Author Events
Book Passage: Virtual Author Event
Join Marilyn Chase for a Zoom meeting hosted by Book Passage in Corte Madera that includes a reading from Everything She Touched followed by Q&A.
Zoom meeting details will be forthcoming.
WWII Series: Through the Wire with Ruth Asawa
When San Francisco artist Ruth Asawa was interned in a camp for Japanese Americans during World War II, she found hope and inspiration among some of her fellow internees. She befriended and took drawing lessons from interned Disney animators Tom Okamato, Ben Tanaka, and Chris Ishii—a much-needed distraction from the oppression of camp life. After her release, Asawa would go on to become one of the most revered wire sculptors of our time, especially beloved by her adoptive city of San Francisco. In this special talk over Zoom, hear from her son, Paul Lanier, and Marilyn as they discuss the effects that World War II, internment, and the artists she met there had on her monumental artistic career.
$8 museum members | $12 non-members
In the Media
Pandemics and Pop Culture: Fiction or Reality?
Inspired in part by the new PBS documentary film, “Plague at the Golden Gate,” Marilyn engages in a conversation with Ian Lipkin, professor of epidemiology, pathology and neurology, where they compare real-life pandemics and their pop-culture analogues.
Past Forward, American Experience, PBS
May 31, 2022
The Life and Work of Ruth Asawa
Marilyn joins Jesse to talk about Ruth's early life and artistic influences, her unique experiences while in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II, and her lasting artistic legacy.
Bullseye With Jesse Thorn, NPR
August 21, 2020
Black Mountain College: A Conversation with Marilyn Chase on Ruth Asawa
BMCM+AC presents a conversation with Marilyn Chase, author of the newly published biography of artist and BMC alumna Ruth Asawa, "Everything She Touched: The Life of Ruth Asawa."
Black Mountain College + Arts Center
July 22, 2020
Tadaima Book Club: Everything She Touched
Everything She Touched recounts the incredible life of American sculptor Ruth Asawa (1926–2013), a woman who wielded imagination and hope in the face of intolerance and who transformed everything she touched into art.
Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages
July 17, 2020
Arts Club of Chicago: Author Marilyn Chase on the Life of Artist Ruth Asawa
Arts Club of Chicago Executive Director Janine Mileaf interviews Marilyn Chase on the publication of her book, Everything She Touched: The Life of Ruth Asawa.
The Arts Club of Chicago
July 16, 2020
Berkeley JACL: Virtual Book Talk
Watch the Zoom recording of Marilyn Chase’s virtual book talk hosted by the Berkeley chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League.
Berkeley JACL
July 16, 2020
The Japanese-American Sculptor Who, Despite Persecution, Made Her Mark
Seven years after her death, Ruth Asawa is finally being recognized as an American master. What can we learn from this overdue reappraisal?
T: The New York Times Style Magazine
July 20, 2020
The Life of Ruth Asawa — Virtual Silent Book Club with Marilyn Chase
Author and journalist Marilyn Chase discusses the life and work of American sculptor Ruth Asawa in this virtual Silent Book Club.
Silent Book Club
May 19, 2020
Inside the Life of Transformational Artist Ruth Asawa
In a series called “New Arrivals” KALW-FM features San Francisco author Marilyn Chase reading from her new book "Everything She Touched: The Life of Ruth Asawa."
KALW-FM
April 28, 2020
Masters of Modern Design: The Art of the Japanese America Experience
Season 10, Episode 1
KCET Artbound
The Forgotten History of Japanese American Designers World War II Internment
Revisiting the link between detention and design history, 75 years after FDR’s executive order.
Curbed
January 31, 2017
Long Before Coronavirus, Bubonic Plague Panicked California. A Cover-Up Toppled the Governor
The Sacramento Bee
March 1, 2020
The First Time the Plague Broke Out in the US, Officials Tried to Deny It
In 1900, newspapers and politicians claimed the doctor trying to stop the plague had made the whole thing up.
History.com
Updated March 23, 2020; Originally published November 15, 2019
Chinatown
Review of ‘The Barbary Plague: The Black Death in Victorian San Francisco”
The New York Times
April 27, 2003