Everything She Touched: The Life of Ruth Asawa by Marilyn Chase (2020). Courtesy of Chronicle Books.
The life and career of Ruth Asawa was nothing short of amazing, as this biography shows. A Japanese American forced to relocate to an internment camp in Arkansas during World War II, she overcame the odds to become an acclaimed artist. Moreover, Asawa channelled that experience into her work, developing a unique style of woven sculptures, her use of wire inspired by the internment camp fences designed to unjustly imprison her people. A graduate of famed Black Mountain College in North Carolina who was mentored by Josef Albers, Asawa maintained a thriving practice even as a mother of six in an interracial marriage. Author Marilyn Chase spent five years researching her life story, drawing in fascinating details on the artist’s letters, diaries, and sketches, and interviewing Asawa’s loved ones. The book also includes 60 images of Asawa and her work, including portraits taken by her
Gift-giving is at once the most exciting and the most stress-inducing part of the holiday season. You’re always behind on buying them and, in 2020, face even more challenges as store closures loom and a pandemic shifts the norms of who you usually shop for. Do you have to get a gift for that client you’ve only met online? Should you?
When it comes to agents and their clients, gift guides often verge on the extremely obvious coffee mugs, placemats and tech that anyone in the industry is already likely to have. This year, step away from clichés with a personalized hometown puzzle or a scanner that matches any color you see with a paint sample. A sanitizing phone charger or online design class also fit the theme for the mess of a year that was 2020.
It’s our annual December donation drive. Please give from the heart (and wallet!) by clicking here. Thanks.
For over 10 years, the “99 Percent Invisible” podcast has been a touchstone for anyone interested in the often-overlooked design choices that shape our world and particularly, the auto-centric design choices that shape our streets. More than 400 million downloads later, host Roman Mars collaborated with producer Kurt Kohlstedt to co-author The 99 Percent Invisible City: a Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design, which reveals the secret history of urban errata around the world and on your own block.
From the surprising insights that gave the jersey barrier its curves to the bizarre crash that lead to the invention of the roadway centerline, the stories in its pages inspire us to give the everyday a second look and realize how profoundly our streets can be remade by simple design choices, no matter the violent history that may have built them.