See East Meets West Exhibit Poster

Artwork created by prominent and emerging Asian and Asian American artists were featured in the art passages exhibition titled, East Meets West County: Celebrating Asian and Asian American Artists in West Contra Costa County. Supervisor John Gioia dedicated this exhibition for the art passages exhibition series in a public ceremony on December 14, 2004.

This exhibit featured the artwork of 40 artists who reside in West Contra Costa County. The communities that make up West Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia’s District 1—Richmond, El Cerrito, San Pablo, East Richmond Heights, El Sobrante, Kensington, Montalvin Manor, North Richmond and Rollingwood—are among the most culturally and ethnically diverse in the County. In District 1—and parts of District 2 including the communities of Pinole and Hercules—Asian and Asian American residents make up nearly 17 percent of the population and represent over 15 different ethnic groups, based on the recent U.S. Census. Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, and South Asian (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) residents are joined by people of Southeast Asian descent (Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma), many of whom were relocated to the Bay Area at the end of the Vietnam War. Communities of people from Tibet and Nepal are also located throughout the Bay Area. And people of many other Asian countries and ethnicities also call West Contra Costa County their home. This exhibition brought together art from individuals of Asian descent from just a small example of these many cultures living throughout this part of the County. Traditional Asian art takes many forms – textiles and embroidery, drawing, painting, sculpture, woodblock prints and engraving, ceramics, lacquer painting, silk painting, calligraphy, and more. Examples of traditional Asian art forms such as Chinese brush painting and calligraphy, Japanese Kimekomi dolls or Filipino depictions of rural life – as well as art with contemporary influences and styles that cross cultures and genres – are all represented throughout this exhibition. A selection of works presented also showed how Asian traditions and themes have influenced the art of non-Asian artists.

This was the first anniversary of the art passages exhibition program, which highlights different arts organizations from Contra Costa County Supervisorial Districts. This exhibition was put together as a collaborative effort between the Arts & Culture Commission of Contra Costa County and the Richmond Arts & Culture Commission.