A Visual Dialogue Across HumanityCentury Mountain and the First Anniversary of the Embracing Nature – Field and Forest Culture & Arts Festival 跨越人類的視覺對話首届“擁抱自然—田野與森林文化藝術節”圓滿成功

Catskill, New York – The First Anniversary of the “Embracing Nature – Field and Forest Culture & Arts Festival” transformed Hanzhuang New York into a living crossroads of art, history, and nature. The festival brought together world-class artists, poets, and thinkers, offering audiences an immersive experience that blended art exhibition, poetry recital, tea ceremony, martial arts, music healing, and ecological reflection.

At its heart stood Century Mountain, the visionary collaboration between Chinese dissident poet Huang Xiang and American artist William Rock. But the program extended far beyond, featuring significant contributions from Liao Dayuan, Cheng Bai, Li Jianzhang, 成败, Monica Sarmiento-Archer Castillo, and culminating with the prophetic vision of Victoria Zhang.

Century Mountain – A Dialogue Across Civilizations

Century Mountain is a monumental series of portraits by William Rock, overlaid with Huang Xiang’s explosive calligraphy. Together, they resurrect the visages of history’s moral and spiritual giants — Chief Joseph, Abraham Lincoln, Li Bai, Vincent van Gogh, Mother Teresa, Anne Frank, Lao Tzu, Confucius, Buddha, and Jesus.

Rock’s meditative brush renders presence, while Huang’s fiery strokes turn portraits into poetic icons of conscience. In this fusion of East and West, image and word, Century Mountain becomes a visual scripture — a reminder that true civilization is shaped not by empires, but by poets, martyrs, and visionaries.

Presented within the festival’s natural setting, these works took on a ritual dimension. Encountered among forests, tea ceremonies, and sky lanterns, the portraits became pilgrimage stations, inviting reflection on humanity’s shared struggle for justice, beauty, and wisdom.

Beyond Century Mountain – Stone, Nature, and Ancestry

The festival expanded this dialogue with complementary exhibitions:

· Huang Xiang’s Boulder Chime: A calligraphic and performative meditation on stone as cosmic scripture. Through fiery recitation, Huang gave voice to geology and silence, reminding audiences of the pre-human wisdom of nature.

· Liao Dayuan’s The Way of Nature: Oil landscapes of trees, waterfalls, and mountains painted in spontaneous brushwork. These works honored the Taoist principle of wu wei — living in harmony with the rhythms of nature.

· Cheng Bai’s Rural Landscape Series (PPT Presentation): Pastoral visions of boats, fields, and eagles projected through slides. Removed from canvas texture, these images became memory-icons of rootedness, offering refuge and continuity amidst urbanization.

· Li Jianzhang (PPT Presentation): By contrast, Li unsettled audiences with satirical allegories. His parodies of The Last Supper and Raft of the Medusa, along with absurd Beijing street scenes, interrogated body politics, consumer culture, and political spectacle.

· 成败’s Countryside Visions: Lyrical oil paintings of wildflowers, waves, eagles, and roses, celebrating the enduring wisdom of rural life as ancestral ground.

· Monica Sarmiento-Archer Castillo: Pre-Columbian inspired prints, featuring embossed surfaces and oceanic blue forms. Her minimalist abstractions bridged ancestral memory with contemporary ecological consciousness, affirming indigenous time as central to American identity.

The Final Word – Victoria Zhang’s Cosmic Warning

The festival concluded with a thunderous vision by Victoria Zhang (秋潇雨兰): A Warning from the Solar Eclipse. Her painting depicts a total eclipse over New York Harbor, lightning striking the Statue of Liberty, ships colliding — an apocalyptic tableau of fragility and judgment.

Accompanied by her bilingual poem, Zhang interprets the eclipse as a divine and cosmic warning, linking celestial events to 9/11, global paralysis, and humanity’s arrogance before nature. Her message is urgent: art must not only console or critique, but also warn.

Ending with Zhang was deliberate. Her work lifted the festival from portrait, landscape, and satire into the realm of the sublime — where art becomes prophecy, where conscience meets cosmos.

