{"id":38231,"date":"2026-05-28T17:06:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T21:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=38231"},"modified":"2026-05-28T17:06:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T21:06:42","slug":"unearthed-showcases-abstract-inspiration-found-in-the-natural-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/unearthed-showcases-abstract-inspiration-found-in-the-natural-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Unearthed showcases abstract inspiration found in the natural world"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Artist Jing Fu has always found inspiration in nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Shanghai-born Canadian artist recently felt her creativity flowing when she pieced together and painted discarded tree branches into a new sculptural work \u2013 not knowing that as soon as the piece was installed at the Aurora Cultural Centre last week as part of her new exhibition, Unearthed \u2013 My Equilibrium, that it would suddenly start sprouting leaves in the Homeroom Galleries, a potent symbol of rebirth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unearthed \u2013 My Equilibrium was formally opened at the Aurora Cultural Centre on May 14, and is set to run through August 13 \u2013 and how long the leaves will run is anyone\u2019s guess!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnearthed \u2013 My Equilibrium<\/em> presents Jing Fu\u2019s atmospheric landscapes in conversation with her ongoing explorations in abstraction,\u201d says the Aurora Cultural Centre. \u201cInformed by her training in shan shui<\/em> (literally translated as \u2018mountains and water\u2019 paintings), the works on display balance Eastern aesthetics with local influences. Since immigrating to Canada from urban Shanghai more than twenty years ago, Fu\u2019s close observations of southern Ontario\u2019s natural environments have become central to her practice. A frequent hiker and prolific painter, she expertly translates her meditations on the natural world onto canvas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf Fu\u2019s landscapes evoke the opposing yet harmonious forces of nature on a grand scale, her <\/strong>Roots<\/em> series turns inward, offering a more intimate exploration of nature\u2019s symbolism and symmetry. Through bold brushstrokes and richly layered textures, she conveys the strength of the gnarled tree roots, while the finely rendered details reveal the delicacy of the intricate root networks beneath our feet. Together, these two bodies of work reflect her pursuit of both internal and artistic balance as she moves fluidly between Eastern and Western visual languages.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcoming friends, family, and art-lovers to the opening reception, Fu said it was a \u201ctrue honour\u201d to share her work at the Cultural Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[This exhibition] represents the search for roots and balance. In this work, I explore the harmony between the love for the traditional arts, traditional Chinese painting, and my passion for modern art,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to give a big special thank you to the gallery manager, curator Ashlyn Gregory, gallery coordinator Adora Lau \u2013 thank you both for your incredible hard work for making this show happen. Also, thank you to my family and friends for supporting me here and making me feel like I want to continue my work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In turn, Gregory said the show itself was an \u201cextension\u201d of the idea of the pursuit of balance, and touched upon the unexpected symbol of rebirth at the heart of the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs you make your way through the galleries, I encourage you to think about balance not as a final destination, but as an ongoing process,\u201d she said. \u201cIn addition to her paintings, Jing presents a new series of sculptures that celebrate nature and rebirth. These sculptures give physical form to the concepts explored in her paintings and stem from her deep appreciation of the natural world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you look closely, you\u2019ll discover that the sculpture in this room is actually growing real leaves, which is fitting as the name of the sculpture is \u2018Rebirth.\u2019 This was not planned or something we had anticipated; it\u2019s just a happy accident. It really connects to the themes of the exhibition, and we\u2019re going to see how it continues to grow throughout the course of the exhibition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artist Jing Fu has always found inspiration in nature. The Shanghai-born Canadian artist recently felt her creativity flowing when she pieced together and painted discarded tree branches into a new sculptural work \u2013 not knowing that as soon as the piece was installed at the Aurora Cultural Centre last week as part of her new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2026-05-28-05.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9WD","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-04 18:50:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38231"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38233,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38231\/revisions\/38233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}