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As a Japanese American teenager during World War II, Ruth Asawa learned to draw in a California internment camp. While scholarships later funded undergraduate studies in education, pervasive prejudice prevented her from securing a placement for the requisite student teaching. Attracted to Black Mountain College’s progressive ideals and cultural diversity, Asawa enrolled in 1946. During her three years on campus, she became a devotee of Josef Albers, who, as a matter of principle and practicality, encouraged her to utilize any materials available. Resourceful experimentation led Asawa to fabricate geometric sculptures by weaving ordinary wire. Often suspended like mobiles to cast intriguing shadows, Asawa’s airy sculptures recall organic shapes such as dandelions, tumbleweeds, or neurons.