Flora Lamson Hewlett Library

The 2019 annual Reading of the Sacred Texts Lecture will be held on Wednesday, March 13 (reception at 6:30 pm, lecture at 7pm) in the Dinner Board Room. Dancer Carla DeSola will be our featured speaker. Sr. Martha Kirk will introduce the speaker and moderate the Q & A following the lecture.

Join the GTU for a reception with a talk by artist Salma Arastu, as we celebrate the opening of our new exhibition "Salma Arastu: Seeking Oneness," on display at the GTU Library from October 11, 2018 through January 11, 2019.

With the opening of “Beauty of Ink” at the Graduate Theological Union, the Art of Ink in America Society (AIAS) celebrates its fourteenth exhibition season. The Society is dedicated to sharing the excitement of the beauty of ink executed by the soft brush. The kanji 漢字 or ideogram that inspire the Society’s artists evolved from abstractions of objects, sounds, and ideas derived from images from the natural world. Sho 書 (as it is referred to in Japanese) can be properly referred to as abstract art; ideograms are not visual representations of objective or natural forms.

Arash Shirinbab, an award-winning artist and calligrapher, is successful blend of artist, Arabic-Persian calligrapher, and designer, as well as an art administrator, art curator, and entrepreneur. He studied industrial and product design at University of Tehran from 2001 to 2006, earning a BA and MA in the field of design. He earned a MBA in Design Strategy from California College of the Arts in 2010.

Debra Self’s work blends ancient and new, demonstrating timeless themes. She uses traditional Chinese single xuan paper, brushes and bamboo pens and mixed inks along with Western paints in compositions using Eastern and Western art sensibilities. “Storm Within” (on exhibit) abstracts the characters for "raging fire" in a burning and wrathful work filled with strong and energetic strokes that have been used partially in mirror image. She has exhibited in juried shows in California, New Mexico, New York, New Jersey, China, Thailand, and Australia.

Ronald Y. Nakasone began his study of the art of sho (calligraphy) with Morita Shiryū (1912-1998) in 1969. He has participated in a number of group exhibitions in the US and abroad, including with the AIAS since 2002. The Muse de Arte Contemporáneo in Santiago, Chile hosted his most recent solo exhibition, Formas sin Forma: El Arte de la Caligrafiá Japonesia during June and August 2017.

Thich (Reverend) Giac Thien entered the Buddhist order in 1998. While studying Buddhist Philosophy at Van Hanh Buddhist University, he was tutored by Le Quoc Phong, a leading calligrapher. Inspired by the philosophy of ying-yang—the interplay of opposites—Thich Giac Thien developed a fluid style, blending vigorous and gentle brushstrokes, to create elegant texts. Thich Giac Thien’s newly developed script is ubiquitous throughout Vietnam.