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From double weaving to microfilament “flat” hangings

Trude taught us how to do double weaving. So I put a small sample on my loom, thinking that I'll just try a little piece and double weave, and by golly, when I took it off the loom, I saw that I had crossed the lairs, and when it came off the loom, I could see that if I chose the right material, it would open out and stay open. And then I tried a piece in nylon monofilament, which lengths were given to me… I put the monofilament on the loom and tried my double weaving, and by golly, when I cut it off the loom, I had a monofilament hanging. So that was the beginning of my whole series… The first ones, I called them ... they were the flat pieces, because if you flattened them, they would be flat. But then I knew in weaving you could go around and around and around, and you could make a tube. So, using that idea, I turned one of those monofilament hangings into a tubular piece, and that kept me going with more ideas about making them a little bit more sculptural.


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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