Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts

INTRODUCTIONS

Ruth Asawa School of the Arts at Ruth Asawa Lanier Inc.

Opening Event: Saturday, June 27, 4:00-6:00 pm with remarks at 4:30 pm

Location: Minnesota Street Project, 1275 Minnesota St, San Francisco, CA 94107

Introductions brings together work from students and faculty across the arts department at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, featuring artists, designers, makers, and creative thinkers from Visual Arts, Architecture & Design, and Costume & Fashion Design.

As its title suggests, this exhibition is an invitation to encounter a new generation of creative voices. Presented at the Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc. Gallery, Introductions offers a first look at the ideas, questions, and practices emerging from one of San Francisco's most vibrant arts high schools and a California Distinguished School.

The works on view span disciplines, materials, and approaches. Paintings sit alongside architectural concepts, garments alongside theatrical designs, revealing the diverse ways students engage with storytelling, identity, craft, experimentation, and innovation. Together, these works reflect a culture of inquiry where technical skill and creative risk-taking are equally valued.

What unites the exhibition is not a single theme or medium, but a shared commitment to exploration. Each piece represents a moment in an evolving artistic journey—a record of observation, imagination, problem-solving, and personal expression. At the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, all grade levels are challenged to develop their own visual language while contributing to a larger creative dialogue.

Introductions is an introduction to possibility. It marks a point of connection between the classroom, the studio, and the broader cultural landscape. As these emerging artists and designers step into a public exhibition space, they invite viewers to engage with work that is thoughtful, ambitious, and deeply reflective of the world they inhabit. This exhibition celebrates not only what these students have made, but who they are becoming.

Artwork: Kinetic, Sophie Lewis. 2026. Oil on Canvas.
Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc. is open Tuesday-Saturday 11am - 4pm

Introductions: Ruth Asawa School of the Arts Student & Faculty Exhibition Join us for an exhibition opening that features the work of students and instructors from Ruth Asawa School of the Arts

Bidding ends Saturday 5PM PST!!! Last chance….

Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts

Congratulations Ruth Asawa School of the Arts class of 2026! We can’t wait to see what your future holds!

Now you can join alumni & friends of Ruth Asawa School of the Arts

View the program online:

https://publuu.com/flip-book/524168/2481241

THE THEATER DEPARTMENT PROUDLY SHARES
Original short plays by the Junior class. This project will feature a combination of professional actors and SOTA students in a staged readings of student written short plays. This year's showcase will feature works by Alexie Delbeek, Anthony Morales, Camden Carlstedt, Francisco Sandoval, William Chivvis

Wednesday May 27, 2026 @ 6pm ONLY!

Ruth Asawa School of the Arts
STUDIO THEATER
555 Portola Drive
San Francisco, CA. 94131

Adults $15 / Students $10

Link in bio to purchased tickets at RASOTA Box Office.

Bid on works by Katherine Bernhardt, Alice Neel, R. Crumb, Scott Kahn, and Marcel Dzama in support of Ruth Asawa School of the Arts. Link in bio or asawaafterdark.com

The PTSA is deeply grateful to the artists and David Zwirner Gallery for supporting public arts education in San Francisco.

Katherine Bernhardt
Untitled, 2025
Acrylic on paper
29 7/8 × 22 1/4 inches (75.9 × 56.5 cm)

Alice Neel
Light, 1983
Lithograph on paper
38 × 27 inches (96.5 × 68.6 cm)

R. Crumb
The Nightmare (sepia), 1970
Offset lithograph on paper
21 × 24 1/8 inches (53.3 × 61.3 cm)

Marcel Dzama
Under for opening eyelids of the moon, 2021
Fourteen-color lithograph on Rives BFK paper
28 1/2 × 21 3/8 inches (72.4 × 54.3 cm)

Scott Kahn
Point House, Moon, 2020
Archival inkjet print on paper
22 × 23 7/8 inches (55.9 × 60.6 cm)

https://ruthasawasotaptsa.org/zwirner

The PTSA is immensely grateful to the contemporary and legacy artists of the internationally renowned David Zwirner Gallery who have contributed major works of art to benefit Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, to honor Ruth Asawa’s passionate advocacy for arts education in San Francisco’s public schools.

Ruth Asawa worked for decades to bring public arts education to school children in San Francisco. Inspired by her arts education at Black Mountain College, she served on the San Francisco Arts Commission, established the Alvarado School Art Workshop, and finally in 1982 achieved her dream of establishing a multi-disciplinary public arts high school in San Francisco.

David Zwirner is a leading contemporary art gallery with locations in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Hong Kong. Representing more than seventy artists and estates, the gallery is known for presenting innovative, singular, and pioneering exhibitions across a wide range of media and genres. Active in both the primary and secondary markets, David Zwirner has played a key role in shaping the careers of many of today’s most influential artists and has maintained long-term representation of a wide-ranging, international group of artists.

The Estate of Ruth Asawa has been represented by David Zwirner since 2017.

The Ruth Asawa School of the Arts Instrumental Music program presents:

Concerto Competition winners perform the following program with the Ruth Asawa SOTA Orchestra:

WEBER Der Freischütz Overture

FINZI Eclogue for Piano and Strings, Op. 10
Ethan Han, soloist

FRANCK Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra
Eloise Schoenfeld, soloist

MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto, op. 64
Alexie Koh, soloist

GERSHWIN Piano Concerto in F
Eva Thayer, soloist

WEDNESDAY, May 27, 2026 @ 7:30 PM

San Francisco Conservatory of Music
CAROLINE H. HUME HALL
50 Oak Street
San Francisco, CA. 94102

Adults $20
Student $10

Link in bio to purchase tickets at RASOTA Box Office

REUNITED: A THEATRE + MUSICAL THEATRE SENIOR SHOWCASE

Walk down memory lane with the seniors of the Theatre and Musical Theatre departments in a whimsical evening of stories, songs, and scenes celebrating the moments that shaped us. From monologues to musical numbers, join us as we revisit the laughter, chaos, and memories that battle-tested us into the thespians we are today.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2026 @ 7:00 PM

Ruth Asawa School of the Arts
STUDIO THEATER
555 Portola Drive
San Francisco, CA. 94131

Admission is FREE

WORLD DANCE: Ukusukuma

The Ruth Asawa School of the Arts World Dance Department is proud to present "Ukusukuma", a Zulu word that means 'to rise" !!! This annual Spring Concert plans to be exciting premiering the choreographic works of our seniors: Najimah Baxter, Isabella Garcia Torres, Risa Haile, Piadosa Hernandez, Bryan Naing, and Michael Skomorovsky along with underclassman choreography, as well our Artist in Residence: Tara Cartagena, Jarrel Philips, and Brialynne Simonitsch and directed by Natalya Shoaf-Bethely. You don't want to miss this special evening!

THURSDAY, MAY 28, 2026 @ 7:00 PM
FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2026 @ 7:00 PM

Ruth Asawa School of the Arts
DAN KRYSTON MEMORIAL THEATER

Adult $20
Student $10

Link in bio to purchase tickets at RASOTA Box Office.