The Healing Power of the Wood Stone Culture within the Penitentiary
Mark Vossbrink, BFA
1 November, 2025
9:30 - 11:00am
Penjing is the ancient Chinese art of creating landscape scenes in miniature, reflecting an appreciation for the natural world which is deeply embedded in Chinese tradition. Dating back over two thousand years, this art uses carefully shaped living plants, sometimes with rocks and figurines to create a narrative and form an arrangement as a world within a world.
 
Similarly, the Memorial Healing Garden at the Oregon State Penitentiary is an arrangement of plants and stones and water to create a living world within the stark harsh world of concrete and steel. This beloved garden is a special place for healing and moving forward, with motivation, cultivation, restoration and growth.
 
Join First Saturday PDX as penjing master Mark Vossbrink shares the power of qi involved in a garden – positive energy which ties into meditation and enlightenment in a Buddhist way.   Plants manipulate and attract energy; in a prison, the garden fosters that positive energy in that space. 
 
As one of our most popular speakers, Mark will also revisit a living piece created for us in 2019,  demonstrating how deliberate cultivation has contributed to its development.  Come experience the hidden energy and transformative power of penjing. ​​​
Picture
photo by Asian Pacific Family Club
About the speaker:
   Born and raised in Honolulu, Mark Vossbrink later received a Fine Arts degree at the University of Oregon, specializing in ceramics. There in Eugene he established Rainy Day Flowers which he operated for over 35 years, eventually moving location to Portland.  A member of the Bonsai Club ​International and the Bonsai Society of Portland, he is an expert in penjing, and shares his skill and knowledge in public talks.  He has also taught at the Portland Parks and Recreation for more than 15 years, offering classes in bonsai and floral design.  Mark has been involved with the Portland Japanese Garden and the Gresham Japanese Garden, Tsuru Island. And of course, many of the penjing pieces you see at the Lan Su Garden have been created and donated by Mark, where he has also volunteered and lectured. 
Check-in begins promptly at 9:15am
​Please meet at the SOUTH SIDE entrance doors
(north side doors are to the Physics side of the building)

​**This is an on-site presentation. 
Reed College, Biology Building, B19 Auditorium (lower level)
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland, OR 97202

The large East Parking Lot (free) is conveniently located nearby to the unmarked Biology Building, adjacent to the neighboring ETC (Educational Technology Center), see campus map here

Public transportation is available, plan your TriMet trip HERE.  (The #19 bus stops right on SE Woodstock East Parking entrance to the campus.

​We recommend that attendees be vaccinated and boosted, and follow CDC guidelines regarding masking.
For those interested in continuing the conversation, there will be a no host lunch family style with the speaker at a Chinese restaurant close by, afterwards.   Please let us know if you are joining when you register for the program so that we can make the proper arrangements. For ease of payment for this lunch, please ​bring cash.
Our program series is supported by Reed College, Northwest China Council, Lan Su Chinese Garden, PSU's IAS, and Portland Chinatown Museum.   ​
​All our programs are free and open to the public.   ​