For those who visited the Ruth Asawa retrospective at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and left awestruck, wishing they could partake in the artist’s work more frequently, I have good news.
On May 9, Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc., “a family-run entity” that manages the artist’s estate, will open a new exhibition space at the Minnesota Street Project. RAL, Inc. will move into the downstairs gallery last occupied by Anglim/Trimble, which closed at the end of December 2025.
The 1,714-square-foot gallery will be the first permanent venue to provide public access to the artist’s works. Rotating exhibitions will showcase the full extent of Asawa’s looped-wire sculptures, paintings, drawings, prints and community projects. The space launches with Ruth Asawa: Untitled, a show curated by Asawa’s daughters Aiko Cuneo and Addie Lanier, that speaks to Asawa’s tendency to leave much of her art untitled. For her, today’s announcement explains, naming was far less important than the process of making.
It’s the kind of mentality Asawa fans have come to expect from the artist responsible for indelible pieces of public art. She also helped found our public arts high school, now named for her; the San Francisco Arts Education Project (also housed at MSP), which offers hands-on arts instruction by working artists; and the creative reuse center SCRAP, a beloved depot of affordable art materials.
“When asked in 2002 why she never pursued a career in a major art market like New York, she replied, ‘It’s better for me to invest in San Francisco,’” said Henry Weverka, president RAL, Inc., in today’s announcement. Weverka is also one of Asawa’s grandchildren.
