Ruth Asawa gardening with students at Alvarado School

Project Title: Each One Teach One: The Alvarado School Art Program
Recipient Organization: The Ruth Asawa Fund
Lead Artist: Valerie Soe
Genre and Date Awarded: Media Arts, June 1999
Premiered: May 23, 2002, Jack Adams Hall, Student Union, San Francisco State University

By collaborating with acclaimed artist and teacher Ruth Asawa and the Ruth Asawa Fund, media artist Valerie Soe created a 23-minute impressionistic video, "Each One Teach One: The Alvarado School Art Program," tracing the history of a pioneering community-based arts movement. The program's mission statement notes:

Conventional wisdom holds that art is an esoteric pursuit reserved for the talented few who are trained in specialized schools after completing elementary and secondary education. The Alvarado parents thought otherwise. They believed that the skills of art are as useful as any others taught at the primary level.

In 1968, seven parent-artists and community volunteers began efforts to transform a San Francisco public school, and succeeded in creating one of the first community-based arts education programs in the country. Originally the Alvarado School Community Art Program, their efforts continue today both at the Alvarado School and through the Ruth Asawa Fund, which supports the bringing of eminent scholars and working professional artists into public schools.

According to the San Francisco Bay Guardian (May 22-28, 2002), "Over the years the program has united professional artists with countless kids, parents, and community members, with tangible results, such as Alvarado's colorful outdoor murals and mosaics." One of the Art Program's first activities was the painting of a mural at the Alvarado School in 1969-'70. Today Ruth Asawa's son Paul Lanier maintains a ceramics studio at the school site and, in 2000, during the making of "Each One Teach One," he and Alvarado students completed a major new ceramic mural on the campus. Asawa's daughter Aiko Cuneo also is an artist and a teacher at Alvarado.

"Each One Teach One" was originally proposed as a collaboration with the seven women artists who had founded the school's remarkable program, with each of the women to collaborate with Valerie Soe on a two-minute segment. In 1993 Soe had used a similar process to produce "Art to Art: Expressions by Asian American Women," a collaborative video by Asian American women artists that paired visual and media artists to produce short segments.

However, as "Each One Teach One" evolved, it became a more focused collaboration with Ruth Asawa, who also was the primary artist behind the Alvarado program. Asawa and Soe worked closely together on creative decisions and Ruth Asawa set up workshops and shooting opportunities, such as classes, in her house and garden.

In spite of the change in emphasis, the finished piece incorporates interviews with other artists and volunteers who are still active in the program--in particular May Lee, Mary Lee, Nancy Thompson, Rose Shuck, and Sally Woodbridge. The video illustrates the program's generational span, including Rose Shuck's daughter Kim, an Alvarado School alumna, who now teaches art at the school, and Eddie Dang, Kim's son, who was in sixth grade at Alvarado at the time of the video's production.

The piece also incorporates photo and video documentation of the myriad projects created at Alvarado School, ranging from paper-folding and mask-making workshops in classrooms to children's' participation, in major public art works. It illustrates the building and sustaining over time of ties between a school and its surrounding community. Among other goals, the collaborators hoped to create an historical record that would help other schools to establish similar arts education programs.

Valerie Soe has produced a range of experimental videos and installations exploring of identity and culture. She had had extensive prior experience with collaboration through such projects as "La Vida Povera de San Pancho" (1997), created with Erik Olsen Hannes at Southern Exposure Gallery (as part of the Creative Work Fund Project "Urban Renewal Laboratory"), which explored ideas of place, home, and geography in an urban setting; and "20 Questions," a collaboration with Larry Andrews, dealing with the after-effects of the 1992 civil unrest in Los Angeles. Soe also has been an arts educator for many years.

Valerie Soe

Valerie Soe creates experimental videos and installations addressing culture, place, and community. She has collaborated with many other artists, among them Erika Olsen Hannes and Larry Andrews. She also is an experienced arts educator who has worked with children, teenagers, and frail older adults.

