Ruth Asawa

Ruth Asawa was a student for the 1946 art institute and stayed on as a full-time student until the spring of 1949. While a student, she served as a Student Moderator and on the Board of Fellows. Ruth Asawa was born 1926 in Norwalk, CA. She is known as a sculptor and referred to as the "fountain lady" for her many fountains.

As a Japanese American, she and her family were interned during WWII, an experience she attributes to setting her on the path of becoming an artist. Asawa attended Milwaukee State Teachers college and then transferred to Black Mountain College, where she spent three years as a student.

During the 1950s she came to prominence and had shows at San Francisco Museum of Art, the Oakland Art Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco.

Asawa worked with a variety of materials and mediums including wire sculptures, which emphasize line and form and reference drawing. As sculptures, they exist in three-dimensions which allow for viewing at various perspectives and change depending on the viewer’s point of view. As an educator, she co founded the Alvarado Arts Workshop, which exposes children to art and gardening as a way of problem-solving.

Source: Asheville Art Museum

Relationships

Husband: Fellow student, William Albert Lanier

Black Mountain College Project

Mary Emma Harris interviewed Ruth in 1997 (transcript) and 1998 (transcript) which are available from Appalachian State University under The Mary Emma Harris and Black Mountain College Project, Inc. Oral History collection.

Topics 1997: Meeting Ray Johnson in Wauwatosa – description of Johnson as student at BMC – Johnson and Josef Albers

Topics 1998: Study at Milwaukee State Teachers College and application to BMC – Howard Thomas – Schmitt family in Wauwatosa – internment in Rohwer Arkansas – assistance of Quakers – 1946 Summer Art Institute – Jean Varda at BMC – summer faculty – Josef Albers classes – Ray Johnson – Elaine Schmitt – work program – BMC art facilities – entertainment at BMC – family farming – chorus – Charles Olson class – Max Dehn’s Mathematics for Artists – Josef Albers advice on her leaving – Josef Albers art work – influence of Albers teaching on students – professional decisions, community and family – Ray Johnson – Johanna Jalowetz – integration issues when went into community – Robert Rauschenberg – Jennerjahn dance class and Stravinsky Rites of Spring – Buckminster Fuller at BMC – Satie’s Ruse of Medusa production – de Kooning exhibition at BMC – Ilya Bolotowsky classes

Asheville Art Museum Collection

Many bulletins and artworks can be seen onAsheville Art Museum's collection website: collection.ashevilleart.org. They can be found by searching these accession numbers. Below are selected poems from Ray Johnson to Lorna Halper and mention Ruth.

2012.26.130 Letter from Ray Johnson to Lorna Halper "Remember what Asawa read / in class one night - the Taoism / philosophy of nothingness being / everything-ness, I feel that / way. All I possess means nothing / to me, I want to destroy all and / create, create, design, order. It is / all very confusing in my mind / and so very vague." 2017.40.140.03 Letter from Ray Johnson to Lorna Halper "Asawa does these wonderful / little drawings of creatures / and animals!"

2012.26.147.02 March 1947 Letters from Ray Johnson to Lorna Halper

"I AM / WRITING FROM ASAWA'S STUDY. MINE / IS TOO HOT. CACTUS PLANT, TEA STRAINER, / TENNIS BALL, SCISSORS, ALARM CLOCK, / CAN, INK, ROCK, BOTTLE, COOKIE, PAINT, / LIGHT BULB, BOOK, SALT SHAKER - THAT / IS ASAWA'S"

2012.26.145.03 "Asawa, / Vera and I hiked up to the snow covered / pasture at midnight and we thought of / you as we passed" and another,

2012.26.144 "Asawa handles the earth so beautifully / she has the touch - / touch of what - / closeness to earth, to people, life, plants / earthworms, Lowas, Coleman boys / you are right Asawa is a poet - / what a person."

Courses Taken

Summer 1946: Design and Lab with Albers, Color and Lab with Albers

Fall 1946-1947: Chorus with Schlesinger, Drawing with Bolotowsky, Introduction to Music with Schlesinger, American Civilization with Corkran

Spring 1946-1947: Intro to Music with Schlesinger, Woodworking with Molly Gregory, American Literature with Corkran, Piano with Schlesinger, Drawing with Bolotowsky, Problems of Philosophy with Dehn, and Chorus withSchlesinger

Fall 1947-1948: Introduction to Mathematics with Dehn, Beginner Music with Schlesinger, Chorus with Schlesinger, Drawing with Bolotowsky

Spring 1947-1948: Geometry with Dehn, Music I with Schlesinger, Design with J.Albers,Chorus with Schlesinger

Summer 1948: Color with Josef Albers, Architecture and Industrial Engineering with Buckminster Fuller, Dance with Merce Cunningham

Fall 1948-1949: Drawing with Albers, Painting with Albers, Structural Sculpture with Albers, Chorus with Schlesinger, Principles of Philosophy with Dehn, Dancing with Elizabeth Jennerjahn

Spring 1948-1949: Dance with E. Jennerjahn, Drawing with Albers, Color with Albers, Philosophy Seminar with Dehn, General Biology with Mrs. YK Tsei, Chorus with Schlesinger, Printing with W. P. Jennerjahn, Elements with Movement with E. Jennerjahn, Painting with Albers