For its latest offering to Tacoma’s art-viewing public, The Gallery at Tacoma Community College (TCC) has arrayed its walls with works by a trio of Asian-American artists whose work is based in the traditional medium of ink. Called “Ink Connection; China, Korea, Japan,” the exhibit features works by Deng Juolei (of Chinese descent), Patsy Surh O’Connell (of Korean descent) and Fumiko Kimura (of Japanese descent). Deng’s work most closely adheres to Asian traditions of ink painting while that of the other two artists are more a synthesis of Eastern and Western artistic philosophies.

Deng Juolei

In Deng’s large ink-on-rice-paper paintings (mounted on silk scrolls), one encounters fantastic landscapes in which human habitations are dwarfed by all-encompassing nature. In “Empty Boat Returned with Loads of Moonlight,” for example, the boat is suggested by a quick series of brush strokes relegated to a lower portion of the composition. Most of the vertical space is occupied by evergreen trees that are made by the ink saturating the wet paper. Soft and fuzzy, the trees overshadow the moonlit water.

Deng’s loose and fluid brushwork is very gestural - expressionistic, one might say - as he seeks to capture the essence of some natural phenomenon like moonlight or snow. In “Snowy World Dressed in Silver Under the Moon,” Deng depicts a wonderful pair of peafowl perched upon a rocky ledge covered in snow. Falling snow and the bamboo leaves exude a fresh, clean essence.

Deng’s “Spring Dream,” meanwhile, is a busy cascade of chains of blossoms that create an abstract pattern. It is only upon careful examination that one discovers a cluster of baby chicks at the bottom of the composition.

Patsy Surh O’Connell

Pasty Surh O’Connell, a member of the Korean American Artist’s Association of Washington as well as the Puget Sound Sumi Artists, creates colorful compositions using Chinese ink on rice paper. While her materials and much of her subject matter derive from Asian tradition, her bright hues and her more representational style of depiction seem to be elements of the Western part of her heritage.

In “Your Life Was a Joy” and “Visit From the Past,” O’Connell paints birds and blossoms against solid planes of color. Instead of using gestural strokes to capture the spiritual essence of a bird or flower, O’Connell carefully renders the outline and contour of her subjects. In “Surviving the Storm,” a group of gulls are tightly clustered together - some with heads tucked under wings. The group forms a wonderful visual design in which the almost geometric pattern of brown feathers contrasts with the lighter heads and breasts of the birds. The simplification of the gulls lends an early American feel to the piece.

In a series of four magnificent, sepia-toned paintings, O’Connell represents the four seasons using ducks and lotus plants. In this sequence, the lotus, which is a perennial favorite of Asian art, goes from the tender flower buds of spring to the withered and empty seedpods of winter. O’Connell’s charming ducks give a lively presence to the drama of the lotus.

Fumiko Kimura

Fumiko Kimura is the third artist whose recent “Pathos to Peace” series of work fleshes out the overall show. A co-founder of Puget Sound Sumi Artists as well as a signature member of the International Society of Experimental Artists, Kimura uses ink that she makes herself using fireplace charcoal. She also makes some of the recycled rice paper found in her paintings and collages. Many of Kimura’s works are abstract and are sprinkled with calligraphy. Yet in compositions like “One Taste of Zen” and “Peach Delight” there are little still lifes of ink and cut paper that are reminiscent of the paper cut-out work done by Henri Matisse in his later years.

In “Cascade Foothills,” Kimura uses her materials to conjure up an essence of place without being representational. A golden moon hangs above the jagged, torn-paper edge of the mountains. Little white stick figures of trees dot the dark, swirling foothills and a mottle of brighter colors animates the foreground. Kimura is modern in her methods but her materials, her use of calligraphy and her desire to convey the essence of a thing rather than its literal appearance seems rooted in Eastern tradition. It is this latter concern with the emphasis on essence rather than surface appearance that is Eastern art’s greatest bequest to the relatively recent art of the Western world.

“Ink Connection” is a rich and prolific exhibit that is worth a trip to TCC’s wonderful gallery. While on campus, visit the nearby Japanese rock garden. “Ink Connection” runs through Dec. 14. For further information call (253) 460-4306.