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Google honors sculptor Ruth Asawa with a new Doodle

By Wade Sheridan
Google is paying homage to artist Ruth Asawa with a a new Doodle. Image courtesy of Google
Google is paying homage to artist Ruth Asawa with a a new Doodle. Image courtesy of Google

May 1 (UPI) -- Google is celebrating the life and career of late Japanese-American sculptor and educator Ruth Asawa with a new Doodle.

The acclaimed wire sculpture artist was born in January 1926 and her family worked as farmers until they were sent to U.S. government interment camps that housed Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast during World War II.

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Asawa received art lessons from other camp inmates and received a scholarship to Milwaukee State Teachers College, where she learned how to be an art teacher during her 16-month internment.

She was prevented from studying at the college three years later due to her Japanese heritage, and transferred to Black Mountain College in North Carolina. There, she met husband Albert Lanier and raised a family that included six children.

Asawa, inspired by various objects in nature such as plants, the spiral shell of a snail and insects, began crafting her signature looped wire sculptures that can be seen in museums and galleries around the world.

She designed the Japanese-American Interment Memorial Sculpture in San Jose and San Francisco State University's Garden of Remembrance, which features boulders from ten internment camps. The city of San Francisco has also named a public arts high school after her and has declared Feb. 12 Ruth Asawa Day.

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Asawa died at the age of 87 in 2013.

Google's homepage features artwork depicting Asawa crafting her famed looped wire sculptures. The Doodle was made in partnership with Asawa's family.

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