The United States Postal Service has revealed a forthcoming stamp design for 2020 featuring the undulating mesh wire sculptures of pioneering Japanese American artist Ruth Asawa (1926-2013). 

Each pane includes 20 stamps, with two each of 10 designs, along with a photograph of Asawa taken by Nat Farbman in 1954 for Life magazine on the side.

Asawa learned to draw while held by the U.S. government in a Japanese internment camp with her family during World War II. She went on to study with Josef Albers at Black Mountain College where she developed skills with mesh wire weaving and sculpture, later making her mark with the curvaceous hanging basket-like sculptures for which she is known. She described her work as “a woven mesh not unlike medieval mail. A continuous piece of wire, forms envelope inner forms, yet all forms are visible (transparent). The shadow will reveal an exact image of the object.”

View an installation of Asawa's work here.

Information on ordering first-day-of-issue postmarks and covers is at usps.com/shopstamps under “Collectors.” (Designs subject to change.)

Details about when the Asawa stamps will be available to be announced.

Visit the Postal Store for purchases at usps.com/shopstamps, by calling 800-STAMP24 (800-782-6724), by mail through USA Philatelic