On a Saturday afternoon in Kansas’ Flint Hills, artist Hong Chun Zhang unveiled “Prairie Dragon”, a larger than life creature constructed of locally harvested hay bales, corn stalks, mesh, and textiles. The 100 ft long structure sits on the site of the Volland Foundation, an art gallery and community space tucked away in a scenic valley amongst these hills. Seventy red flags representing scales on the spine flapped in the intense summer wind as spectators took in the view. 2024 is the year of the dragon in the Chinese zodiac calendar: the installation and accompanying exhibition are here to celebrate it.

*Red Dragon*, 2024
Chinese ink and color on Alcantar fabric, 42 x 94 in with scrolls

The dragon is a symbol of prosperity and luck in Chinese culture, and in farming communities it also serves as a deity for the crops. Hong envisions “Prairie Dragon” as a creature exploring the region while bringing good fortune to those who cross its path. The installation was a collaborative effort. Hong spent nine months designing the installation with some mathematical help from her husband, John. Based on Hong's drawing and scale model, 48 different-sized round hay bales were harvested from Volland’s brome field by local farmer Rusty McDiffett and his son. Construction took only three days thanks to McDiffett, another local farmer Rob Meseke, Volland operations director Ryan Jones, and the artist’s family working together to complete the installation. Meseke spent a whole day moving and placing the haybales with a tractor forklift based on the guidance of the artists’ team. The dragon’s mouth and eyes were fabricated by Mike Riggs of Lawrence, KS.

Inside the Volland gallery lies “Hair of the Dragon”, a new body of work from Hong that simultaneously honors her Chinese roots while paying homage to the Kansas prairiescapes that have offered her inspiration since moving to the state some twenty years ago. Hong describes her style as “always evolving”. She is inspired by the power of simple works on a large scale. The 94 inch scroll “Red Dragon'' is another example of her exerting this power through the combination of traditional Chinese fine style and free style ink painting techniques on Italian fabric.

Volland’s gallery walls are lined with dragon figures as well as familiar Kansas landscapes and the beast that haunts them: tornadoes. Two charcoal drawings depicting the Chinese symbol for dragon meet in the middle. The revelation that this is the same symbol that represents “tornado” is just one of many dualities that encompass this body of work.

In almost all of her 2D works, the artist connects the pieces to her identity by turning her fine lines into strands of long, flowing hair. This is not new for Hong, who has become known for this theme, but her use of color in this exhibition stands out. In “Road Twister”, the traditional black ink of the tornado picks up some blues from the sky and then seamlessly melts into the tan and green hues of the Kansas prairie. As the twister meets the horizon, the lines between what is road and what is twister become blurred, serving as a reminder of nature’s power over man’s creations. In other works, the tornado takes on the wheat-colored hues of the prairie, the tornado figure splitting apart like strands of hair as it reaches toward the sky.

*Dragon Braid,* 2024
Charcoal on paper, 24 x 36 in.

*Road Twister,* 2024
Chinese ink and color on rice paper, 11 x 14 in

“Hair of the Dragon” is on view at Volland through September 21st, 2024 while “Prairie Dragon” will live on the site through the end of the year. The exhibition will commence with a day celebrating Chinese music, history, and dance. Whether for the celebration or just a visit to the gallery, this exhibition is well-worth the scenic day trip!

Review: Hair of the Dragon

Review: Still Tangled

Meet Vivian