Exhibitions

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Bue Kee: An Artist’s Life and Legacy
May 19, 2023 - October 8, 2023 Portland Chinatown Museum is honored to present Bue Kee: An Artist's Life and Legacy. Developed in partnership with the Bue Kee family, the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Friends of Timberline, Portland Art Museum, and private collectors, this exhibition tells the unknown story of a Portland-born Chinese American artist whose work captures an intimate view of Portland Chinatown and the beauty of the Pacific Northwest.

Bue Kee (1893-1985) was a painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Portland Chinatown who later moved with his family to Clackamas County to help manage a hops farm. Hard of hearing, Kee could read and write but never finished grade school. In 1927, he and his family returned to Portland, and Kee began attending the Museum Art School. The first recipient of the school's Carey Prize, Kee went on to work as an artist for the Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration, which included ceramic centerpieces for Timberline Lodge and Tongue Point Naval Station. Kee also worked as a ceramicist at the nationally-recognized Oregon Ceramic Studio. A prolific artist, Bue Jack Kee did not actively sell his art but gave it away to family, friends, and acquaintances. After the 1950s, his art fell into obscurity, and much of it disappeared.

In 2021, the life and art of Bue Kee were brought to the Museum's attention by his nephew, Dan Kee. The resulting exhibition is a dazzling array of watercolors, paintings, lithographs, drawings, and ceramics that showcase Kee's exceptional talents - and his uniquely Oregon story.

>> CLICK HERE TO VIEW SELECTED PHOTOS FROM BUE KEE'S ALBUMS
>> CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT BUE KEE ON HEREISOREGON.COM | By Amy Wang for The Oregonian/OregonLive

Bue Kee, Street Scene, watercolor, 13.5”x19.75”. From the collection of Carole Yee.