Ruth Asawa demonstrating paper folding with students

Videography and Selected Exhibitions 

• "Beyond Asiaphilla," 14 minutes (1997)
• One Person Show, Pacific Film Archive (1997)
• Videos in San Francisco Cinematheque; "New Visions: Video," Long Beach Museum of Art; "Stories by Boys and Fables by Girls," 1997 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival; "It's a Man's Man's World," Seattle Asian American Film Festival; San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival; Chicago Underground Film Festival; Women in the Director's Chair; Dallas Video Festival (1997)
• "Binge" in "Feed," San Francisco Camerawork; "Building Bridges, Crossing Cultures," Hearst Art Gallery, St. Mary's College, Moraga, California; "Muses," Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, California; Open House, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito California (1995-'96)
• "Walking the Mountain" (2:30 minutes) in "Festival Gala," Film Arts Foundation, San Francisco, California; Asian American International Video Festival, Asian CineVision, New York City; "Rooms for the Dead," Center for the Arts, Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco, California; Poetry Video Festival, San Francisco, California (1994)
• "Picturing Oriental Girls: A (Re)Educational Videotape (12 minutes) in San Francisco International Film Festival; "When Worlds Collide," Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York; '93 Images Film/Video Festival, Toronto; KCET-TV, Los Angeles, California (1992)
• "Mixed Blood," (20 minutes), "New World (Dis)Order," Center for the Arts, Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco, California; National Women's Museum of Art, Washington, DC; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, Washington; KCSM-TV, San Mateo, California; KQED-TV, Free Speech TV, San Francisco California (1992)
• "Heart of the City," in "Bring the Noise," 1994 Asian American International Film Festival; Market Street Art in Transit Program, ("Heart of the City Farmer's Market" installation), San Francisco Art Commission, San Francisco, California (1992)
• "Cynsin: An American Princess," (10 minutes), Image Film and Video Festival, Atlanta, Georgia; WOW Women's Film and Video Festival, New York, New York (1991)
• "Destiny," (6 minutes), "Asian American Film and Video Festival, Visual Communications, Los Angeles, California; "VCR Videos: TV Pirates," San Francisco Cinematheque, San Francisco, California (1991)
• "Diversity," One Person Show, Sushi, Inc., San Diego, California; One Person Show, The Women's Building, Los Angeles California; "Official Language," McBean Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California (1990)
• "Black Sheep," Asian American International Video Festival, Asian Cinevision, New York, New York; "Nasty Girls," Other Cinema, San Francisco, California; "Freewaves from J-Town," Visual Communications, Los Angeles; KQED-TV, KTVU-TV, San Francisco (1990)
• "New Year, Parts I & II," (23 minutes), "The Feminist 'I,' Video Programs from the Women Make Movies Collection," The Brooklyn Museum; "In Living Color: Race and Civil Rights," American Film Institute Video Festival; "Videos da San Francisco," Museu da Imagem e Do Som, Sao Paolo, Brazil; Avant-Garde Film Festival, Inkel Audio World, Seoul, Korea (1987)
• "ALL ORIENTALS LOOK THE SAME," (1:30 minutes), Festival Internazionale Cinema Giovani, Torino, Italy; 12 th Atlanta Film and Video Festival; Sony Corporation, "Visions of the U.S." Festival; "Through The Lens," WYBE-TV 35, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; "New to America," The Learning Channel; "Best of the Territory," KRLU-TV, Austin, Texas; "VideoArco International Contemporary Art Fair," Madrid, Spain; "Tracking On," Cable Channel L Working Group, Manhattan Cable; "The Forbidden Self," Capp Street Project/ATV, San Francisco; Free Speech TV (1985)

