Sarah B. Smith Gallery
Jing Shui: All is Form
October 2 - November 14, 2026
Opening Reception Friday, October 2, 5:30-7:30pm
Jing Shui, Swans, Oil on canvas (detail)
All is Form is an exploration of form through nature, life, and perception.
Jing Shui, Blue Tulips, Oil on canvas (detail)
Artist Statement
All is Form
Form describes everything ‒
from the basic and simple,
from nature to beyond nature,
from what we see to what we feel.
Form captures moments.
Endless moments lead toward the eternal.
For me, the rhythms and patterns of form are a language we all understand.
Jing Shui
万物皆形
形, 描述一切——
从基本与简单, 从自然到自然之外,
从我们所见, 到我们所感。
形, 捕捉瞬间。
无尽的瞬间, 通向永恒。
对我而言, 形的韵律和规律, 是一种我们都能理解的语言。
税静
Jing Shui, Blue Chrysanthemum, Oil on linen (detail)
About the Artist
Jing Shui is a Chinese-American painter, calligrapher, and art educator based in Virginia. Born in Sichuan, China, she lived and worked in Beijing for nearly two decades before immigrating to the United States in 2015. She holds BFA and MFA degrees from Tsinghua University and a PhD from the Chinese National Academy of Arts.
Shui’s work is grounded in observation, with particular attention to form, rhythm, and the ordinary moments of daily life. Drawing from her experiences in both China and the United States, she approaches form as a visual language that can move across cultures and connect individual experience with something universal. These ideas come together in her current exhibition, All is Form.
Shui has exhibited and taught in both China and the United States and is currently an art instructor with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
The artist in her studio