Pearl of the Snowlands: Buddhist Printing at the Derge Parkhang September 11 – December 5, 2009 Chicago, IL -- In an age when the transfer of information is fast becoming digital and paperless, old printing techniques acquire new meaning.  Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Book & Paper Arts is presenting an exhibition of prints, books, photographs and video taken during the exhibition curator’s three field sessions to Derge Parkhang, the only surviving  traditional printing temple in Tibet.  This is the first exhibition on the Derge Parkhang in the United States. Founded in 1729, the Derge Parkhang is a repository for over 300,000 woodblocks and is currently an active center for publication of sutras, commentaries and histories of Tibetan Traditional Buddhism. It is also home to a significant collection of woodblocks for printing thangka, prayer flags, mandala and other spiritual images. Today Derge Parkhang produces sets of sutras for believers in Tibet and inner China as well as for international believers and institutions. Experts say that 70 percent of the Tibetan literary heritage is collected in woodblocks at Derge.  This exhibition hopes to evoke the environment and atmosphere of the temple in an effort to honor the tradition and culture of printmaking and those who continue to keep these traditional methods alive. The exhibition and catalog for Pearl of the Snowlands are part of an innovative project to document the social context for production of Tibetan art, to bring together different perspectives on the Derge Parkhang and its position as a living institution of Tibetan culture.  Pearl of the Snowlands illuminates the important place that the Derge Parkhang plays in local culture and in the revival of Tibetan traditional culture after the Cultural Revolution through presentation of Derge books and prints as well as extensive ethnographic material on printing process, life in Derge and Derge’s history. WHEN:           September 11, 2009  to December 5, 2009 Opening Reception: Friday, September 11, 5 to 8 pm WHERE:        Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Book and Paper Arts 1104 S. Wabash, second floor Gallery Hours: 10am to 6pm, Monday through Saturday MORE INFORMATION: Steve Woodall at (312) 369-6636 or swoodall@colum.edu, press inquiries contact:  Elizabeth Burke-Dain 312.369.8695 or eburkedain@colum.edu Panel Discussion History, Printing and People: The Derge Parkhang and Tibetan Cultural Revival Saturday, November 21, 3:30 pm Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Book and Paper Arts 1104 S. Wabash, 2nd floor Panelist James Canary will make a presentation on Tibetan book arts as practiced today, after which panelists will present slide lectures on the Derge Parkhang’s role in the creation and preservation of Tibetan culture and the part that it plays in the daily lives of people in Derge. They will present the region’s recent history, the history of the revival of printing there in the nineteen eighties after 20 years of religious and cultural suppression and the challenges which face the Derge Parkhang in the twenty-first century.