Awards and Commissions

• Artist's Grant, Art-in-Print, Public Art Works, Marin County, California (1999)
• Eureka Fellowship, The Fleishhacker Foundation, San Francisco, California (1998)
• Potrero Nuevo Fund Prize, administered by New Langton Arts, San Francisco, California; Artist's Grant, Serpent Source Foundation for Women Artists; New Visions: Video Production Grant, Long Beach Museum of Art; Artist's Residency, Centrum Foundation, Port Townsend, Washington (1997)
• James D. Phelan Award in Video, San Francisco Foundation; Djerassi Foundation Residency, Woodside, California (1995)
• Artist's Grant, Cultural Equity Fund, San Francisco Art Commission; Artist's Equipment Access Grant, Bay Area Video Coalition, San Francisco; Individual Artist's Project Grant, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions and New Langton Arts, San Francisco; Artist's Fellowship, Art Matters, Inc.; Veronica di Rosa Residency, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California (1994)
• Best Bay Area Short, Golden Gate Awards, San Francisco International Film Festival (for "Picturing Oriental Girls: A (Re) Educational Videotape (1993)
• Pioneer Fund Documentary Film/Video Grant, San Francisco, California (1993)
• Intercultural Film/Video Fellowship, Rockefeller Foundation, New York; Market Street Art in Transit, San Francisco Art Commission (1992)
• Director's Choice, Image Film and Video Festival, Atlanta Georgia ("Cynsin: An American Princess" (1992)
• Individual Artists Project, Art in Public Places, University of Washington and Washington State Arts Commission, Seattle, Washington; Artspace Video Production Grant, San Francisco Artspace (1991)
• Western States Regional Media Arts Fellowship, Rocky Mountain Film Center (1990)
• Personal Works Grant, Film Arts Foundation, San Francisco, California (1989)
• First Place, Experimental Category, Sony Corporation "Visions of the U.S. Festival"; and Honorable Mention, Experimental Video, 12 th Atlanta Film and Video Festival (for "ALL ORIENTALS LOOK THE SAME" (1988)
• Best Foreign Video, Festival Internazionale Cinema Giovani, Torino, Italy (For "ALL ORIENTALS LOOK THE SAME" (1987)
• Third Place, Experimental Category, Sony Corporation "Visions of U.S. Festival," Los Angeles, California; Regional Finalist, Student Video Competition, American Film Institute National Video Festival, Los Angeles, California (1986)

Teaching Experience

• Chair, Film/Video Department, California State Summer School for the Arts (1990-)
• Lecturer, Asian American Studies Department, San Francisco State University; California College of Arts & Crafts, Oakland, California; and San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California (1997-)
• Instructor, Media Arts Department, School of the Arts, San Francisco, California (1996-98)
• Lecturer, Art Department, San Francisco State University (1995)
• Lecturer, Cinema Department, San Francisco State University (1994)
• Lecturer, Theater Arts Board, University of California, Santa Cruz; Lecturer, Asian American Studies Program, University of California, Santa Barbara (1992)
• Lecturer, San Francisco State University, Inter-Arts Center (1990-91; 1994)
• Artist-in-Residence, Artworks, Mt. Zion Hospital, San Francisco, California (1989-90)

Ruth Asawa

Ruth Asawa has been involved with San Francisco's children for 40 years. She co-founded the Alvarado Arts Workshop with Sally Woodbridge and parents in 1968. The workshop brought artists, gardeners, and parents together to work in the schools. It paved the way for local arts providers to serve more children in schools. She also led the way to establish San Francisco's School of the Arts, a public high school.

As a sculptor, Ms. Asawa included students, family, and friends in the making of the dough fountain at the Grand Hyatt on Union Square. High School students interned with artists on her bas-relief wall at the Parc Fifty-Five Hotel. Her commissions are held in private collections and major cultural institutions including the Guggenheim Museum. In 1973, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art held a retrospective of Ms. Asawa's work.

In 1994 Ruth Asawa completed a commission of the Japanese American Internment Memorial in San Jose. It is a visual documentation of a dark chapter in this country's history.

Public Commissions

• Gardens of Remembrance, California Civil Liberties Public Education Project, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California (2002)
• Japanese American Internment Memorial Sculpture, City of San Jose, County of Santa Clara, a d the local Japanese-American Community, cast bronze bas-relief sculpture, San Jose, California (1994)
• Cast bronze fountain, Beringer Winery, St. Helena, California (1988)
• Glass fiber reinforced concrete bas-relief fountain, Santa Rose Redevelopment and Housing Agency, Old Courthouse Square, Santa Rose, California (1987)
• Aurora, stainless steel fountain, Hampshire Properties, Bayside Plaza, San Francisco, California (1986)
• Glass fiber reinforced concrete bas-relief wall, Father Boeddeker Park, San Francisco recreation and Parks Department (1984)
• San Francisco Yesterday and Today, glass fiber reinforced concrete bas-relief, Ramada Renaissance Hotel of San Francisco (1984)
• Cast bronze sculpture, DeBartolo Corporation of Youngston, Ohio, Mission Viejo, California (1977-79)
• Two fountains of corten steel (replaced in bronze 2000) and bas-relief benches, Nihon-machi Buchanan Mall, San Francisco Redevelopment Agency (1976)
• Bronze plaque, Makota Hagiware, Japanese Tea Garden, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California (1974)
• Cast bronze fountain, Grand Hyatt on Union Square, The Hyatt Corporation of America (1970-73)
• Tied bronze wire fountain, Civic Plaza, The City of Phoenix, Arizona (1971)
• Andrea , cast bronze fountain, Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco, California (1966)
• Tied wire sculpture, J.L. Hudson, Detroit, Michigan (1965)
• Woven and tied wire sculpture, Joseph Magnin Co., San Francisco and Topanga Canyon (1963-65)

