A LINE CAN GO ANYWHERE... Come along with Ruth Asawa

 Ruth Asawa is a remarkable American artist, worthy of remembering her name and eliciting examples of her work. If you are already familiar with her, I believe you will adore this account of her life and work for young readers.  If she and her work are unfamiliar to you, this book is even more important to read.

I am a wish-I-could-be-artist who admires and sings the praises of the talents of actual  artists, especially when they are celebrated in picture books. (Put the word ARTIST in the search bar on the right to find any of the many posts I've shared about other artists in the past.) Rarely have I met a child who didn't LOVE to make art, if left undirected or judged. But I have met MANY, across preschool to adult ages, who have precluded even trying to make art by self-assessing that they "aren't good". Others feel that art is only "one thing", whether that is drawing or painting or making identical copies of some image presented to them. Or that art requires a studio or specific materials. If you know anyone (including yourself) who shares those views, this book is a passport to rediscovery of your own creativity and self-expression.

To resist that destructive impulse to limit and turn away from creative impulses or efforts requires a willingness to trust our inner selves, a willingness to give voice to our inner impulses. Ruth Asawa had such a drive, and her inner impulses were wide-ranging, leading to creating work that now hangs or is otherwise displayed in museums. Many of her pieces have been sold for eye-popping amounts. Asawa's art expressions involved two-and three- dimensional images and materials not readily associated with art and she is credited with opening the art world to expand acceptance of, welcoming of, innovative materials and creative insights. 

This variation and expansion of expression began as a child, and her drive weathered injustice and deprivation. She benefited from rare opportunities to learn from masterful artists. That's quite a journey to portray in a picture book, but the lines that marked Asawa's creative life became the thread that pulls readers through this book. 

ROARING BROOK PRESS, 2025

A LINE CAN GO ANYWHERE: The Brilliant, Resilient Life of  Artist Ruth Asawa is a biography written by CAROLINE McALISTER and illustrated by JAMIE GREEN. The author launches the reader into Ruth's life at a young age as this American-born daughter of Japanese immigrants noticed her world before the Second World War. 

Readers enter Ruth's life through her perceptions and fascinations with lines and patterns, as revealed in wagon tracks, agricultural and natural  movements on the land, and geometric waves of horizons and river beds. The beauty and rhythms of what she saw in vegetables, bean strings, calligraphy class. Even the stripes on the American flag spoke to her, called to her, inspired her to mimic and elaborate on the lines and movements in her world. 

You may have guessed by now that she and her family, along with more than a hundred thousand others, would intersect tragically with the unjust incarceration and isolation of Japanese Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. I was unaware of that aspect of her background, but reading this explains as much about her eventual trajectory in the art world as anything.

It was her incarceration that limited access to materials but led to interactions with artistic mentors whose careers were halted by movement to the camps. Ruth's awareness of figurative lines were not restricted to straight segments and angles, but frequently incorporated spools and loops, waves and curves, symmetry and asymmetry.applying  traditional skills and techniques to unconventional but  available materials. Crocheting with wire and weaving metals resulted in works that instantly intrigue even though they are utterly original and unprecedented. 

Throughout her life, Asawa heard many nay-saying voices (choose between family life and artistic life) but heeded her own path. She married and raised six children while keeping her art production original and powerfully unique. (To view a brief video of her art, try this YOUTUBE clip.)

Once achieving success, she could have used the most expensive or traditional materials, but she chose to incorporate what was at hand, what suited her inner intent, what contributed to the total impact of her work. Her quote below captures that impulse:

QUOTE credit: Ruth Asawa

Illustrations allow readers to connect with Ruth throughout her ages and stages, while hinting at many of the extended voices and drives which led her to such acclaim. She called the disruptions of her family and childhood "interrupted lines", which are suggested throughout the illustrations, as are other visual details that can find echoes in her masterpieces. 

You'll do yourself a favor to read and explore this picture book biography. It includes back matter that extends information about Asawa's life and art. Both the main text and that added information combine with remarkable illustrations to submerge readers into a life worth learning about.