Xiaojing Yan, curator of the second Idiorrhythmic Chinese & Canadian Artists Exchange Project, gives her interpretations of Chinese paintings to Canadian artists at the Zhangjiagang Institute of Calligraphy and Painting on Dec 8. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

It has been a unique experience for Hélène Rochette, a visual artist working in Quebec, Canada.

"(For) all of us send our designs and follow their progress and realization to the opposite side of the earth," Rochette said at the opening ceremony of the second Idiorrhythmic Chinese & Canadian Artists Exchange Project, which will run until Jan 8, 2018 and sponsored by China Daily and Zhangjiagang government.

Her work Be Part Of, along with three other Canadian artists and a Toronto-based Chinese counterpart Xiaojing Yan, are presented at Zhangjiagang Museum in East China's Jiangsu province .

Rochette's work resembles a metallic duck floating atop reeds and invites visitors to take part in the landscape and to take a careful look at nature and the global environment by becoming an active participant in the whole life cycle.

Be Part Of created by Canadian visual artist Hélène Rochette. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Canadian artists used media such as fabricated and cast stainless steel and fiberglass resin to mold sculptures for the event, which was intended to highlight the local water culture.

The exhibition is set to explore how different artistic processes and cultural practices can be synthesized in a rich variety of rhythmic blending. The theme, "Idiorrhythmic", derives from the great French thinker Roland Barthes' ideas on how different forms of life and practices can be intertwined with the creative process.

The Chinese artist Yan joined hands with Lyu Jin, a professor at the Suzhou Art and Design Technology Institute, to curate the event. She also presents her own pieces.

Star Mountains created by Toronto-based artist Xiaojing Yan. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Yan, in her work Star Mountains, reinterprets Chinese Shanshui paintings which depict natural landscapes. She uses hundreds of dried star anise pods, a traditional Chinese ingredient, to create a beautiful mountain scene with trees, animals and human silhouettes.

"The exhibition is not only a work of art, but also a process of multi-cultural integration. It is a cultural collision and integration," she said.

Initiated in Suzhou, also in Jiangsu, last year with a focus on urban arts, the second session was launched in Zhangjiagang, a city along Yangtze River, on Dec 8 for its historical and cultural atmosphere as well as characteristics and status as a national civilized city.

It is hoped that the event will help both countries attain a better understanding of Chinese culture and artistic expression throughout the 2017 Canada-China Culture Exchange Year.

At the opening ceremony, Zhangjiagang mayor Huang Ji said the event presents the diversity and inclusiveness of Yangtze River culture.