Ruth Asawa stands in front of her San Francisco Fountain near Union Square on Jan. 23, 1973.
Art Frisch/S.F. Chronicle
A new gallery devoted to Ruth Asawa will open in San Francisco this spring, anchoring the artist’s centennial celebration in the city where she lived and worked for decades.
Ruth Asawa Lanier Inc. will open “Ruth Asawa: Untitled,” the first exhibition in the estate’s new gallery at the Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood. The show, opening May 9, will be curated by Asawa’s daughters Aiko Cuneo and Addie Lanier.
Photograph by Laurence Cuneo of Ruth Asawa and her grandchild with Japanese American Internment Memorial (PC.011), 1990-94, as seen at the exhibit “Ruth Asawa: Retrospective” at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on April 15, 2025.
Jana Ašenbrennerová/For the S.F. Chronicle
Minnesota Street Project in located in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood.
Yalonda M. James/S.F. Chronicle
The exhibition’s name is a reference to Asawa’s habit of not naming her pieces, and will include her famed looped-wire and tied-wire sculptures, cast artwork, paperfolds, watercolors and works on paper and copper foil.
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“San Francisco was Asawa’s home for more than 60 years, during which time she developed a unique artistic language, raised her family and became a leading advocate for the arts and art education both locally and nationally,” Henry Weverka, Asawa’s grandson and president of RAL Inc., told the Chronicle. “Opening a permanent space here in her adopted hometown seems like a wonderful way to celebrate her centennial for many years to come.”
The estate plans to present rotating shows of rarely seen work by Asawa as well as pieces by friends and mentors including painter Josef Albers, textile artist Anni Albers, photographer Imogen Cunningham and collage artist Ray Johnson.
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Asawa, who died in 2013 at age 87, was a well-known presence in San Francisco’s art world, famed for her looped wire hanging sculptures and many public works throughout the Bay Area.
Installation view of the exhibit “Ruth Asawa: Retrospective” at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2025.
Jana Ašenbrennerová/For the S.F. Chronicle
Her famed “Andrea’s Fountain” in Ghiradelli Square, “San Francisco Fountain” near Union Square and a permanent installation of her looped wire sculptures in the tower of the de Young Museum are just a few of her recognizable pieces. Her art is also in the permanent collections of the Oakland Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Cantor Art Center at Stanford University.
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“Ruth Asawa: Untitled”: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. May 9-June 20. Minnesota Street Project, 1275 Minnesota St., S.F. www.ruthasawa.com
But in the past decade, the artist has broken through like never before. In 2020, she was honored by the U.S. Post Office with stamps bearing her work, and was posthumously awarded the National Medal of the Arts in 2024 by President Joe Biden.
Internationally, her work has been the focus of major gallery presentations in Europe and Asia. “Ruth Asawa: Retrospective,” which originated at SFMOMA in 2025, is currently on view at the Guggenheim Bilbao.
Weverka said that seeing Asawa’s work now being displayed internationally reminded the family of the importance of accessibility to her work in the Bay Area.
“Over the course of 50 plus tours of the ‘Retrospective’ at SFMOMA, the question I got asked most was, ‘What was it like to grow up with Ruth Asawa as your grandmother?’” Weverka recalled. “I hope the intimate exhibitions at our new Minnesota Street Project space give visitors a sense of who she was as an artist, mother and grandmother and arts advocate.”
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In addition to presentations curated by family members, Weverka said RAL Inc. plans to engage outside scholars to create shows, and will develop an education strategy to present workshops, panel discussions and artist talks.
Visitors explore the living room installation at the exhibit “Ruth Asawa: Retrospective” at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco in 2025.
Jana Ašenbrennerová/For the S.F. Chronicle
RAL Inc. also has plans to host an annual exhibition of work by students and faculty members from the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts. Asawa co-founded the school, which was renamed for her in 2010.
“We are thrilled to deepen and strengthen our partnership with Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc. as this new gallery space comes to life,” said the school’s principal, Stell Kim. “This exciting collaboration will provide a meaningful platform to showcase the extraordinary work of our students and faculty, while expanding access to arts education for our broader community.
“Together, the RAL, Inc. public gallery and our school will form a mutually reinforcing partnership — distinct yet aligned — advancing the enduring legacy of Ruth Asawa.”
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For the family, that emphasis on education was part of why the Minnesota Street Project felt like the right space for the gallery. Weverka called its arts campus a beacon “that embodies Asawa’s spirit of community, advocacy and education.”
Indeed, Deborah Rappaport, co-founder of the Minnesota Street Project, said the gallery aligns with the purpose of the 1275 Minnesota St. building, which is also home to the San Francisco Arts Education Project. The nonprofit grew out of the Alvarado School Arts Workshop, co-founded by Asawa in 1968 (though she split with the group before its current incarnation).
“Ruth’s mission in life was to support the local arts community,” said Rappaport. “She didn’t publicize her own work nearly as much as she did the importance of the arts in San Francisco.”