Arts + Literature Laboratory presents As the World Touches Us, an exhibition featuring the work of Li Zhang on display from Tuesday, March 3 through Saturday, April 18, 2026.
An opening reception for the new exhibitions at Arts + Literature Laboratory will be held Friday, March 13, 2026 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.
As the World Touches Us brings together two-dimensional silk paintings and three-dimensional ceramic works inspired by the natural world and quiet emotional experiences. Plants, growth, decay, and the passing of time serve as starting points for the work. Some paintings turn inward, tracing moments of loss, growth, and parting, where emotional shifts unfold quietly alongside natural change.
In the silk paintings, mineral pigment is slowly guided into the silk through careful control and sustained focus, a process rooted in traditional Chinese silk painting. Color is built through many thin layers applied over time. This slow method reflects natural rhythms such as blooming, fading, and renewal. Forms drawn from flowers, stems, and flowing movement appear and dissolve. Earlier layers remain visible beneath the surface, suggesting how memory and feeling remain present over time.
The ceramic works extend these ideas into physical space. Each piece is formed with varied shapes and hand-carved surfaces that recall vessels, stones, and weathered fragments shaped by time. Carved lines, uneven textures, and visible marks of touch reflect pressure, erosion, and revision, showing a balance between fragility and strength.
Together, silk and ceramic create a conversation between delicacy and solidity, surface and form. As the World Touches Us invites viewers to slow down and notice how the natural world quietly touches us, leaving lasting impressions on both material and self.
As the World Touches Us
Li Zhang is an artist and educator at Iowa State University whose practice spans painting, drawing, and ceramics, with a focus on the relationship between the natural world and human experience, as well as the dialogue between Western and Eastern traditions. Her work has been exhibited in both national and international venues.
Li’s artistic practice draws inspiration from natural forms and processes, including growth, movement, transition, and the passage of time. Through silk painting, she works with mineral pigments layered carefully into silk, allowing translucency, texture, and gradual change to emerge. In her ceramic work, Li explores these same ideas through three-dimensional form, using hand-built shapes, carved surfaces, and visible traces of touch to reference vessels, stones, and weathered fragments shaped by time.
Blending traditional techniques with contemporary approaches, Li creates works that balance delicacy and strength, surface... Read More
PLAN YOUR VISIT
Arts + Literature Laboratory is located at 111 S. Livingston Street #100, Madison, Wisconsin, 53703.
Our galleries are open Tuesday through Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday noon to 5pm, and other programs take place throughout the week. Please check the events calendar and education section for details.