Untitled (SF.031, Red Meander on Pink), c. late 1950s

Kim Conaty: Asawa was fascinated with the form of the Greek meander, which is a line that curls in on itself and then uncoils again to continue ad infinitum. And as you can see in this work, it can create a space where it's nearly impossible to determine which part is foreground, which part is background.

In formal meander studies, one of the great challenges relates to something that Albers would often tell his students, make the eye move ahead of the pencil. This meant that in order to create the meander form where positive and negative space were in fact equal, you in fact have to be thinking ahead of what you're about to draw in order to encompass the right amount of space to be able to uncoil your line. While this can be seen as a highly specific, almost mathematical type of process, it was also one that was conducive to a truly lyrical line-making experience and that's what I think we really feel in this particular drawing. 

Narrator: As you look at this wall, you’ll see a number of works that explore the idea of repeating waves, or repeating rhythms in different directions. You’ll notice that the works are hung on a wallpaper that was created from one of Asawa’s drawings, this one based on a pattern of repeating triangles, inspired by stacked thorns. If you’re using the printed drawing guide, you could choose one of these patterns to explore—amplifying it across the page in your own way.