Ruth Asawa: A Community Artist (film)

Short documentary film on artist Ruth Asawa by Dianne Fukami. Produced as part of a follow-up project to the creation of the "Garden of Remembrance" at San Francisco State University, the documentary highlights Asawa's role in the garden and documents some of her other public art in San Francisco.

Ruth Asawa: A Community Artist begins and ends with footage from the 2002 dedication of the "Garden of Remembrance," which tells the story of Japanese American wartime forced removal and incarceration, and is dedicated to the nineteen students from the university that were forced to leave in 1942 as a result. Asawa also talks about the struggles of her early life and how some of those experiences found their way into a Japanese American memorial consisting of a bas-relief mural she created at a federal courthouse in San Jose. Asawa also talks about the influences of her children and family on her art, while the film highlights the fountain she created at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Francisco.

The film was produced for San Francisco State University Journalism Department and funded by a grant from the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program .

After Asawa's death in August 2013, Fukami produced A Tribute to Ruth Asawa , which incorporates some of the same footage from Ruth Asawa: A Community Artist .

Might also like Ruth Asawa: Of Forms and Growth (1978); The Art of Gaman: The Story Behind the Objects (2010); Days of Waiting: The Life and Art of Estelle Ishigo (1990)