iMinnesota Street Project · Dogpatch
Lasting Joy: Asawa Family Selections
Twenty life-cast masks of Ruth Asawa's family, each beside the Asawa work that person chose and their own words on why, from wire sculptures to a surfboard.
In 2001 Ruth Asawa wrote that she expected her six children and ten grandchildren to make art the same way they washed the dishes, took the garbage out and weeded the garden. They also helped on her commissions. This show is the family that upbringing produced, looking back at her.
Twenty of them appear as life-cast masks of their own faces, each paired with the Asawa work that person picked and a note in their own words on why. You go from a face to its owner's favorite thing: a surfboard, jewelry, a giant Celastic head, and rarely seen sketchbooks, paintings and wire sculptures.
Twenty people chose these works rather than one curator, so expect stories more than a survey. It fills the 1,714-square-foot ground-floor gallery her family-run estate opened at 1275 Minnesota Street in May. Admission is free. The gallery keeps shorter hours than the rest of the building: Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 4pm.
Look for
The twenty life-cast masks
Look for the faces of twenty Asawa family members, cast from life, each one next to the work that person chose.
The surfboard
One relative's favorite Asawa piece is a surfboard, shown with their own written reason for picking it.
The giant Celastic head
A family pick at sculpture scale: an oversized head made in Celastic, far from the hanging wire forms Asawa is known for.
Good for
- Cheap Culture
- Going Solo
- Locals Who've Seen It All
Skip if
You want a full survey of Asawa's wire sculptures: these are family favorites, surfboard and jewelry included.
Also at Minnesota Street Project
On now nearby
Nearby
Image credits
7
- Lasting Joy: Asawa Family SelectionsArtwork © 2026 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc., Courtesy David Zwirner
- Martin Venezky: Process WorkLetterform Archive
- Type for All! Ten Years of Type WestLetterform Archive
- Caguiat Delacruz: The TrampCCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts
- Minnesota Street ProjectPigeonChickenFish / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Letterform ArchiveClyde Charles Brown / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary ArtsMariwlqs / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0