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As a child growing up in China, Laura Yang was expected by her mother to practice her Chinese calligraphy and read and learn a poem, each and every day. Decades later, while living in Brazil, she launched her Western art studies under Francesco Galloti, quickly becoming a protégé of the late Italian colorist painter.

After nearly 20 years of exhibiting from Brazil to New York City, Yang next presents her fusion of the disparate arts of Chinese calligraphy and intensely colorized Western abstraction in “A Synthesis of East and West” at the Art Gallery. The show opened March 14. Supported in part by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the exhibit continues to April 10.

“To me, the main strengths of Chinese calligraphy are energy and musical rhythm, while the most interesting aspect of Western oil painting is the emotional power of color,” said the artist, who now lives in Wilmington, Delaware. “In combining these features, I try to develop a new style of abstract painting.” Chinese calligraphy, Yang noted, began as an observation of nature that evolved into a pure art form.

The Villanova exhibit presents Yang’s work in three groupings: her LiPo series, inspired by the writings of the revered 8th century Chinese poet; a series of seashell works (“To me, the seashell appears to suggest that life begins less by reaching than by turning upon itself.”); and the Chinese garden series, in which shadows and colors are projected by natural light on the off-white wall that always contained traditional Chinese gardens. “To me,” said Yang, “these gardens are a metaphor of psychological space.”

Of LiPo, Yang said, “I admired that he moved through this world seemingly free from attachment and, at the same time, he belonged fully to this earth and its process of continuous change. No matter how ethereal in spirit they are, his poems remain grounded in the everyday life experiences shared by all of us.”

Travelers to the Baltimore Washington International Airport will soon experience Yang’s work on a large scale. Her 2,060-square-foot art tile mural “Flyway,” now being installed on the airport’s new central parking garage, will be unveiled this spring. Selected by the U.S. Department of State as “examples of the depth and quality of our nation’s artistic heritage,” two of her works hang in the official residence of America’s Ambassador to Port Louis, Mauritius. Yang became a U.S. citizen in 1967.

Until she met Francesco Galloti in Sao Paolo in the late 1970s, Yang had no plans to become a serious artist. “He shaped my love for art,” said Yang. “He gave me so much. Above all, he told me that while I should study, I must always do my own art.” Also central to Yang’s artistic growth was the noted American artist Stephen Greene, who she studied under shortly before his death in 1999.

For six months, she journeyed twice a week from Wilmington to New York City for her classes with Greene. "I think it would be more accurate to say that he studied me. After six months, he said he did not want me to be influenced by his painting style. He told me to go home and do my own thing.” Of her two teachers, she said: “Stephen Greene and Mr. Galloti were the finest mentors any artist could ever hope to have. They gave the greatest gift they could possible have given; they allowed me to be my own artist.”

Yang’s work has been featured in scores of exhibits, and has won numerous honors, awards and competitions across the United States. Of her work, she said: “My art is transformed by my Chinese cultural heritage. Fundamental to my work is the expression of energy and motion through the process of mark making; through layering a canvas with abstract ‘marks’ of intense, saturated color. Each brushstroke is energetic, immediate and free, and the play between mark, color and space gives each painting its dynamics.”

Most of the exhibited works will be for sale, with all proceeds going to the artist. As part of its policy of being as artist and audience friendly as possible, the gallery takes no commission on the sale of exhibited works, and offers its exhibits, receptions and programs to the public free of charge.

For more information about the exhibit, or to arrange a free guided tour, telephone the Art Gallery at 94612. Exhibited works may also be previewed on the Internet at www.artgallery.villanova.edu.