Suspended Sculptures Inspired by Ruth Asawa
Sat, Nov 7, 2020
11–11:40 am
Ruth Asawa, Untitled (S.270, Hanging Six-Lobed, Complex Interlocking Continuous Form within a Form with Two Interior Spheres), 1955, refabricated 1957–1958. Brass and steel wire, 63 7/8 × 14 15/16 × 14 15/16 in. (162.2 × 37.9 × 37.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Howard Lipman 63.38. © Estate of Ruth Asawa
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Online, via Zoom
Families with kids of all ages
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.
Ruth Asawa made works like this one by weaving metal wire, a technique that she learned on a trip to Mexico City in 1947. The works look abstract, but they’re inspired by shapes she observed in nature. She said: “These forms come from observing plants, the spiral shell of a snail, seeing light through insect wings, watching spiders repair their webs in the early morning, and seeing the sun through the droplets of water suspended from the tips of pine needles while watering my garden.”
This week we will look closely at the work of Asawa. Together we will create our own hanging sculptures using natural materials and objects from around our homes.
Materials
- String
- Wire clothes hanger
- Beads
- Tape
- Found objects from nature: sticks, flowers, feathers, shells, etc.
- Paper
- Scissors
- Tiny objects from around your home