A Festival of Polyphony

By weaving these diverse voices together, the Embracing Nature – Field and Forest Culture & Arts Festival achieved something rare: a polyphonic dialogue across humanity, nature, and cosmos.

· Huang Xiang and William Rock gave us ethical icons of history.

· Huang’s Boulder Chime and Liao Dayuan’s landscapes gave voice to stone and tree.

· Cheng Bai and 成败 restored pastoral belonging.

· Li Jianzhang forced confrontation with satire and absurdity.

· Monica Sarmiento-Archer Castillo reclaimed ancestral time.

· Victoria Zhang sounded a cosmic alarm.

This was not merely an exhibition. It was art as ritual, witness, and prophecy. It reminded audiences that art is not luxury but necessity, not entertainment but conscience.

In a fractured world, this festival modeled what culture must become: a living dialogue across civilizations, rooted in memory, nature, and ethical responsibility.

About the Festival

The Embracing Nature – Field and Forest Culture & Arts Festival is organized by the Borderless Culture and Arts Alliance (BCAAA) and Hanzhuang New York. It integrates visual art, poetry, tea ceremony, martial arts, and ecological practices to create a holistic cultural experience.

Chief Curator: Victoria Zhang

For press inquiries, contact:

· Borderless Culture and Arts Alliance (BCAAA)info@cafc-us.org

· Hanzhuang New Yorkjl@hancca.org

紐約上州卡茨基爾（Catskill）首届“擁抱自然—田野與森林文化藝術節”將紐約漢莊化為藝術、歷史與自然交匯的鮮活場域。本屆盛會匯聚藝術家、詩人、作家、思想家、茶藝師、禪修師和觀衆，透過藝術展覽、詩歌朗誦、著作分享、藝術演講、茶道儀式、健身氣功演示、水晶缽音樂療癒及生態反思等多元形式，為參與者和觀眾打造沉浸式體驗。

核心展區“世紀的群山-跨越人類的視覺對話”由著名華裔詩人黃翔與愛爾蘭裔美國藝術家威廉•洛克（William Rock）共同創作，展現跨文化藝術對話的遠見，藝術展覽更延伸至更廣闊的領域，匯聚了大願、成敗、李建彰、莫妮卡•薩爾米恩托-阿切爾•卡斯蒂略（Monica Sarmiento-Archer Castillo）等人的重要貢獻，並以維多利亞•張的先知性視野作為終章。

世紀的群山——跨文明對話

《世紀的群山》是威廉•洛克（William Rock）創作的巨幅肖像系列，疊印著黃翔爆發性的書法筆觸。兩者交融，使歷史道德與精神巨人重現世間——約瑟夫酋長、亞伯拉罕•林肯、李白、文森特•梵高、德蕾莎修女、安妮•法蘭克、老子、孔子、佛陀與耶穌。

洛克冥想般的筆觸賦予存在感，黃翔熾烈的筆鋒則將肖像昇華為良知的詩意聖像。在東西方文化、圖像與文字的交融中，《世紀的群山》化作視覺聖典——提醒世人：真正的文明並非由帝國塑造，而是由詩人、殉道者與先知所鑄就。

置身於藝術節的自然場域中，這些作品承載起儀式性的維度。當觀者穿梭於森林、茶道與天燈之間，肖像化作朝聖站點，引領人們反思人類對正義、美與智慧的共同追尋。

超越世紀的群山——大石磬、自然、社會與祖先

藝術節透過系列展覽深化對話：

• 黃翔《大石磬》：以書法與詩歌朗誦表演形式，將巨石昇華為宇宙經卷的冥想。黃翔以熾烈誦讀賦予地質與寂靜之聲，喚醒觀眾對自然先於人類的智慧。

• 了大願《自然之道》：以揮毫之筆描繪林木瀑布山巒的油畫景致。作品頌揚道家“無為”真諦——順應自然節律而生。

• 成敗《鄉野風光系列》：投射船舟、田野與鷹隼的田園意象，化為扎根記憶的圖騰；PPT幻燈片脫離畫布肌理的影像對《最後的晚餐》與《梅杜莎之筏》的戲仿，連同荒誕的北京街景，在都市化浪潮中提供庇護與救贖。

