 Origami Fountain San Francisco, California |
A Celebration of Renewal and Remembrance
The original Origami Fountains, designed by artist Ruth Asawa, were installed in San Francisco’s Nihonmachi Pedestrian Mall in 1975. The fountains were a central feature of the Mall, designed by architect and planner Rai Okamoto.
In 1995, the fountains were removed from the Mall because of sever corrosion of the steel structures. The Nihonmachi Parking Corporation, the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and a community committee, Friends of the Origami Fountains, joined together to recreate and return the fountains to the Nihonmachi Pedestrian Mall. The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and the Nihonmachi Parking Corporation provided the funding for the replacement of the sculptural and mechanical elements of the fountains.
Sculptor Ruth Asawa worked with Piero Mussi of Artworks Foundry to cast the fountains in bronze. The San Francisco Arts commission has accepted the fountains into the San Francisco Art Collection.
Asawa to Design Internment Memorial in San Jose
The Commission on the Internment of Local Japanese Americans, in conjunction with the City of San Jose, City Council, Transit Mall Art Committee and Fine Arts Commission, has selected Ruth Asawa, a renowned San Francisco artist, to execute an art memorial commemorating the World War II internment.
The bronze monument will be approximately 6 feet high and 15 feet long. It will be two-faced, and it’s edges will incorporate Executive Order 9066, which led to the internment, as well as "mon" (family crests).
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In her presentation to the Commission on the Internment of Local Japanese American, Asawa wrote that the memorial "is organized around historical themes, or shared experiences, that the vast majority of Japanese Americans can readily identify with as either part of their lives, or that of their parents and grandparents."
Jerry Hiura, chair of the Fine Arts Commission said, "Asawa wants to bring to her work both the spirit and tangible evidence of the camp experience. It will not be an abstract, symbolic piece but one containing real people, barracks, guard towers and barbed wire – more a composite of the camp experience.
"Similar to her piece s at the San Francisco Hyatt Regency or Hyatt Union Square, which give a series of panels giving different glimpses of San Francisco in a circular drum shape, Asawa’s will be history from Executive Order 9066 … along with other statements reflecting the redress movement. There will be barbed-wire fencing above the panels."
The mon will represent people who were involved in civil rights issues 50 years ago, such as Fred Korematsu, who was convicted of disobeying the internment orders, and those who were active in the redress campaign such as Reps. Norman Mineta and Robert Matsui.
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More importantly, Asawa stated, "These crests will add a sense of history, tradition and continuity, as these mon are still alive today."
In designing the sculpture Asawa said she was forced to "recall my own experience as a 16-year-old high school student, from having to face fellow students at a high school assembly on Dec 9, 1941, where our principal asked the student body to exercise tolerance and understanding: to the removal of my father by the FBI; and then our later removed to a camp that was hastily built over a cotton field in Rohwer, Arkansas.
"The disruption and disorientation that my family went through from the end of 1941 to the end of the war is the story of almost every Japanese American family who lived and worked on the West Coast."
Some of the themes she hopes to include are pre-camp history with a focus on the Issei immigration experience; picture brides and the prewar economy; Dec. 7, 1941; life in the internment camps; and the role of the 100th Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team and Military Intelligence Service.
The memorial, which will be located in the heart of downtown San Jose, will be tribute to the struggles and sacrifices of the Issei and Nisei, organizers say.
"It is important that the narrative form be direct and simple so that any viewer, whether child or adult, Japanese American of other American, can understand why this is a memorial with a minimum of explanation," said Asawa.
"Asawa’s piece is going to educate the general public and will be a nice, safe, non-political vehicle to understand an aspect of Japanese American history and provide meaning to those who experienced the camps," added Hiura.
The project should take approximately 18 months to complete.
-- North American Daily, Tuesday, Oct 6, 1992
To inquire about available works by Ruth Asawa, please call 510-644-2735 or e-mail info@artworksfoundry.com
