Quiz
Despite the harsh barriers of racial prejudice that led to her forced incarceration during World War II, how did Ruth Asawa first receive formal art instruction while held in captivity?
Chapter 1
Art born in captivity
Chapter 2
The Black Mountain College experiment
Chapter 3
Weaving space and shadows
Chapter 4
The public citizen of San Francisco
Chapter 5
The domestic studio
YOUR GOAL
Master of The art of Ruth Asawa
Ch 1 · Art born in captivity
choko Life under Executive Order 9066
Drawing in the stables, / Disney in the grandstands, / art behind the wire.
esmeraldabts A silhouette faces the harsh, towering barriers of the Santa Anita stables.
esmeraldabts Ruth Asawa watches an animator draw with charcoal on Santa Anita Racetrack steps.
BETA
choko Loop the wire to discover how Ruth Asawa turned simple lines into hanging sculptures.
Fun Fact
Rohwer Relocation Center: In this Arkansas internment camp, Ruth Asawa began her formal art training, learning from other interned Japanese-American artists.
Glossary
Executive Order 9066 (noun)
A 1942 US policy forcing over 120,000 people of Japanese descent, including Ruth Asawa, into WWII internment camps. This captivity unexpectedly sparked her artistic journey, showing how wonder can bloom in the darkest places.
A 1942 US policy forcing over 120,000 people of Japanese descent, including Ruth Asawa, into WWII internment camps. This captivity unexpectedly sparked her artistic journey, showing how wonder can bloom in the darkest places.
choko The Art of Ruth Asawa
Behind the barbed wire, we learned to draw, tracing our freedom on a concrete floor.
galleta Learn about Ruth Asawa's family history as truck farmers in California and how working on the vegetable farm influenced her famous art.
galleta A child's toe drawings in farm dirt inspired these famous woven wire sculptures.
Fun Fact
Internment camp art: Asawa first practiced professional drawing inside a converted horse stall at the Santa Anita racetrack during her World War II internment.
Glossary
internment (noun)
The state of being confined as a prisoner, especially for political or military reasons. In 1942, Ruth Asawa was interned at Rohwer Relocation Center, where she began her formal art training.
The state of being confined as a prisoner, especially for political or military reasons. In 1942, Ruth Asawa was interned at Rohwer Relocation Center, where she began her formal art training.
choko In the internment camps, professional artists taught Asawa advanced drawing techniques.
galleta Discover the visual history of the letter A and how its shape traces back to an ancient ox head with horns.