• 李建章《永久系列》：PPT幻燈片以諷刺畫面撼動觀眾，直指身體政治、消費文化與政治奇觀。

 • 莫妮卡·薩爾米恩托-阿切爾·卡斯蒂略（Monica Sarmiento-Archer Castillo）：受前哥倫布時期啟發的版畫，以浮雕表面與海洋藍形態為特色。其極簡抽象作品連結祖先記憶與當代生態意識，確立原住民時間觀為美洲身份的核心。

終章——維多利亞•張的宇宙警訊

藝術節以維多利亞•張（VictoriaZhang，筆名秋瀟雨蘭）震撼的《日全食的警示》畫作收官。畫中描繪紐約港上空的日全食奇景：閃電劈向自由女神像，船隻相撞——這幅末世畫卷昭示著脆弱與審判。

伴隨同題雙語詩作，維多利亞•張將《日全食的警示》詮釋為神聖的宇宙警訊，將天象與911事件、全球癱瘓及人類對自然的傲慢相連結。其訊息迫切：藝術不僅要撫慰或批判，更要警示。

以維多利亞•張《日全食的警示》作為壓軸實屬深意。其作品將藝術節從肖像、風景與諷刺的層次，提升至崇高境界——藝術化為預言，良知與宇宙在此交會。

多元聲響的盛宴

“擁抱自然——田野與森林文化藝術節”透過交織多元聲音，成就了罕見的壯舉：在人類、自然與宇宙間展開多聲部對話。

• 黃翔與威廉·洛克呈現歷史的倫理圖騰。

• 黃翔的《大石磬》與了大願的地景作品，賦予石木以聲。

• 成敗重塑了田園歸屬感與反思在都市化浪潮中人如何尋找救贖

• 李建彰迫使人們直面諷刺與荒誕。

• 莫妮卡·薩爾米恩托-阿切爾·卡斯蒂略（Monica Sarmiento-Archer Castillo）重拾祖先的時光。

• 維多利亞•張的作品敲響了宇宙警鐘。

• 魏峰青的正念茶修讓人忘卻塵累，重視生活美學。

• 李豫榮的自然茶道、帶領大家走山、夜晚放天燈令人沉浸于古典田園生活與道法自然。

• 詩人黑豐、作家彭亞君、段遐教授的寫作分享、新書朗讀；陶瓷藝術家何善影教授的手工陶瓷作品分享以及她先生藝術家Phil Read的跨文化與藝術創作心得分享讓坐落于山野之間的漢莊的夜晚充滿文化、藝術與思想的活力。

這不是一場普通的文化藝術節，這不是一場普通的展覽。它是作為儀式、見證與預言的藝術。它提醒觀眾：藝術並非奢侈品而是必需品，不是娛樂而是良知。

在支離破碎的世界裡，這場盛會展現了文化應有的樣貌：植根於記憶、自然與道德責任，跨越文明的活生生對話。

關於藝術節

“擁抱自然——田野與森林文化藝術節”由無疆界文化藝術聯盟（BCAAA）在紐約上州漢莊山水與森林之間舉版，聯盟發起人張玲（Victoria Zhang/秋瀟雨蘭）是這個文化藝術節的總策劃與召集人，共同發起人魏峰青也是這次活動的共同召集人。本次文化藝術節與森林藝術展融合視覺藝術、詩歌朗誦、茶道、健身氣功、音缽演示、書展、讀書、藝術短片播放、藝術講座及生態實踐，打造全方位文化體驗。感謝大家的參與和支持。

縂策展人與召集人：張玲（Victoria Zhang/秋瀟雨蘭）

媒體洽詢請聯繫：

• 無疆界文化藝術聯盟（BCAAA）張玲：borderlessculture1@gmail.com

• 美國華仁協會魏峰青：info@cafc-us.org

• 紐約漢莊李豫榮：jl@hancca.org• Art Inspiration Internation,  William Rock:  infoartandinspiration@gmail.com

• BiCoa, Monica Sarmiento-Archer Castillo:  monicasarmientocastillo@gmail.com