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cover of episode SFMOMA Ruth Asawa Retrospective Celebrates Her Art and Life as Educator

SFMOMA Ruth Asawa Retrospective Celebrates Her Art and Life as Educator

2025/4/11
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A
Alexis Madrigal
A
Andrea Jepson
J
Janet Bishop
R
Roberto
T
Terry Kohansky
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Alexis Madrigal: 我认为Ruth Asawa是一位将自身投入旧金山的艺术家，她的作品精美绝伦，从20世纪40年代中期到2000年代，她的作品都非常出色。她的金属丝雕塑令人惊叹，将简单的材料编织成复杂的多层艺术品，堪称奇迹。她还在北卡罗来纳州的黑山学院工作期间，利用工作中的印章创作出复杂的螺旋图案艺术品，这预示了她日后金属丝编织技术的运用。 Janet Bishop: Ruth Asawa在20世纪40年代后期在墨西哥学习了一种金属丝编织技术，并于1949年将其发展成悬挂式雕塑，开启了她极具创造力的艺术生涯。在1949年搬到旧金山后，她创作出大量基于基本结构和理念的金属丝悬挂雕塑，展现了其非凡的创造力。她的标志性金属丝雕塑的基本形态是球体或球状物，她通过在中间开始并向外延伸的方式，创造出内部形态与外部形态相结合的复杂结构。她出生于1926年，父母是日本移民，她在二战期间曾被拘留，这段经历对她的人生和艺术创作产生了影响。她是一位擅长将普通材料变成特殊艺术品的艺术家，她欣赏金属丝的透明度、正负空间和阴影，并通过作品展现了其对空间的独特理解。在1962年受到朋友赠送的沙漠植物的启发，开始创作“Tidewire”雕塑，这标志着她艺术创作风格的转变。在20世纪70年代早期为凯悦酒店创作的旧金山喷泉，是与数百名不同年龄段的人合作完成的，展现了她对社区艺术的贡献。在晚年回归到植物和花卉的绘画创作，这与她早期的艺术创作风格一脉相承。 Andrea Jepson: 我于1964年在Noe Valley认识Ruth Asawa，我们成为朋友，她经常来我家为我画像。Ruth Asawa在Alvarado学校启动了一个艺术项目，邀请许多艺术家与孩子们合作，她对艺术教育的投入和影响力巨大。她是一位精明能干的人，她善于利用有限的资源，创造出非凡的作品和生活体验。 Terry Kohansky: SCRAP是一个创意再利用中心，它传承了Ruth Asawa的理念，为所有人提供艺术创作的机会。SCRAP收集各种各样的可再利用材料，为创意社区提供艺术创作资源。 Barry: 我很幸运能成为Ruth Asawa的朋友，她是一位充满灵感和慷慨的艺术家和社区成员。 Roberto: Ruth Asawa是一位慷慨的人，她曾为我提供经济援助，帮助我继续在学校工作。 Barbara: 我想指出Ruth Asawa在Stockton街的一件作品，它是一个带有小雕像的喷泉，这些小雕像是她与孩子们一起创作的。 Victor: 我想了解旧金山总医院外的雕塑是否与Ruth Asawa有关，以及她是否与其他艺术家，例如Louise Nevelson，在创作理念上有所关联。

Deep Dive

Chapters
This chapter introduces Ruth Asawa's retrospective exhibition at SFMOMA, highlighting her renowned wire sculptures and their unique aesthetic qualities. It also touches upon her early artistic explorations at Black Mountain College and her development of a distinct style characterized by organic forms and intricate, layered designs.
  • SFMOMA's Ruth Asawa retrospective is outstanding.
  • Asawa's wire sculptures are gorgeous and mesmerizing.
  • Her early work involved ink stamps and spiraling patterns.
  • The exhibition reveals many aspects of Asawa's artistic development.

Shownotes Transcript

“An artist is an ordinary person who can take ordinary things and make them special,” said San Francisco artist Ruth Asawa. From her studio in her home in Noe Valley, Asawa created crocheted wire sculptures whose shadows are just as evocative as the art itself. But as the mother of six, Asawa was also passionate about arts education and teaching. As a new retrospective of her work and life opens at SF MOMA, we talk about Asawa’s legacy as an artist, teacher, and community member as part of our Bay Area Legends series.

Guests:

**Janet Bishop, **Thomas Weisel Family chief curator, SFMOMA; She co-curated the exhibition Ruth Asawa: Retrospective

**Terry Kochanski, **executive director, SCRAP - a nonprofit education and creative reuse center based in the Bayview and founded in 1976

**Andrea Jepson, **close friend of Ruth Asawa; Jepson served as the model for the fountain "Andrea" in Ghiradelli Square, and also worked with Asawa on her public school education projects

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