Artist

Kay Sekimachi

born San Francisco, CA 1926
Media - portrait_image_113259.jpg - 90183
Courtesy Kay Sekimachi.
Born
San Francisco, California, United States
Active in
  • Berkeley, California, United States
Biography

Born in San Francisco, Kay Sekimachi studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland from 1946 to 1949. In 1949 she took up weaving on the loom and became so adept at the labor-intensive process that she is often referred to as a "weaver's weaver." Today, almost fifty years after she began to work in fiber, Sekimachi is recognized as a pioneer in resurrecting it as a medium of artistic expression.

Sekimachi uses the loom to construct three-dimensional sculptural forms. In the early 1970s she used nylon monofilament to create hanging quadruple tubular woven forms to explore ideas of space, transparency, and movement. Inspired by her ancestral homeland of Japan, Sekimachi repeatedly returns to that ancient culture for ideas.

Sekimachi eschews color in order to reinforce the sculptural qualities of her forms and emphasize the natural properties of her chosen materials. Enamored with antique Japanese paper, she has created a series of standing geometric postlike forms that suggest ancient totemic figures.

Kenneth R. Trapp and Howard Risatti Skilled Work: American Craft in the Renwick Gallery (Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art with the Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998)

Works by this artist (12 items)

Louis C. Rosenberg, Hospital, Santa Cruz, 1927, drypoint on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of De Witt Hornor, 1978.77.9
Hospital, Santa Cruz
Date1927
drypoint on paper
Not on view
Louis C. Rosenberg, Ana Sophia, Constantinople (Hagia Sophia), 1927, etching and drypoint on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of De Witt Hornor, 1978.77.10
Ana Sophia, Constantinople (Hagia Sophia)
Date1927
etching and drypoint on paper
Not on view
Louis C. Rosenberg, Torre del Ora, Seville, n.d., etching and drypoint on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of De Witt Hornor, 1978.77.7
Torre del Ora, Seville
Daten.d.
etching and drypoint on paper
Not on view
Louis C. Rosenberg, Grand Mosque, Cairouan, 1926, etching and drypoint on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of De Witt Hornor, 1978.77.8
Grand Mosque, Cairouan
Date1926
etching and drypoint on paper
Not on view

Exhibitions

Media - 2019.15 - SAAM-2019.15_1 - 137377
Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women
May 31, 2024January 5, 2025
The artists in Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women mastered and subverted the everyday materials of cotton, felt, and wool to create deeply personal artworks.

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