Open Studio From Home:
Ruth Asawa
Sat, July 3, 2021
11 am–12 pm
Ruth Asawa, Untitled (SF.045c, Potato print branches, purple/blue), 1951–52. Relief print, 13 5/8 × 9 in. (34.6 × 22.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from the Drawing Committee, the Director’s Discretionary Fund, and partial gift of Paul Lanier 2018.112. ©️ 2021 Estate of Ruth Asawa / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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Online, via Zoom
You are invited to Open Studio From Home, free weekly online art classes with Whitney educators. Participants will experiment, create, and learn together with at-home art materials.
In this piece, Ruth Asawa transformed a basic pantry item—a potato—into an art material. She sliced the vegetable in half and carved a drawing into it, which she then printed into a rhythmic composition. “An artist is an ordinary person,” Asawa once remarked, “who can take ordinary things and make them special.”
Together, we learn all about printmaking techniques. Then, we will create prints from the vegetables in our own pantries!
Materials:
- Potatoes, apples, squash, or other firm produce
- A cutting board and knife (ask a grown-up for help)
- Acrylic paint, tempera paint, or block printing ink
- Paintbrushes
- Paper
- Paper towels or a clean rag