There’s a fabulous retrospective of the artist Ruth Asawa on view now at MoMA in NYC, through February 7, 2026. Asawa is best known for her hanging sculptures made of woven wire (the header photo of this post is the shadow of one of them), but this exhibition really opened my eyes to the breadth of her work and the way she developed as an artist. I was also happy to see quite a few sketchbooks on display!
She seems to have mostly used spiral bound sketchbooks in a few different sizes, around 8.5 x 11″ or a little bigger or smaller. Some were displayed on the wall, and some were in a large glass case.
There were also some sheets of 3-hole punched looseleaf notebook paper that contained drawings and notes from her classes at Black Mountain College.
I enjoyed the exhibition so much, I walked through it twice, and the catalog of the exhibition is now on my Christmas list– I didn’t have a chance to look at the book much at the museum but it sounds like the sketchbooks are included in it. Check it out if you can’t make it to MoMA for the show!
I went to see this exhibition in San Francisco and it was mind-blowing. Her notebooks were so interesting and inspiring and, like you, I walked through it twice in amazement. Such a talented artist!