Zhang Xiaoli | Block Party!
On View: September 2 – December 12, 2026
Location: Watson Galleries
Save the Date: Artist Talk and Reception, Friday September 18, 2026, 5:30 – 7:30 PM
Image (left): Le Garden Manual #6 of 6, 2025, Zhang Xiaoli (b. 1989, China), detail, Ink and color on silky paper. Courtesy of the artist
Zhang Xiaoli | Block Party! allows visitors to explore imaginary worlds inspired by Chinese landscape painting, printed books, and historical ceramics using modular toy blocks. Rooted in classical Chinese painting, Zhang Xiaoli’s (b. 1989 China, living in Canada) work explores themes of visual translation, cultural continuity, and migration experience. Zhang paints in the traditional style known as gongbi, a method defined by precise outlines, careful brushwork, and layered color, to closely observe and record the natural world, including plants, animals, and people. Zhang uses this technique to depict invented books, ceramic patterns, calendars, and dream landscapes constructed from interlocking block forms and minifigs.
Block Party! is the culmination of Zhang’s 2025 artist-in-residence at the Art Museum. The resulting series draws on the museum’s collection of works by W&L Art Professor I-Hsiung Ju (1923-2012), Chinese art, and the Virginian landscapes of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Zhang’s new series explores how painting can make invented worlds feel believable and real and how images move across cultures, materials, and history.
The exhibition is organized by Isra El-beshir (Director of Art Museum) and Zhang Xiaoli, guest curated by Daniel M. Greenburg, assistant professor of art history at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, in collaboration with Jack Green (Associate Director of Collections and Curatorial Affairs), Fosca Maddaloni-Yu (Euclin D. Reeves Curatorial Fellow in Ceramic Art), and Patricia Hobbs (Senior Curator of Art Emerita).
This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Center for International Education at Washington and Lee and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
“For the W&L community, I believe this residency was not only a presentation of my work, but also a reconnection—with the legacy of Professor Ju, with Chinese art and culture, and more broadly with East Asian traditions. I see this as a beginning, like echoes from distant mountains—resonances that carry forward.”
Zhang Xiaoli
2025 Artist-in-Residence Program, Art Museum at Washington and Lee University
Photo courtesy of the artist
Photo of I-Hsiung Ju (1923-2012), professor emeritus of art at W&L, date unknown, courtesy of the Special Collections and Archives at W&L.
The late W&L art professor I-Hsiung Ju (b. 1922, Jiangyin, China; d. 2012, North Fort Myers, FL) was a traditional Chinese scholar-painter trained in Eastern and Western traditions in China and the Philippines. He practiced literati painting or wenren hua (文人), a style based in calligraphy where spontaneous brushwork is a means of personal expression, a goal more highly valued than technical skill or realistic depiction.
A native of Jiangyin, China, Ju studied art in China and the Philippines, training in both Eastern and Western traditions. In 1968, he immigrated to the United States with his family and was soon hired as artist-in-residence at W&L, where he was an influential and beloved professor for 20 years (1969-1989). For decades, Ju encouraged generations of students and artists as a teacher and cultural ambassador. His legacy continued in 2025 when his artwork, now held in the W&L Art Museum, inspired Zhang Xiaoli during her artist residency.
Ju’s impact was far-reaching as he created opportunities to support a merging of cross-cultural interests and contemporary life that were so foundational to him. These included an “Art in Taiwan” study abroad program; the Art Farm Gallery (1975-1999), a gallery and art school of Chinese arts and culture in Lexington, Virginia; and published four instructional books on painting each of the “Four Gentlemen,” four plants in Chinese art that represent: the plum blossom, the orchid, the bamboo, and the chrysanthemum.
An award-winning artist who taught and exhibited widely, I-Hsiung Ju’s works are in many private and public collections, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, VA, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene, OR, the Westervelt Collection in Tuscaloosa, AL, and the Millennium Gate Museum in Atlanta, GA.
Learn more about I-Hsiung Ju’s artistic legacy and his role at W&L and in Lexington, Virginia.
Photo courtesy of D.M. Greenberg
Events and Programming
Chinese Seal-Carving Workshop
Friday, September 4, 2026, 1:00 – 2:30 PM
Watson Galleries
Join Visiting Artist Zhang Xiaoli to explore the art of Chinese seal carving and discover a creative way to design and carve your initials. Learn about the tools, materials, and basic techniques. Everything you need will be provided.
Free and open to all. Seats are limited and pre-registration is required.
Curator-led Exhibition Tours
Thursday, September 17, 2026, 12:00 – 2:30 PM
Watson Galleries
Join guest curator Dr. Daniel Greenberg, assistant professor of Asian art at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, for three insightful, 30-minute guided tours of Zhang Xiaoli | Block Party!
The event is free and open to all. Pre-registration is required.
Photo courtesy of D.M. Greenberg.
Artist Talk and Block Party! Reception
Friday, September 18, 2026, 5:30 – 6:30 PM
Artist Talk: 5:30 – 6:30 PM, University Chapel
Exhibition Reception: 6:30 – 7:30 PM, Watson Galleries
Join us for an evening with guest curator Daniel Greenberg and W&L artist-in-residence Zhang Xiaoli as they engage in a conversation exploring the themes and processes behind Block Party!
A reception with wine and hors d’oeuvres will follow at 6:30 PM in Watson Galleries, offering visitors the opportunity to explore the exhibition.
This event is free and open to all. Seats are limited and pre-registration is required.
Photo courtesy of the artist.
Mid-Autumn Festival Family Day
Saturday, September 26, 2026, 10:00 – 11:30 AM
Watson Galleries
Welcoming families and friends of all ages to the Zhang Xiaoli | Block Party! exhibition and Mid-Autumn Festival calligraphy and poetry workshop. Interactive booths will be available for artist-led instruction to engage in calligraphy and poetry in the Chinese tradition.
The event is free and open to all. Pre-registration is required.
Photo credit: “October” from The Twelve Months of Washington and Lee, 2025. Katie Lawson (W&L Class of 2026, Student Apprentice for artist Zhang Xiaoli). Ink, color, and gold leaf on Xuan paper and silk. Image courtesy of Zhang Xiaoli.