A new exhibit coming to the Crossman Gallery at UW-Whitewater will bring a distinct international flavor along with it.

“Across the Divide” will feature works from 24 different Chinese artists, and the faculty organizer of the exhibit, Xiaohong Zhang, knows this is an important event.

“I realized that to bring an international exhibition to UW-Whitewater is very meaningful,” Zhang said. “Whitewater is growing right now and our goal is to attract more students with a diverse background to this university.”

Zhang has worked tirelessly since the beginning of last year to get this exhibition up and running.

Gallery Director Michael Flanagan can be counted as one of the many people impressed with Zhang’s efforts.

“She asked me a year ago if we could find space in the gallery to do this exhibit,” Flanagan said. “We got together and Xiao laid out what she was going to do. She really took on the bulk of the work. It’s been a collaborative process, but I really have to give her the credit for pulling this together.”

One of the most interesting things about this exhibit is the catalog Zhang has put together that showcases the different artists and their work. According to Flanagan, interesting is an understatement.

“I can’t tell you how rare of an event it is to have the printed catalog available prior to the opening of the exhibit,” Flanagan said. “It’s a real challenge, and she did a great job to make that happen.”

Cost is one of the biggest reasons these catalogs are so rare, but Zhang was determined to get it made anyway she could.

“It’s very expensive to put something like this together and they don’t give me a lot of money,” Zhang said. “So we joined together with the University of Texas at Austin to build the catalog. Part of the money came from UW-Whitewater and part came from the University of Texas at Austin.”

After it’s month long run at UW-Whitewater, “Across the Divide” will move on to the University of Texas at Austin for another exhibition.

Zhang has worked with the faculty there, as well as Professor Chris Miles at California State University Long Beach, to ensure the exhibit would be one of the best either school had ever seen.

“I’m not a curator so in order to make this exhibition very professional we found a professor from California State University Long Beach, Chris Miles, to be the curator,” Zhang said. “All the work was sent to him and then he selected 24 artists for the exhibition. We tried to find the highest quality artwork from different artists.”

The artists chosen are all linked in one key way and Flanagan is sure it’s that special bond that will make this exhibit unique.

“We’ve done international exhibits before, but this is really interesting because all of the artists are teaching in universities across the country,” Flanagan said. “They’re working with students in the states, introducing things they learned in China so it’s kind of a global melting pot of arts ideas.”

With such a cornucopia of different ideas, the pieces featured are incredibly wide-ranging.

Everything from sculptures, to abstract works, to digital media, will be on display in the gallery and it’s quite a challenge for Flanagan to make it all fit.

“It’s a complicated installation,” Flanagan said. “To try and take all these pieces and have them organized in a way that kind of relates one to the next has been a challenge. How do you make a series of things that are seemingly unrelated make some sense in installation?”

Although there is no specific theme for the exhibit, the pieces are all contemporary in style which is a major point Zhang wants to get across.

“It’s contemporary Chinese art,” Zhang said. “When people talk about Chinese art, they always talk about traditional styles like calligraphy or brush painting. Right now, it’s actually different. There are multicultural elements. It blends western and eastern elements in their work.”

The opening reception for the exhibition is from 5-7 p.m. on Oct. 20 at the Crossman Gallery.

There will also be a symposium held at 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 21 in Hyland Hall room 2203. The symposium will feature 15 of the exhibition artists giving short presentations about their pieces.

Students will have an opportunity to meet the artists and ask questions at the reception as well as the symposium.

Zhang is hopeful many students will turn out as she expects “big things” from this exhibition. She is confident it will be a great event for all UW-Whitewater students.

“Many people cannot afford to see China,” Zhang said. “So instead … we can bring the people here to open the door for UW-Whitewater students to experience a different culture.”