⏯️ Watch the full video below!
Meandering drawing meditation
In last month’s blog post, I shared all the art I’ve been creating inspired by the Ruth Asawa retrospective at SF MoMA. This month, as the show winds down, I’m sharing a tutorial for the pattern I developed from studying her wire sculptures. Like her work, it builds from simple, repeated actions into something larger and more complex.
The Ruth Asawa retrospective at SF MoMA closes Sept. 2, 2025.
If you’re local, don’t miss it!
On my second visit to the Ruth Asawa retrospective, I noticed how profoundly pattern runs like a wire thread through her entire body of work. There were literal patterns made with stamps and drawings, and those that emerge through the woven wire sculptures. She found ways to work with repetition and rhythm across every medium she touched.
I learned that she called the relaxing act of drawing patterns "meanders"— what a perfect word for the gentle wandering quality of drawing. I'm calling this pattern "Asawa's pattern" because it came from engaging with and learning from her work. It feels like a gift I can share with you to honor Ruth Asawa and what she contributed to my home of San Francisco.
Video: Asawa’s Pattern Tutorial
Step-by-step
“Play ethic”, a definition by way of observations in Ruth Asawa’s art and life.
When I wrote of my biz name change I mentioned that “play ethic” can have a multitude of meanings. The core idea is valuing exploration, and an alternate way to view “work ethic.”
For the first in this series of play ethic definitions, I offer what I noticed while looking at Ruth Asawa's art and reading about her life.
play ethic [verb]
“Wire can play.” – Ruth Asawa
Throughout her life, she sought out art even when it didn't seem accessible. As Marilyn Chase wrote in her biography, Everything She Touched, while at Black Mountain College, Ruth became part of a group of “independent women who lived in the pursuit of a creative life.”
She explored many mediums and continually played with them, pushing them into new forms. She found her way to baker's clay, taking something she was using to make art with her kids and SF art students and discovering it to be an adept tool for building bronze sculptures.
In reading about her life, she also sounds like she was fun to be around! And someone who instilled creative play in others.
Book Recommendation: Everything She Touched, Marilyn Chase
In July, I visited the overwhelmingly good SF Art Book Fair. That's where I met Marilyn Chase, who was signing the newly printed paperback version of her biography about Ruth Asawa. I learned that the book had originally been released in Spring 2020, but due to the pandemic, it didn't receive a full book tour or release.
I'm glad this book is finding new audiences with the Ruth Asawa retrospective because it is an engrossing and inspiring read. It made me understand the art even more. I even went back to the museum a couple of times to check out specific rooms after reading about certain eras of her work within the book. I hope someday there will be a film or TV adaptation of the book, because there is so much we can continue to learn from her life.
Legacy you can engage with in SF
I liked the dandelion image that Marilyn writes about related to Ruth's volunteer impact in SF arts education. She brought the seeds of her Black Mountain College influences and connected working artists with schools, in turn creating new artists who continue the artistic quirk that is San Francisco (and needs to be protected).
For us San Francisco residents, we have seeds from Ruth accessible to us. Besides the sculptures and murals that still dot San Francisco, we residents have Asawa legacy to interact with now.
Visit: SCRAP, which came out of her volunteerism and thankfully got much needed funding this year.
Visit: The free viewing tower at the de Young, thanks to Ruth's influence.
With this current exhibit, we have a chance to use this as a reminder of the importance of art in our lives and arts education. In the face of so much defunding of the arts, we can hold what we know is true in our hearts and be the seeds of sharing as we work through and challenge this hard time period of the 2020s.
Workshop tickets on sale now!
Intro to Dot Journals and Life Logs
🗓️ Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025
📍Arch Art Supplies
Shift into the fall feeling by building a custom planner and thought keeper that adapts to your needs. Dot journaling techniques aid in building the skill of planning. Find the fun and creativity while learning tools to organize and reflect on your days, months, and year.
Thanks for writing about your experience interacting with the exhibit! I totally regret not making it despite multiple recommendations. But it was nice to get a taste for it through your commentary on it. And Asawa’s pattern looks very meditative - looking forward to trying it!