Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) was an artist known for her geometric, woven wire sculptures.
Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) was an artist known for her geometric, woven wire sculptures.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan. This is Womanica.
This month, we’re talking about visionaries.
Today, we’re talking about an artist who was known for her geometric, woven wire sculptures.
Ruth Aiko Asawa was born on January 24, 1926 in Norwalk, California. Her parents were Japanese immigrants, and Ruth was the middle child of seven.
In her early early years, Ruth grew up on a farm. She worked before and after school to help out. But even then, she was practicing art. She would later write:
“I used to sit on the back of the horse-drawn leveler with my bare feet drawing forms in the sand, which later in life became the bulk of my sculptures.”
The start of World War II uprooted Ruth and her family’s lives.
In February 1942, Ruth’s father was arrested and taken to an internment camp in New Mexico. A few months later, Ruth and her family were forced into an internment camp at a racetrack in Santa Anita, California. During World War II, racism and paranoia led thousands of Japanese Americans to be taken from their homes and imprisoned. Ruth and her family lived in horse stables at the Santa Anita racetrack for six months. The stench of horse manure was pervasive.
During that time, three Disney animators were also being interned at the camp. Ruth spent her time drawing with them.
By September 1942, Ruth and her family were sent to another camp in Arkansas. There, she continued to draw and paint, and finished high school.
In 1943, Ruth was allowed to leave the camp and went to college at the Milwaukee State Teachers College. She had gotten a scholarship from the Quakers to study to become an art teacher.
When she graduated in 1946, racism toward Japanese Americans was still rampant. Because of that, Ruth wasn’t able to find work as a student teacher. She never graduated, but years later, when Ruth had established herself as an artist, the Milwaukee State Teachers College wanted to recognize her as an alumna. She responded, requesting the degree she was denied. She finally received it in 1998.
Instead of becoming an art teacher, Ruth was encouraged by some artist friends to study at Black Mountain College in North Carolina -- a progressive arts school in the segregated south.
She studied with artists like Buckminster Fuller and Joself Albers.
In 1947, Ruth traveled to Mexico and watched as a craftsman used wire to make egg baskets. Ruth would build upon this repetitive looping method to create her own style of sculpture.
Ruth also met her husband at Black Mountain College -- Albert Lanier. They got married in 1949 and moved to San Francisco to live in a community that accepted them as an interracial couple. Over the course of nine years, they had six children.
Busy raising a family, Ruth worked on her art practice in the evenings at her home studio. She was inspired by the undulating forms she found in nature, trying to give structure to what she was painting. Her hanging sculptures became increasingly intricate over the years. The suspended, airy, woven structures of Ruth’s work blur the lines between internal and external, and cast haunting shadows.
Throughout the 1950s, Ruth’s sculptures were shown in group and solo exhibitions in New York, San Francisco, and internationally.
By 1963, Ruth began working on public artwork, and arts advocacy. She believed “Art is for everybody.” One of her early public pieces was a fountain featuring two mermaids in Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco. It still stands there today.
In 1968, Ruth co-founded a public arts program called the Alvarado School Arts Workshop. Without much funding, they cobbled together a hands-on curriculum with scraps of yarn, bakers clay, and old egg cartons. At the height of the program, it was in 50 public schools, employing artists and getting parents involved in their kids’ education.
Ruth was inspired by her time at Black Mountain College, and felt strongly that students would benefit from learning from artists. She expanded on this mission by opening a public arts high school in San Francisco in 1982. In 2010, the school would be named in her honor.
In appreciation of Ruth’s work as an artist and teacher, the city of San Francisco deemed February 12, 1982 Ruth Asawa Day.
When Ruth was in her 60s, she revisited her experience living in internment camps. As a memorial, she created a bronze relief, depicting scenes of what life was like for her and her family, as well as the broader Japanese American population.
Ruth died August 6, 2013. She was 87.
Ruth’s legacy of art and education lives on. Her art is featured in galleries and museums around the world, and she’s become known as one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century.
All month, we’re honoring incredible, artistic visionaries.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!