Who was Ruth Asaw? Japanese-American sculptor honoured with Google Doodle today

Artist is world renowned for her sculptures using wire

Google is celebrating artist Ruth Asawa, best known for her wire sculptures, with a doodle.

The illustration shows the Japanese-American sculptor kneeling down as she works on one of the colourful pieces of artwork hanging above her head.

Who was Ruth Asawa?

Ruth Asawa was a Japanese-American artist renowned for her work using wire to create sculptures.

She was born in Norwalk, Southern California, on 24 January 1926 as the fourth of seven children to Japanese immigrant parents, who worked on farms.

During the Second World War, Asawa and her family were forced to live in Japanese internment camps while the US fought Japan, according to Google Doodle.

After 16 months, she left the camp and went to study at Milwaukee State Teachers College to become an art teacher.

However she left without a degree, claiming her Japanese heritage meant she was held back from doing her student teaching, and transferred to North Carolina’s Black Mountain College instead.

It was here she met her future husband Albert Lanier, an architect, who she went on to have six children with.

Google is celebrating world-renowed Japanese-American wire sculptor Ruth Asawa with a doodle. (Google)

She adapted the idea of wire baskets and used similar techniques to create the looped wire sculptures she is known for.

According to Google Doodle, she once said of her work: “Sculpture is like farming. If you just keep at it, you can get quite a lot done.”

Asawa died on 6 August 2013 at the age of 87.

What are some of her most notable works?

Asawa designed the Japanese-American Internment Memorial Sculpture in San Jose in 1994 as well as San Francisco State University’s Garden of Remembrance.

Her work is on display in a number of museums, including the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and San Francisco’s de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park.