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Oral History Interview with Ruth Asawa Lanier
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Title
Oral History Interview with Ruth Asawa Lanier
Created Date
April 7th, 2000
Description
Nisei female, born in Norwalk, California in 1926 to a truck farming family. Ruth attended public schools on weekdays and Japanese language school on Saturdays. In 1942, when she was fifteen, her family was sent to Santa Anita Assembly Center in Los Angeles and then to Rohwer, Arkansas. Her father was arrested by the FBI and served two years in a New Mexico prison camp. In Santa Anita Ruth took art classes from Nisei artists who had worked at Disney Studios. In Rohwer, she did her artwork independently with encouragement from teachers. Ruth�s goal was to teach art in public schools and she attended Milwaukee State Teachers College for three years but was not allowed to teach due to her race. She left Milwaukee for an experimental and unaccredited school, Black Mountain College in North Carolina. The school fit and nurtured her independent and creative spirit. Avant garde associates were choreographer Merce Cunningham, musician John Cage, artist Willem de Kooning and intellectual, Buckminster Fuller. After two more years of college, still without a degree and teaching credential, Ruth went to San Francisco in 1948 to marry a fellow Black Mountain student, William A. Lanier. Ruth�s biographic summary includes a chronology of artwork, public commissions - six in San Francisco), honorary appointments and awards. Her art spans years of variation of media, scope, and design from crocheted wire sculptures to huge bronze fountains, stainless steel sculptures, etc. Her focus on art in the schools continues to the present. In 1968 she co-founded with other artists a School of the Workshops which then led to a program in fifty San Francisco public schools supported by Comprehensive Employment Training Arts (CETA).
Creators and Contributors
Creator:
Florin Japanese American Citizens League
Interviewer: Iritani, Taeko Joanne
Speaker: Lanier, Ruth Asawa
Interviewer: Iritani, Taeko Joanne
Speaker: Lanier, Ruth Asawa
Media Type
Format
Audio cassette
Extent
3
Tapes
Generation
Copy
Copyright Statement
Copyrighted. Rights are owned by Japanese American Citizens League, Florin Chapter and California State University, Sacramento. Copyright Holder has given Organization permission to provide access to the digitized work online. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owner. In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Country of Creation
United States
Contributing Organization
Call Number
Unknown
Contributing Organization Contact Information
Email: lib-scua@saclink.csus.edu
Phone: (916) 278-5240
Phone: (916) 278-5240
Organization Websites
Link to Internet Archive
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Is Related To
Oral history interview with Ruth Asawa Lanier