Interviews

1. Family that saved her belongings during World War II

2. Thriving art culture at camp

3. Leaving everything behind

4. On the process of making her leaf bowls

5. On the process of creating her Japanese paper bowls

6. From double weaving to microfilament “flat” hangings

7. Marriage to Bob Stocksdale

8. Moving to Cincinnati after Topaz

9. Learning how to weave

10. Mother also wove growing up

Kay Sekimachi

(b. 1926) Artist

Learning how to weave

I was taken to the weaving room at CCAC I was captivated by the loom. There and then I said, I've just got to go out and get a loom and do it and so with the last $150 I had I went to this RN Studio and bought a loom. That's how I got started. Of course, this friend who had originally taken me to the weaving room said, "I'll show you how to weave." When we started I realized I needed lessons and so I went to the Berkeley Adult School where they had free classes and got the basics.

artists arts weaving

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)

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Learning how to weave

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