Tequesta, FL (June 23, 2008) On June 19 th, an opening reception attended by nearly 150 guests gave attendees an insight into the colliding worlds that make up China today. With a mixture of ancient and contemporary subjects, the exhibition The Art of Travel: Reflections of China features five artists in several media including watercolors, photography and Chinese brush painting. Now showing at the Lighthouse Center for the Arts, the exhibition also includes Chinese artifacts from their museum collection. The exhibition runs through September 5 th.

The accelerated growth that is redefining life in China is depicted in sixteen gracefully detailed watercolors of destroyed Beijing residential courtyard gates by Weizhi Zhang. Zhang uses watercolor as his medium, believing its translucency to be the best way to depict the ephemeral and vulnerable nature of the gates in "a context of destruction and indifference". As a native and resident of Beijing, Zhang believes his work portrays the conflicts between historical preservation and urban development.

Reflections of China also includes both humorous and thought provoking images captured by local photographers Ruth Petzold and Katie Muldoon on their independent travels. Their combined collections comprised of 26 photographs show the richness of the people, their culture, and their environment. Among them is Petzold's inspirational view of a craggy landscape capped by a delicate temple in the "Rocky Road to Happiness" taken in West Lake, Hangzhou. In "KFC Kid" by Katie Muldoon, viewers witness a telling juxtaposition of the new East meets West as a tiny child in traditional silk embroidered Chinese garb engages with a molded statue of Colonel Sanders.

Carrying on the ancient practice of Chinese brush stroke paintings are local artists Susan Wilders and Patricia Santucci. In the peonies of Wilder's floral "Spring" and the equine boldness of Santucci's "Running Wild" as well as several other works by each artist, they engage in this tradition of symbolic expressions where each element has a place without being stilted. In a process requiring enormous skill, each brush stroke is a defining move that produces a portion of the painting and is then neither improved upon nor corrected. No sketch is prepared and no model is used; the artist paints with rapid, mentally constructed strokes transporting a "mind image" to mulberry paper.

The Lighthouse Center's offerings from their museum collection include sections from late Ming Dynasty ceramic rain gutters in the shape of a raging dragon. Also included is an ancient ceramic horse, just three feet tall, from the Han Dynasty and "Pixie and Tianlu ", tomb guardians made in fired earthenware.

The Art of Travel: Reflections of China runs through September 5. The Lighthouse Center for the Arts, located at 373 Tequesta Drive, Tequesta, FL, is open Monday-Friday 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Admission is free. For more information call 561-746-3101 or visit online at www.lighthousearts.org.