Ruth Asawa forever stamps (all images courtesy USPS)
Offering a small but lovely addition to day-to-day tasks, the United States Postal Service (USPS) announced a set of stamps featuring 10 of Ruth Asawa’s meticulous wire sculptures.
Born in 1926, the artist was confined to Japanese internment camps in California and Arkansas during World War II. There, she spent time drawing and was taught by internees who had worked as animators at Walt Disney Studios.
The sheet depicts a photograph of Asawa by Nat Farbman for a 1954 edition of Life magazine
Her work, meditative in its repetition, gorgeous in its fine details, and masterly in its execution, is often likened to birds’ nests and her technique borrows from Mexican basket weaving.
Photographed by Dan Bradica and Laurence Cuneo, the sculptures will grace a set of 55¢ Forever stamps. The official date when the postage will become available for purchase has not yet been announced. The sheet also depicts a photograph of Asawa by Nat Farbman for a 1954 edition of Life magazine. Ethel Kessler served as art director and designer for the collection.
Another nod to beloved contemporary artists, just last year USPS released a brilliantly colored collection of Ellsworth Kelly stamps.
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