Public Art and Public Commissions, 1960s–1990s
In 1968 Asawa began advocating for the role of art in society through her tenures on the San Francisco Arts Commission, California Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She also expanded her art practice into San Francisco’s civic life through public artworks and commissions “to make a sculpture that could be enjoyed by everyone.” These works, often collaborative in nature, became places where communities could gather for moments of remembrance and celebration. This section offers documentation, photographs, artworks, and video highlighting this important aspect in Asawa’s career.
Asawa’s first outdoor commission was the bronze fountain Andrea (1968) in San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square. Responding to the waterfront location, she delivered a sculpture of two mermaids, one of whom holds an infant, surrounded by frogs and turtles. “I thought of all the children and maybe even some adults who would stand by the seashore waiting for a turtle or a mermaid to appear,” she explained.
In 1973 the Grand Hyatt hotel commissioned Asawa to design the San Francisco Fountain in Union Square. She enlisted the help of more than 250 family members, friends, and children to sculpt a panorama of city scenes out of baker’s clay, which were later cast in bronze. Rooted in everyday materials, group involvement, and audience interaction, the San Francisco Fountain exemplified Asawa’s approach to teaching and creating art.
On March 5, 1994, Asawa debuted her monumental Japanese American Internment Memorial, commissioned by the City of San José. Created in collaboration with her artist-son Paul Lanier and artist Nancy Thompson, this sculpture more directly addressed personal and shared stories of the unlawful incarceration of people of Japanese descent during World War II. Reflecting on her own experience and that of many others, she described that this work aimed “To put a human face on that experience.”
Asawa’s last commission, Garden of Remembrance (2000-02), at the San Francisco State University, commemorated nineteen students of Japanese descent who were removed from the university’s campus and incarcerated in camps during World War II. Asawa proposed a Japanese-style rock garden, for which she collaborated with landscape designers Isao Ogura and Shigeru Namba. “I want this memorial to be a place for people to gather, to think, and to enjoy,” Asawa declared. “It’s a reminder that . . . we need to watch out for our liberty.”