{"id":575,"date":"2023-09-20T18:18:48","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T18:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/austin-arts-center\/?page_id=575"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:57:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T21:57:58","slug":"widener-gallery","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/austin-arts-center\/widener-gallery\/","title":{"rendered":"Widener Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reshaping Tradition: <\/em><\/h2>\n

Contemporary Explorations in East Asian Art<\/em><\/h2>\n

January 26\u2013April 24, 2026<\/h3>\n

Events<\/h2>\n

Reception<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Thursday, February 5, 4:00\u20136:00 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Brandon Sadler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

_______________________________<\/h3>\n

Artist Talk with Brandon Sadler<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Monday, March 30, 6:30 p.m. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Austin Arts Center, Room 301<\/p>\n

_____________________________<\/p>\n

DIFFUSION: An Experiential Calligraphy Performance by Brandon Sadler<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Tuesday, March 31, 6:30 p.m.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Austin Arts Center, Garmany Hall<\/p>\n

What yields moves through stone. What has no fixed form finds its way.<\/em><\/p>\n

In this live performance, interdisciplinary artist Brandon Sadler will create a large-scale calligraphy piece using a paint sprayer to transform language through his Single Word Character<\/em> system, developed through years of studying Chinese calligraphy and philosophy alongside graffiti writing and text design. The performance is accompanied by immersive sound design by Rocko Walker.<\/p>\n

DIFFUSION explores cross-cultural identity and reimagines traditional calligraphy by replacing brush and ink with an air pump sprayer and enamel paint, emphasizing flow, materiality, and transformation. This piece is part of Sadler\u2019s ongoing series The Path of Totality<\/em>, a body of work exploring storytelling, mythology, and experimental process across visual and performative practices.<\/p>\n

_______________________________________<\/p>\n

Gallery Talk with Associate Professor of Fine Arts Michael J. Hatch<\/h3>\n

Thursday, April 23, 12:30 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Austin Arts Center, Lobby and Widener Gallery<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About the Exhibition<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Reshaping Tradition<\/em> brings together five artists \u2013 Arnold Chang, Michel Cherney, Fung Ming Chip, Brandon Sadler, and Zhang Xiaoli \u2013 who explore diaspora by reimagining traditional East Asian art through global and modern perspectives.<\/p>\n

The exhibited work includes painting, photography, calligraphy, ceramics, and graffiti, and often synthesizes more than one of these mediums. Through contemporary mediums and approaches, the artists acknowledge tradition while addressing themes of language, culture, and identity.<\/p>\n

The included artists engage with the artistic inheritance of East Asia from diverse backgrounds and with varied approaches.<\/p>\n

Arnold Chang is an Asian-American artist trained in New York by the classical Chinese painting master, C.C. Wang. His work honors foundations of Chinese literati ink painting while progressively reshaping its possibilities for a global context.<\/p>\n

Michael Cherney is an American photographer and calligrapher who has lived in China throughout his adult life. His photographs bridge Chinese artistic traditions and contemporary photographic practices, presenting tradition as continuous and fluid.<\/p>\n

Fung Ming Chip is a self-taught, Hong Kong-based calligrapher whose work reimagines shufa, the traditional means of writing Chinese calligraphy. Drawing on ideas of overcoming language barriers, he derives his invented script styles from distinctive reinventions of shufa\u2019s basic materiality.<\/p>\n

Brandon Sadler, an Atlanta-born artist, mixes Korean calligraphy, American graffiti and Japanese visual culture to engage with the visual complexities of cross-cultural identity. His work manipulates language, transforming written forms into visual rhythms and hybrid scripts.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fung Ming Chip, Raindrops Script<\/em>, 2012, Ink on paper, Courtesy of Fu Qiumeng Fine Art<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Zhang Xiaoli is a painter born and trained in China and now living in Canada. Her images meld her background in biology and fine arts, combining scientific precision with the ideas of Classical painting.<\/p>\n

By deconstructing language and landscape, identity and experience, history and place, these artists collectively revise traditional East Asian artistic practices for the present moment. They appropriate aspects of classical visuality to create contemporary reflections on identity, diaspora, and cultural inheritance. Their work mirrors the dynamic nature of traditions, which constantly adapt to our increasingly connected, global existence.<\/p>\n

Reshaping Tradition<\/em>\u00a0is Widener Gallery\u2019s first student-curated exhibition. During the 2025 fall semester, students in Associate Professor of Fine Arts Michael J. Hatch\u2019s course, \u201cArt History 205: East Asian Art, Now to 1850,\u201d worked collaboratively to curate the show. A full-color catalog, designed and written by students and including essays and artist interviews, accompanies the exhibition.<\/p>\n

Sponsored by the Art History Program and the Studio Arts Program.<\/p>\n

Widener Gallery is free and open to the public.<\/p>\n

Gallery Hours: Monday\u2013Friday, 10:00 a.m.\u20135:00 p.m., and by appointment.<\/p>\n

For directions, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more information or to inquire about a tour, contact
\nLisa Lynch, lisa.lynch@trincoll.edu<\/a>, 860-297-5237 Or
\nTracy Quigley, tracy.quigley@trincoll.edu<\/a>, 860-297-5232<\/p>\n

Join Our Mailing List!<\/h4>\n

Sign up to receive the latest news from Widener Gallery. Click here<\/a> to add your email.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reshaping Tradition: Contemporary Explorations in East Asian Art January 26\u2013April 24, 2026 Events Reception Thursday, February 5, 4:00\u20136:00 p.m. _______________________________ Artist Talk with Brandon Sadler Monday, March 30, 6:30 p.m. Austin Arts Center, Room 301 _____________________________ DIFFUSION: An Experiential Calligraphy Performance by Brandon Sadler Tuesday, March 31, 6:30 p.m.\u00a0 Austin Arts Center, Garmany Hall What […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-575","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWidener Gallery - Austin Arts Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/austin-arts-center\/widener-gallery\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Widener Gallery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reshaping Tradition: Contemporary Explorations in East Asian Art January 26\u2013April 24, 2026 Events Reception Thursday, February 5, 4:00\u20136:00 p.m. _______________________________ Artist Talk with Brandon Sadler Monday, March 30, 6:30 p.m. Austin Arts Center, Room 301 _____________________________ DIFFUSION: An Experiential Calligraphy Performance by Brandon Sadler Tuesday, March 31, 6:30 p.m.\u00a0 Austin Arts Center, Garmany Hall What […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/austin-arts-center\/widener-gallery\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Austin Arts Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-30T21:57:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/austin-arts-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2026\/02\/JOHNSTEPHENS-HIGH_MUSEUM_BRANDON_SADLER_ART_PERFORMANCE_AUGUST_2025-78-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1882\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/austin-arts-center\/widener-gallery\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/austin-arts-center\/widener-gallery\/\",\"name\":\"Widener Gallery - 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