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On the process of making her leaf bowls

Signe had put us onto this fellow by the name of Booker Morey who actually processed bigleaf maples. He took away the solid, the chlorophyll part, and so all you had were the veins of leaves. They’re very beautiful… he gave me some, and then I started buying them from him. That's how the leaf bowls came about…

I soaked the leaves for about half a day until the veins became very pliable. Then I would be able to work with them. Prior to that… I would cut a leaf form. I usually used a pair. The paper leaves would go on the bowl first, and I worked upside down this way. Then after that dried and I was able to get them off the mold, I would soak the actual leaves in the water for at least half a day. Then when they were really pliable, they got paste on them, and applied onto the paper bowl, the paper leaves.


artists arts bowls (art) leaves

Date: November 23, 2018

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Patricia Wakida

Contributed by: A Co-Production of the Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum and KCET

Interviewee Bio

Kay Sekimachi, born in 1926 in San Francisco, is an American fiber artist best known for her masterful, three-dimensional woven monofilament hangings as well as her intricate baskets and bowls. Born in San Francisco on September 30, 1926, Sekimachi was interned with her family at Tanforan Assembly Center in California and then the Topaz concentraton camp in Utah from 1942 to 1944. (June 2018)

Eric Nakamura
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Eric Nakamura

Giant Robot, a stepping stone for young artists

Giant Robot co-founder and publisher

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Mike Shinoda
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Mike Shinoda

Role as an artist

(b. 1977) Musician, Producer, Artist

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Akira Watanabe
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Akira Watanabe

Taiko, an element that represents strength (Spanish)

(b. 1974) Director of Ryukyu Matsuri Daiko in Peru

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Evelyn Yoshimura
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Evelyn Yoshimura

Emergence of Graphics in Gidra

Community Activist

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Mitsuru "Mits" Kataoka
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Mitsuru "Mits" Kataoka

The first print image from film

(1934–2018) Japanese American designer, educator, and pioneer of media technologies

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George Kazuharu Naganuma
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George Kazuharu Naganuma

Art helped him to feel less foreign in school

(b. 1938) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

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George Kazuharu Naganuma
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George Kazuharu Naganuma

Painting murals and signs in the army

(b. 1938) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

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Iwao Takamoto
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Iwao Takamoto

Developing Art Skills in Camp

Japanese American animator for Walt Disney and Hanna Barbera (1925-2007)

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Ben Sakoguchi
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Ben Sakoguchi

Differences between Parents

(b. 1938) Japanese American painter & printmaker

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Ben Sakoguchi
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Ben Sakoguchi

Starting out in Art

(b. 1938) Japanese American painter & printmaker

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Ben Sakoguchi
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Ben Sakoguchi

“I did what I wanted to do”

(b. 1938) Japanese American painter & printmaker

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