By tf-lawyer.com In a recent interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Henry Weverka, the grandson of the late Japanese-American artist Ruth Asawa, shared insights as he attended the ceremony at the White House where his grandmother was posthumously awarded the National Medal of Arts. Asawa, who passed away in 2013 at the age of 87, gained recognition for her abstract wire hanging sculptures and numerous public art projects, including significant fountains in the Bay Area.
Weverka reflected on his grandmother’s background, noting, “She was a first-generation Japanese American born into an immigrant farming family on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Growing up during the Great Depression, she was forcibly interned by the U.S. government during World War II due to her Japanese heritage when she was just 16. Nevertheless, Asawa always identified as an American artist.”
He recounted her reflections on that painful chapter of her life: “I feel no hatred for what happened. I don’t blame anyone. Sometimes, beauty emerges from adversity. If I hadn’t been interned, I wouldn’t be who I am today, and I like who I am now.”
Addie Lanier, Asawa’s daughter, accepted the medal on her behalf, surrounded by family and friends including Weverka and Asawa’s son, Paul Lanier. Other attendees included David Zwirner and Jonathan Laib from Asawa’s gallery.
Historically, the Bay Area has produced other National Medal of Arts recipients such as painters Richard Diebenkorn (1991) and Wayne Thiebaud (1994), architect Lawrence Halprin (2002), and actress Rita Moreno (2009).
Asawa found inspiration during a trip to Mexico in 1948 when she observed traditional basket-weaving techniques, leading her to create looped-wire sculptures that became her trademark during her time at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Although she initially studied at the Milwaukee State Teacher’s College, her Japanese heritage prevented her from graduating.
In 1998, after a long journey, she finally received her degree—52 years after she had originally started her studies. Many of her most renowned artworks were created in the studio at the couple’s home in Noe Valley, San Francisco, where she worked alongside her husband, Albert Lanier, whom she met at Black Mountain College.
