PSBI Attends Opening of Pearl S. Buck Art Exhibit

Pearl S. Buck International was represented by interim president and CEO Cheryl Castro and Pearl S. Buck House Museum curator Samantha Freise at MarsCloud Art Gallery in Manassas, Virginia at a September 24 opening of an exhibit dedicated to Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, humanitarian, and activist Pearl S. Buck.

The exhibit, “The Everlasting Glory of Pearl: Chinese Calligraphy and Painting from Zhenjiang” is a tribute to Ms. Buck’s life and work and her roots in China. Pearl Buck spent the first half of her life in China as the daughter of American missionaries and considered both China and the United States to be her home. The exhibit collection features contemporary artwork, cultural relics, and historical materials and is a collaboration between the artists, Zhenjiang Pearl S. Buck Research Association, and MarsCloud Art Gallery.

At the opening event, Castro and Freise presented the gallery with a print of Pearl Buck’s former Bucks County home, now the Pearl S. Buck House National Historic Landmark Museum and the headquarters of Pearl S. Buck International, which Ms. Buck founded. The gift from Pearl S. Buck International represented the shared mission among the organizations of continuing Pearl Buck’s humanitarian, cross-cultural, and educational legacy.

Castro was invited to address those in attendance:

“I would like to say how honored we are that Pearl S. Buck International could be a part of the opening of this very special exhibit today.

“‘The Everlasting Glory of Pearl: Chinese Calligraphy and Painting from Zhenjiang (Eternal Brightness of Pearl S. Buck—China Zhenjiang Calligraphy and Painting Exhibition)’ is a beautiful tribute to Pearl S. Buck as a humanitarian, writer, and activist and to her roots in China, where her world-changing spirit was nurtured. Pearl Buck was an American but she also considered China to be her home—she was truly a woman of two worlds, two worlds she was determined to bridge through her words and work.

“The exquisite collection of contemporary artwork, cultural relics, and historical materials comprising this exhibit will surely do as the artists, Zhenjiang Pearl S. Buck Research Association, and MarsCloud Art Gallery intended—honor Pearl Buck’s legacy by creating educational opportunities, promoting cross-cultural awareness, understanding, dialogue, and friendship, and building on Pearl Buck’s work and mission to help bridge Eastern and Western cultures.

“Just as this exhibit honors Pearl Buck’s roots in China as well as her historical and cultural contributions around the globe, Pearl S. Buck International has spent 60 years honoring and continuing Pearl Buck’s humanitarian, cross-cultural, and educational legacy through our overseas child sponsorship program, through our intercultural and educational community programming on the grounds of our beautiful estate and headquarters in Bucks County, PA and through tours of Pearl Buck’s former Bucks County home, now the Pearl S. Buck House National Historic Landmark Museum.

“Pearl Buck was a great believer in education being an essential component to people being able to better their lives, whether by helping them lift themselves out of poverty or by helping to bridge the cultural differences that might otherwise divide us.

“Pearl S. Buck International continues to be committed to education as a tool for self-betterment for children, families and communities both here and around the globe and this exhibit is poised to be an educational tool to this end as well through the beauty of art—just as Pearl S. Buck used the art of writing as a tool to educate—, teaching visitors not just about Pearl Buck and her life, not just her journey to be a human bridge between her two beloved homes in the East and the West, but also her vision in making this “good earth” a better, more compassionate, more understanding place.

“At this time, we would like to present MarsCloud Art Gallery with this beautiful print of Pearl Buck’s former home, now the Pearl S. Buck House Museum, as a gift representing our shared commitment to Pearl S. Buck’s legacy. Through that commitment, all of us here today have become a part of her story, a testament to Pearl Buck’s reach not just across cultures but across the years as well.”

~

Pearl S. Buck International^® provides opportunities to explore and appreciate other cultures, builds better lives for children around the globe and promotes the legacy of our founder by preserving and interpreting her National Historic Landmark Home.

– END –