I’m a sucker for a good artist biography, and this book on sculptor Ruth Asawa did not disappoint. I’ve been lucky enough to see a number of Ruth’s iconic hanging wire sculptures, thanks to my many trips to San Francisco (where, thanks to living there for most of her life, she is best known), but I confess I knew very little about Ruth’s life or art beyond those. Which is a shame, because Ruth Asawa was a badass!!
As a teenager during WWII, Ruth and her family were forced into an internment camp for Japanese-Americans. Ruth was allowed to leave to pursue a degree as an art teacher in Wisconsin, but wasn’t allowed to student teach (and therefore get her degree) because of her race. She ended up transferring to Black Mountain College, where she studied under Josef Albers and Buckminster Fuller. (Both of whom she stayed connected with for the rest of their lives.) She also met her future husband (a white man) and two were married in San Francisco just nine months after interracial marriage was made legal in California. (And almost a decade before it was legal in the US.)
Ruth made her most iconic sculptures while raising six young children (two adopted and four biological), but those were just her opening act. She then turned her attention to arts education in San Francisco, fighting for youth programs and an arts high school that would eventually bear her name. She also made many public art installations, often with the help of community members, many while battling lupus, which she had for the last several decades of her life.
Like I said, badass.
And those are just the highlights. The details are even more incredible, which is why I highly recommend checking out this book and learning more about this incredible artist who is finally getting her due. The USPS recently issued Ruth Asawa stamps, and I ordered four sheets, with the plan of framing one set in my studio.
Speaking of my studio, reading Ruth’s biography also motivated me to get back into the studio and focus on my own work. (Which is probably what I love most about reading artist’s biographies – the motivation factor.) I’ve been hard at work on a new body of necklaces, which you can see behind the book, so if those are catching your eye (a tall order when compared to Ruth’s work, I know), you can join my mailing list to be the first to know when the new necklaces are available!
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