[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 218 (Monday, December 21, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1193-E1194]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING CHEN LOK LEE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DWIGHT EVANS

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, December 21, 2020

  Mr. EVANS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor an influential and 
dedicated man, Chen Lok Lee. Mr. Lee was a devoted educator and 
prominent printmaker and painter based in Philadelphia, PA. For over 
twenty years, he was a Professor of Printmaking, Silkscreen and 
Lithography at Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, which 
is the first and only visual arts college for women in the United 
States. Additionally, he taught Chinese calligraphy and painting 
classes to the community through the Community College of Philadelphia 
and other private venues.
  Mr. Lee was a political refugee from China who escaped narrowly with 
his life from communist forces in 1950 and was forced to leave his 
family behind. When his life was in jeopardy, his family helped him 
escape, and he swam towards Hong Kong and was rescued by a boat and 
eventually taken to the shores of Hong Kong. He stayed in Hong Kong for 
eight years, studying at the prestigious Hong Kong University, and then 
went on to enter the United States as a political refugee in 1959. He 
settled in New York City's Chinatown and worked his way through the 
Chinese restaurant business to support himself as a burgeoning artist 
and to learn enough English to establish footing in his new country. He 
also began to study under some very prominent and contemporary artists. 
While at the Arts Students' League in New York, he worked with George 
Grosz, Stephen Greene and Robert Hale, along with New York painter Hans 
Hoffman.
  From 1967 to 1970 Chen Lok Lee studied abroad at the Rome Academy in 
Italy and earned an MFA at the Tyler School of Fine Arts as a 
printmaker, painter and lithography under Romas Viesulas and Richard 
Callner. In 1973, he was awarded a prestigious fellowship from the Ford 
Foundation to study at Tamarind Lithographies in New Mexico. He was 
recognized at an international exhibition in Hong Kong, as invited by 
Her Majesty's Service in 1982. In his new adopted hometown of 
Philadelphia, he was selected to participate in the Mayor's Commission 
for Cultural Exchange between Philadelphia and sister city Tianjin, 
China, from 1986 to 1987.
  Mr. Lee was a loyal and dedicated husband to Linda, whom he met while 
studying in Rome. Linda, also an artist and educator, brought Chen home 
to her family in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and then married him

[[Page E1194]]

in 1973. They moved to New Mexico, and then Chicago, before settling 
back in Pennsylvania where Professor Lee was hired at Moore College of 
Art and Design.
  He was the loving and devoted father to Romana (Cliff), whom they 
named after the city of Rome where he and Linda first met, son Raymond, 
and doting grandfather of Hanalee, a naturally talented artist. He 
raised his children with every devotion and detail, ensuring they had 
resources, support, guidance and care to grow up well. He sacrificed 
much to give them a good life and the promise of futures they would be 
proud of. He was very proud of them all.
  Chen Lok Lee passed away on December 13, 2020. Professor Lee leaves 
behind a legacy of strength, courage, honor and devotion, and touched 
the lives of all who knew and loved him.
  On behalf of the 3rd Congressional District of Pennsylvania and the 
city of Philadelphia I extend gratitude to the late Chen Lok Lee for 
his dedicated support and service to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

                          ____________________