Suzanne Jackson, 2.11.77 (SB.100), 1977

Suzanne Jackson: I'm Suzanne Jackson.

Narrator: Suzanne Jackson describes herself as a “painter sculptor.” She and Asawa were both members of the California Arts Council—they were the only two women, and had both been invited personally by then-Governor Jerry Brown, the group’s founder. Jackson recalls Asawa sketching during council meetings, but it wasn’t until this exhibition that Jackson saw these drawings.

Suzanne Jackson: She used to draw in every art's council meeting, and I have been so curious for years to see what it was that she was drawing. So this is amazing. Wow.

I'm looking at those little beads in my hair, which I didn't have that done often. But I also love the way she sort of interpreted my hair almost like I'm looking at it and thinking, it's almost like the pine needles. And she does that in her drawings. The idea that they're overlayered drawing strokes, even in ink. Some of the ink looks like graphite, the way she handles it.

I love the fact that she also was trying to find my eyebrows. I got two sets there, which is. Really what the idea that this is really a sketch where she's—simple, simple line, but then there's also her working and finding the simple shape.  

I'm happy to see that my mouth was closed and I wasn't talking [laughs], as I usually am talking too much, I always think. So I must have been in some deep thought.

Narrator: As an adult, Asawa lived in San Francisco with her husband, Albert Lanier, and their six children. In addition to serving on the California Arts Council, Asawa became a leader in the San Francisco arts community as both an organizer and educator.