Private Commissions

• Welded bronze gate, Dorothy and Theodore Kitt, San Francisco, California (1996)
• Memorial for Noah Wolfson: cast bronze grave marker, Mr. and Mrs. Philip Wolfson, San Francisco, California (1992)
• Portrait bust, paper and acrylic paint, Alfred H. Daniels, San Francisco, California (1991)
• Large heads, silastic and acrylic paint, "Faces of San Francisco," Macy's California, Annual Easter Flower Show (1982)
• Tied wire sculpture (gift of Mrs. Helen Novy), Merritt Hospital, Oakland, California (1981)
• Bronze bas-relief plaques, Crown Zellerbach Corporation, San Francisco, California (1979)

Collections for Public View

• Josef Albers Bequest, Solomon Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York (1980)
• Women's Board Purchase Award, Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, California (1976, 1959)
• Addison Gallery, Andover, Massachusetts (1966)
• Williams College, Williamsport, Massachusetts (1965)
• David Rockefeller, Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, New York (1958)
• Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Lipman, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York (1958)

Private Collections (partial list)

• Rear Admiral (retired) and Mrs. Richard Ballinger
• Mr. and Mrs. Johnson Bogart
• Mr. Herbert Fischbach
• Mrs. Jacqueline Hoefer
• Mrs. Louis Honig Estate
• Mr. Robert Howard Estate
• Mrs. Jacquelin Hume
• Mr. and Mrs. Hunter Land
• Mr. and Mrs. Walter S. Newman
• Mrs. Creighton Peet
• Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, III
• Mrs. Nelson Rockefeller
• Mr. and Mrs. William M. Roth
• Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Smith

Artist-in-Residence

• Our Town Tifton, public sculpture, Tifton, Georgia (1996)
• Chairman's Grant, Artist-in-Residence, National Endowment for the Arts, San Francisco, California (1980-81)
• Artist-in-Residence, The San Francisco Foundation, San Francisco, California (1977, 1974, 1973)

Fellowship Awards

• Philanthropic Ventures Foundation (1990-present)
• First Recipient, Dymaxion Award for Artist/Scientist (1966)
• Tamarind Lithography Workshop, (1965)

Public Appointments

• "Distinguished Urban Artist," Creative Arts Department, San Francisco State University, for a public sculpture (1996)
• Ad Hoc Committee, California Summer School for the Arts, California Arts Council (1983)
• National Crafts Planning Project, National Endowment for the Arts (1980-81)
• National Council Task Force on "Education and Training of Artists," National Endowment for the Arts (1980-81)
• "Role of the Arts," President Carter's Commission on Mental Health (1977-78)
• Artist-in-Schools, National Endowment for the Arts (1974-78)
• California Arts Council (1976-78)
• RISE Commission: Reform Intermediate and Secondary Education, California Department of Education (1974)
• Visual Arts Panel, California Arts Council (1973)
• San Francisco Arts Commission (1968-76)

Community Involvement

• Community Artist Representative, School of the Arts Leadership Committee, (1996-present)
• Founder and President, The Ruth Asawa Fund (1995-present)
• President, Scrounger Center for Reusable Art Parts (SCRAP) (1992-present)
• Board of Trustees, American Conservatory Theater (1991-97)
• Board of Trustees, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (1989-1997)
• Founder and Treasurer, Friends of Blanche, Blanche's Garden (1988- )
• Board of Directors, Buckminster Fuller Institute (1984)
• Co-founder and President of the Board, School of the Arts Foundation (formerly Alvarado Arts Workshop (1968-84)
• Council for Museum Education in the Visual Arts, John D. Rockefeller Foundation (1972)

Awards

• Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, San Francisco State University (1998)
• Honorary Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee (1998)
• Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, San Francisco Art Institute (1997)
• Lifetime Achievement Award, Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center (1997)
• Art with Elders Honor, Ministry to Nursing Homes (1996)
• First Artist-Mentor in Visual Arts Award, International Network of Performing and Visual Arts Schools (1995)
• Golden Ring Lifetime Achievement Award, Asian American Arts Foundation (1995)