest China Council and Lan Su Chinese Garden.   All our programs are free and open to the public.   
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​© 2014 - 2023  First Saturday PDX
  • Upcoming Presentation, 1 April, 2023
  • Welcome to First Saturday PDX
  • CURRENT SEASON 2022 - 2023
    • Quick Preview of Season 2022 - 2023
    • Season Schedule (2022 - 2023)
    • A Visit to the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art ​at the ​Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art​, 10 September, 2022
    • ​China’s Last Imperial Frontier: Late Qing Expansion in Sichuan’s Tibetan Borderlands 15 October, 2022
    • Girls with Big Ideas: Gidget and Song of Youth 5 November, 2022
    • * DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH!! 19 November, 2022 *
    • Following the Thread: China Along the Road of Silk 3 December, 2022
    • The Chinese Massacre in Hells Canyon 7 January 2023
    • Year of the Rabbit 4721
    • Spring Fundraiser Banquet Lunch/ Auction 18 FEB, 2023
    • "Model Letters" and the Audiences of Calligraphy in Early Modern China , 4 March, 2023
    • Women in the History of Tea in in China, 1 April, 2023
  • THE FIRST 20 YEARS
  • PAST SEASONS & PROGRAMS
    • Past Seasons & Program Highlights >
      • Season 2021 - 2022 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2021 - 2022
        • Season Schedule 2021 - 2022
        • The Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project, 2 October 2021
        • Connecting to our Natural World: The Portland Botanical Gardens, 6 November 2021
        • Lan Su Chinese Garden: ​The Vision of a Classical Chinese Garden, 4 December 2021
        • ​Re-visioning ​Chinese History, ​900-1350: ​The New Look of Song and Yuan, 8 January, 2022
        • Chinese New Year 2022/ Year of the Tiger 4720, 5 February, 2022
        • Auspicious Seals and Chops, 5 February 2022
        • The Erhu and Erhu Music, 5 March, 2022
        • Pictorial Naturalism and "Truth": Contextualizing the Eleventh-century Luohan Sculptures of Lingyan Temple in China, 2 April, 2022
        • Celebrated Stories in Sichuan Shadow Theater,7 May, 2022
        • The Daode Jing's Forgotten Forebear: The Ancestral Cult 4 June, 2022
      • 2020 - 2021 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2020 - 2021
        • Season Schedule 2020 - 2021
        • Collecting Under Socialism: Philately in 1950s China, 12 September, 2020
        • Myriad Treasures: Celebrating the Reinstallation of the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, 3 October, 2020
        • The Real Mulan? Tales of a Female Rebel in 18th century China 7 November, 2020
        • Spice it Up! ​How the Chile Pepper Flavored Chinese Culture 5 December, 2020
        • A Century of Collecting Chinese Painting at Oberlin College 9 January, 2021 ​
        • Chinese New Year 2021/ Year of the Ox 4719
        • Artistic Exchange Between China and Europe in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 6 March, 2021
        • The Scholar’s Retreat: Loss and Resilience in the Chinese Landscape and Garden 3 April 2021
        • Simmering, Whisking, Steeping: Methods for Preparing and Consuming Tea in Premodern China
        • Silk and Sericulture: Beauty Inspired by a Social Contract
      • 2019 - 2020 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2019 - 2020
        • Season Schedule 2019 - 2020
        • Mawangdui: The Tomb of China’s Sleeping Beauty, 7 December 2019
        • Field Notes from Sichuan: Learning To Be a Foreigner, 5 October 2019
        • In Search of Korean Liberation in China, 2 November 2019
        • From an Architect's Perspective: 3, 5, 7, 9 Column Halls: Status and Hierarchy in a Confucius Society, 7 December 2019
        • China Under the Covers - ​A Bookbinder’s Journey to the Roots of Books 11 January, 2020
        • Lunar New Year Lunch, 1 February, 2020
        • Early Phonetic Rendering Schemes for Chinese Characters, 7 March 2020
        • The Garden of Elk Rock at Bishop's Close, 4 April 2020
      • 2018 - 2019 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2018 - 2019
        • Season Schedule 2018 - 2019
        • Notable Women of Portland, 8 September 2018
        • Mooncakes: A Hallmark of Tradition of the Mid-Autumn Festival, 6 October 2018
        • Music: A Universal Language for Healing and Touching the Soul, 3 November 2018
        • China: In the Pursuit of Happiness, 1 December 2019
        • Babur's Gardens: An Illustrated Introduction, 5 January 2019
        • Chinese New Year Lunch 2 February, 2019
        • Living with Penjing: Three Dimensional Poetry, 2 March 2019
        • Discovering the Intellectual and Sensory Essences of Chinese Literati Gardens, 6 April 2019
        • Sino-Japanese Cultural Connections in the Yuan Dynasty, 4 May 2019 ​​
      • 2017 - 2018 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2017 - 2018
        • Season Schedule 2017 - 2018
        • Developing Patronage: Chinese and Asian Pacific Heritage, 9 September 2017
        • Every Plant Has a Story to Tell: Bamboo, 7 October 2017
        • Wonders to Enjoy: Chinese Snuff Bottles, 4 November 2017
        • Sichuan Shadow Theater: Messages from Hell Courts, 2 December 2017
        • Legacy of the Qing Manchu Culture: The Sibe of Northwest China, 6 January 2018
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 3 February 2018
        • Classical Tradition: Ancient Musical Instruments of China, 3 March 2018
        • Welcome to First Saturday PDX
        • Ancient Traders of the Silk Road: The Uyghur People of Xinjiang, 7 April 2018
        • "Poetic Exposition on Heaven and Earth": A Third-Century Chinese Verse on How the Cosmos Began, 28 April 2018
        • Word Play: The Art of Xu Bing, 2 June 2018
      • 2016 - 2017 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2016 - 2017
        • Season Schedule 2016 - 2017
        • Contemporary Chinese Society: A View from the Films of Zhang Yimou, 6 May 2017
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 4 February 2017
        • The Uyghurs: History of a People at the Center of Asia, Part 1, 4 March 2017
        • Creating a Tea Aesthetic ​in Tang Verse, 3 June 2017
      • 2015 - 2016 Season >
        • Season Schedule 2015 - 2016
        • Guzheng and Erhu: A Dialog Between the Strings, 2 April 2016
      • 2014 - 2015 Season >
        • Season Schedule 2014 - 2015
      • 2013 - 2014 Season
      • 2012 - 2013 Season
      • 2011 - 2012 Season
      • 2010 - 2011 Season
      • 2009 - 2010 Season
      • 2008 - 2009 Season
      • 2007 - 2008 Season
      • 2006 - 2007 Season
      • 2005 - 2006 Season
  • Videos
  • Partners
  • Join our Email List/ Contact Us
  • Zoom!
  • Stop Asian Hate Resources