SFX: The voices of Asawa’s children are interwoven, sometimes overlapping. Minimalistic and repetitive MUSIC accompanies them. Sound of wire being unspooled and cut is interspersed. 

AIKO CUNEO:  

I’ve always felt, um, that these sculptures take space in the room like a person would. My name is Aiko Cuneo, and I’m the daughter of Ruth Asawa. She used wire. She would just start at the bottom oftentimes and work her way up. 

PAUL LANIER:  

I like to look at her sculptures from different angles because you always see something new.  

My name is Paul Lanier, and I’m Ruth’s son. 

ADDIE LANIER:  

The surface changes; but it’s a continuous one wire. She generally starts from the inside and it moves to the outside. I’m Addie Lanier, and I’m Ruth’s youngest daughter.  

AIKO:  

She’s using her fingers to loop these triple loops together around and around, you know, thousands of them in one sculpture. 

PAUL:  

She was always making them. And she would work on them for a little while, and then stop and do her chores or take care of us. 

AIKO:  

My mother said about her work: “I am able to take a wire and go into the air and define the air without stealing it from anyone. “ 

ADDIE:  

Transparency is part of the magic of her work. They have this lightness to them, and it’s almost because of the shadows. I think it’s almost like they transform. 

PAUL:  

It’s more clear in the shadow how it’s made rather than just by looking at the piece.  

AIKO:  

The shadow — it’s just like having another sculpture.