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Mother also wove growing up

She was a weaver when she was growing up. She didn't tell me this until I was well into weaving and so I was surprised.

But then it turns out that I think every farm household in Japan wove when it came to be the weaving season. They planted rice when it was the season for rice planting and raised cocoons. I know that they sent the good silk to Kyoto but they kept the silk that wasn't ... seconds and they kept that for themselves and they wove fabric for their own clothing.

And my mother actually reeled the silk from four cocoons to make a single thread, and then she actually wove it into a scarf and then she tie-dyed it. And I still have it.


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)

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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