Wired

This "tied wire sculpture" is by American artist Ruth Asawa. She was one of the 120,000 Japanese-Americans held in internment camps during World War 2, and it was there at the age of 16 she had the chance to study with some professional artists who were also interned. Thereafter she won a scholarship to Black Mountain College and studied with Josef Albers, who encouraged experimentation with common materials. She learned to crochet with wire while studying basketmaking in Mexico, and considers her sculptures to be three-dimensional drawings. She lives in San Francisco and has done many fountains - some based on origami and some modelled with flour dough and then cast in bronze.

Thanks to Pam RuBert on Ragged Cloth Cafe for the introduction to this artist. She exemplifies the continuum of art and life.