Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1666/

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)

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