On Thursday, November 29, more than 300 people attended the opening reception of the Seven Contemporary Canadian Artists Collective of Durham Region at the Beijing World Art Museum in Beijing, China. Barbara Suen, a professor in Durham College’s School of Media, Art & Design, was featured in the collective.

“It was a great privilege and honour to be included in an exhibition with such distinguished and internationally acclaimed Chinese artists,” said Suen.

In recognition of the first time that an exhibition of Canadian group art has been shown at this institution, the artists received a letter of congratulations from Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.

In total, the exhibit featured 45 artists, 38 from various parts of China including the Xinjiang, Yunnan and Fujian provinces and seven from the Durham Region of Ontario. Attendees included Chinese academics, politicians, curators, arts consultants, collectors, artists and sponsors, with media coverage from across China including Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Due to the success of the show Dr. Tang Bin, curator of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, has agreed to work collaboratively with Suen to organize a student exhibition at Durham College in 2013.