- Ruth Asawa
Infobox Artist
bgcolour = #6495ED
name = Ruth Asawa
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birthname =
birthdate = Birth date and age|1926|01|24
location =Norwalk, California
deathdate =
deathplace =
nationality =Japanese American
field =Sculpture
training =Black Mountain College
movement =
works =
patrons =
influenced by = Peter Grippe [cite interview |subject=Ruth Asawa |interviewer=Paul Karlstrom |url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/asawa02.htm |program=Archives of American Art,Smithsonian Institution |year=2002 |accessdate= ]
influenced =
awards =Ruth Asawa (born January 24, 1926) is a
Japanese American sculptor. In San Francisco, she has been called the "fountain lady" for her works that include the mermaid fountain atGhirardelli Square . [cite news |first=Annie |last=Nakao |last=Asawa has helped mold cultural life of city |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/04/29/DD15351.DTL |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=2003-04-29 ]Biography
Early life and education
Ruth Asawa was born in 1926 in
Norwalk, California , one of seven children. Her father operated a truck farm until theJapanese American internment during World War II. The family lived in the assembly center at the Santa Anita racetrack for much of 1942, then atRohwer War Relocation Center inArkansas . [cite news| first=Leach |last=Ollman |title=The Industrious Line |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-31332091_ITM |work=Art in America |date=2007-05-01 ]Following graduation from the internment center's high school, she attended Milwaukee State Teachers College, intending to become an art teacher. Unable to get hired for the requisite practice teaching to complete her degree, she left Wisconsin without a degree. (The degree was finally awarded to her in 1998.) [cite news |first=James |last=Auer |title=Artist's return remedies a postwar injustice |work=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |date=1998-12-18 |id=NewsBank document ID 0EB82C32E269DCB3 ]
From 1946 to 1949, she studied at
Black Mountain College withJosef Albers . [cite news |title=The College Died, but the Students Really Lived |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE3D91E3EF937A25750C0A964958260 |work=The New York Times |date=1992-03-14 ]Career
Asawa's wire sculptures brought her prominence in the 1950s, when her work appeared several times in the annual exhibitions at the
Whitney Museum of American Art and in the 1955São Paulo Art Biennial . [cite news |first=Kenneth |last=Baker |title=An overlooked sculptor's work weaves its way into our times |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/18/DDG2BMEJDN1.DTL&type=art |work=San Francisco Chronicle |dat=2006-11-18 ]Marriage and children
Asawa married architect Albert Lanier in July 1949. The couple has six children: Xavier (1950), Aiko (1950), Hudson (1952), Adam (1956), Addie (1958), and Paul (1959).
elected works
*"Andrea", the mermaid fountain at
Ghirardelli Square (1966);
*the Hyatt on Union Square Fountain (1973)
*the Buchanan Mall (Nihonmachi) Fountains (1976)
*"Aurora", the origami-inspired fountain on the San Francisco waterfront (1986)
*the Japanese-American Internment Memorial Sculpture in San Jose (1994).Awards
*1968: First Dymaxion Award for Artist/Scientist
*1974: Gold Medal from theAmerican Institute of Architects
*1990: San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Cyril Magnin Award
*1993: Honor Award from the Women's Caucus for the Arts
*1995: Asian American Art Foundations Golden Ring Lifetime Achievement AwardFurther reading
* Cornell, Daniell et. al. (2006) "The Sculpture of Ruth Asawa: Contours in the Air."
University of California Press .References
External links
*http://www.ruthasawa.com/
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