The special art exhibition “Depict a Beautiful China by American and Chinese Artists” from the Letters from the Clouds: My China Story series, organized by China Media Group, debuted at New York’s Times Square on Thursday, September 25. Over 10 renowned artists from China and the U.S. contributed works that showcase China’s landscapes, cultural heritage, and development achievements in the new era, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Taking place in Times Square, known as the crossroads of the world with over a billion annual visitors, the exhibition uniquely blends art and technology through paintings and digital images. The featured works reflect American artists’ experiences and insights from their visits to China, highlighting China-U.S. exchanges and offering a hopeful vision for future collaboration between the two nations.

Renowned American painter and professor in the Department of Visual Art at Brown University, Wendy Edwards, contributed two pieces titled “Li River” and “Elephant Trunk Hill” for the Letters from the Clouds special exhibition. These works were inspired by her experience boating along the Li River in Guilin, Guangxi, reflecting the mutual appreciation and the blending of Eastern and Western cultures in her richly colored and textured abstract style.

Edwards first visited China in the 1980s, inspiring her to create hundreds of paintings based on Chinese landscapes.

Renowned American sculptor and painter Gyuri Hollosy created “A Harmonious Moment Bathed in Sunlight” for the special exhibition, inspired by the newly arrived giant pandas “Yun Chuan” and “Xin Bao” at the San Diego Zoo. Sunflowers symbolize California’s natural beauty. By blending them with Chinese giant pandas, Hollosy shows how the pandas have been cherished and nurtured by the American people, thriving in their new home.

Hollosy believes that people-to-people exchanges rely on keeping an open mind and learning through listening and dialogue.

Hollosy also wrote a short poem for this painting:

“The morning light in hues so bright

Cradles them in soft delight.

Petals drift on the breeze so slow,

Falling like whispers, gentle and low.”

Susanna Coffey, F.H. Sellers Professor in Painting at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, created “Night Sky in Urumqi” for the special exhibition as a reflection of her time in China. She expresses deep gratitude for the experience, recalling the beautiful sights and the opportunity to meet talented artists during her trip to China, describing it as both wonderful and inspiring.