Ruth Asawa working on a Baker’s Clay project with elementary school students, c. 1973. Photo by Laurence Cuneo. Courtesy Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc.
January 24 marks the 100th birthday of artist Ruth Asawa. Celebrate the Asawa Centennial with a “Dough In” at Alvarado Elementary School!
DATE:
SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2026
11:00AM – 2:00PM
PLACE:
ALVARADO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
625 DOUGLASS ST., SF, CA 94114
You are invited to celebrate the RUTH ASAWA CENTENNIAL at Alvarado Elementary School, the place where Asawa’s important contributions to arts education in San Francisco’s public schools began.
The ASAWA 100 “DOUGH IN” is a special event inviting participants to create, in community, in celebration of Ruth Asawa’s art and legacy. Come and play with one of Ruth’s favorite mediums – Baker’s Clay – dough made with flour, salt and water – and lots of loving, helping hands. A celebratory program will include remarks by family and friends, artists and educators. All ages are welcome!
11-12:00pm DOUGH IN Workshop #1
12:15pm-12:45pm ASAWA 100 CELEBRATORY PROGRAM
1:00pm-2pm DOUGH IN Workshop #2
“Learn something. Apply it. Pass it on so it is not forgotten.” — Ruth Asawa
Photo by Greta Mitchell. Courtesy Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc.
Where can I learn more about Ruth Asawa’s life and art?
Visit the official Asawa website to learn more about Ruth’s life and art. https://ruthasawa.com/
What is a “Dough In”?
In 1973, during the opening of her first San Francisco Museum of Modern Art retrospective, Ruth Asawa held what she called a “dough-in,” a communal experience that was part baking, part art, and part fun.
Why a “Dough In”?
Flour, salt and water are three simple ingredients are easily purchased and readily found in the home, ensuring that this art-making activity is accessible to all. The tactile, social aspect of a “Dough In” encourages the spirit of play, a very important ingredient for learning.
Where is Alvarado Elementary School?
Alvarado Elementary is a public school in Noe Valley. There is limited parking in the neighborhood, and we encourage participants to use public transportation. For directions to Alvarado Elementary School, please visit the school’s website. https://www.sfusd.edu/school/alvarado-elementary-school
I don’t live in San Francisco. Will there be more opportunities to celebrate?
While this event helps to kick off the Ruth Asawa Centennial in San Francisco, communities everywhere all around the world are encouraged to host their own #Asawa100 “Dough In” celebrations.
“What really I admire most about my grandmother is her ability to get to work, find like-minded people to work towards a shared goal. And, in this case, it was expanding art education programming in San Francisco Public Schools.” — Henry Weverka
Ruth Asawa’s Baker’s Clay Recipe
The following recipe will make one batch of dough which is ample for 6-8 students.
4 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 ½ cups water
#Asawa100 Resources
San Francisco’s Ruth Asawa (1974)
As an artist, Ruth Asawa forged a groundbreaking practice through her ceaseless exploration of materials and forms. But when Asawa was asked to name her life’s most important work, she replied, “the schools.” Learn more about how the San Francisco Fountain at the Grand Hyatt Hotel was created, Asawa’s work with students, and her philosophy of civic engagement in this excerpt from Victor Rosenberg’s film San Francisco’s Ruth Asawa (1974).
SFMOMA: Oral History:
Community-sourced oral histories/stories about Ruth Asawa
How has Ruth Asawa’s work affected or inspired you?
What has her art or many contributions to the community of San Francisco meant to you? On the occasion of Ruth Asawa Retrospective, SFMOMA invites you to record or write about your personal connection to Ruth Asawa and celebrate her enduring legacy. Participate in keeping her legacy alive.
Ruth Asawa’s Public Art Tour
https://ruthasawa.com/ruth-asawas-public-art-tour
Listen to stories from Asawa’s family and friends about her public art in the San Francisco Bay Area from anywhere in the world. Visit the Ruth Asawa website and take the Public Art Tour.
Ruth Asawa’s Public Works in the Bay Area created using Baker’s Clay
- San Francisco Fountain at the Hyatt Hotel on Union Square, 1970-1973
- Origami Fountains, Japantown, 1975-1976, 1999 – Cast concrete sculpted with children of the neighboring shopkeepers.
- San Francisco Yesterday and Today, Parc 55 Hotel, 1983-1984
- Japanese American Internment Memorial, San Jose, 1990-1994
- Redding School, Self-Portrait, 1984, Father Alfred E. Boeddeker Park
- Seward Street Slides, 1973, Seward Street Minipark, near the corner of Douglass Street
MoMA: Make Your Own Clay and Scene in the Spirit of Ruth Asawa
https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/1371
Artist Ruth Asawa believed that art was part of everyday life. She used simple materials to make sculptures, drawings, prints, paintings, and public art. Many of her monuments, which can still be seen throughout the San Francisco Bay Area in California, where she lived and worked, were a result of collaboration in which Asawa invited the local community, especially children, to contribute. Artist and teacher Syd Abady brought that same spirit into a workshop at MoMA with second graders from New York’s public schools. As she explained, Asawa “really did think of [children] as collaborators.” The students made clay sculptures inspired by the parks and neighborhoods where they live in New York. Together, they built a collective artwork made up of many small pieces, just as Asawa did with her students in San Francisco, and this project is now featured in the MoMA exhibition Ruth Asawa: A Retrospective.