Description

This is the story of a woman who wielded imagination and hope in the face of intolerance and who transformed everything she touched into art In this compelling biography author Marilyn Chase brings Ruth Asawas story to vivid life She draws on Asawas extensive archives and weaves together many voices to offer a complex and fascinating portrait of the artist

Born in California in 1926 Ruth Asawa grew from a farmers daughter to a celebrated sculptor She survived adolescence in the World War II JapaneseAmerican internment camps and attended the groundbreaking art school at Black Mountain College Asawa then went on to develop her signature hangingwire sculptures create iconic urban installations revolutionize arts education in her adopted hometown of San Francisco fight through lupus and defy convention to nurture a multiracial family

Documents Asawas transformative touchmost notably by turning wirethe material of the internment camp fencesinto sculptures

Author Marilyn Chase mined Asawas letters diaries sketches and photos and conducted interviews with those who knew her to tell this inspiring story