Ruth Asawa

Known for her hanging wire sculptures and public fountains, American sculptor Ruth Asawa was a trailblazing artist whose life was marked by perseverance and, ultimately, triumph over the obstacles she faced as an Asian woman. Born in 1926 to a Japanese family living in California, she was interred during World War II as part of the United States’ response to Pearl Harbor. She discovered her passion for art while living in the internment camps, and after her release, she trained as an art teacher but was denied a degree due to her heritage. In 1946, she enrolled in the experimental Black Mountain College, where she studied with influential modern artists Josef and Anni Albers and choreographer Merce Cunningham. Shortly before moving to San Francisco in 1948, a fateful trip to Mexico introduced Asawa to the crochet baskets made by Toluca villagers, a technique which she combined with the Japanese concept of Mingei folk art as well as the aesthetics of Minimalism. These early loop wire sculptures, which challenged the divisions between craft and fine art, were well-received by critics and local institutions in the 1950s, launching the artist’s influential six-decade career.

Asawa considered her sculptural works to be drawings in three-dimensional space, and she continually investigated the formal properties of line across paintings, drawings and prints. She was particularly interested in organic forms, evident in her recurring rounded shapes that suggest the female body as well as her series of branch-like sculptures, inspired by a dried desert plant once gifted to her. Asawa’s iconic mesh pieces are on permanent display in the tower of San Francisco's de Young Museum, which held her retrospective in 2006, and several of her outdoor fountains are located in the Bay Area. She firmly believed that art should belong to all, and she advocated for free arts education for children. She co-founded the Alvarado School Art Workshop and helped create the San Francisco School of the Arts, which was renamed after her in 2010. Asawa passed away in 2013, leaving behind a rich legacy of public art and sculptural innovation.