Ruth Asawa
Ruth Asawa with hanging wire sculpture, 1951. Photo © Imogen Cunningham Trust. Artwork © 2024 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy David Zwirner
Bio
American artist, educator, and arts advocate Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) is known for her extensive body of wire sculptures that challenge conventional notions of material and form through their emphasis on lightness and transparency. Born in rural California, Asawa first studied under professional artists while her family and other people of Japanese descent were detained at Santa Anita, California, in 1942. Following her release from an internment camp in Rohwer, Arkansas, 16 months later, she enrolled in Milwaukee State Teachers College. Unable to receive her degree due to continued hostility against Japanese Americans, in 1946 she enrolled in Black Mountain College in North Carolina, a period that proved formative in her development as an artist. There, she met architectural student Albert Lanier, whom she would marry in 1949 and with whom she would raise a large family and build a career in San Francisco. Asawa continued to produce art steadily over the course of more than a half century, including numerous public commissions in San Francisco and elsewhere. A firm believer in the radical potential of arts education, Asawa devoted herself to expanding access to art-focused educational programs. She co-founded the Alvarado School Arts Workshop in 1968 and was instrumental in the creation of the first public arts high school in San Francisco in 1982, which was renamed the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts in 2010. Asawa additionally served on the California Arts Council and was a trustee of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. This National Medal of Arts was presented posthumously by President Biden.
White House citation:
For groundbreaking modernism and championing art for everyone. From a family of Japanese immigrants separated in incarceration camps, Ruth Asawa emerged to become a renowned educator and artist, bringing her distinctive wire sculptures to the Nation’s museums, homes, and classrooms, and leaving a legacy as powerful and profound as her portfolio.
Our family is honored that Ruth Asawa is receiving the National Medal of Arts. We would like to extend our gratitude to President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden, Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, and the National Endowment for the Arts for this tremendous honor. Ruth Asawa was a first-generation Japanese American born to immigrant farmers outside of Los Angeles. She grew up during the Great Depression and, at age 16, was forcibly incarcerated by the United States government during World War II because of her Japanese ancestry. Despite this, Asawa always consider herself an American artist. "I hold no hostilities for what happened; I blame no one. Sometimes good comes through adversity. I would not be who I am today had it not been for the internment, and I like who I am," she reflected later in life. In addition to her unique contributions post-war American art, Asawa was a steadfast advocate and supporter of the arts and arts education. She believed that the arts were for everyone, young and old. We hope our mother's, grandmother's, and great-grandmother's story will inspire others to explore the arts as a way to live a more enriching and meaningful life. - Ruth Asawa's Family, on her behalf