Sculpture

Artist / Maker Kay Sekimachi (American, born 1926)

Date1961

MediumBlack nylon monofilament

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineGift of Priscilla and Charles Sage. In the permanent collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberUM2022.68

Status

Not on view

Collections

CultureAmerican

Label TextFrom the University Museums Collections Handbook, vol. 2, 2025: With her inventive use of traditional loom weaving to create unique three-dimensional sculptures, Kay Sekimachi is a pioneer in the fiber arts. A second-generation Japanese American, Sekimachi was born in San Francisco and placed with her family into forced incarceration at two U.S. Japanese internment camps during World War II. She would finish high school in this environment, then return to California afterwards to study art. At the California College of Arts and Crafts, she happened upon the weaving studio, which forever changed the trajectory of her art, and she immediately purchased a small loom. In the 1950s, she was introduced to the possibility of innovation and experimentation that could be possible in loom weaving and by the 1960s she was weaving layered monofilament sculptures. The ethereal and sinuous sculptures hung from the ceiling, defying what a textile should and could be. These sculptures placed Sekimachi in the middle of the burgeoning fiber art revolution that charged the world of contemporary craft and art in the 1960s and 70s. Sekimachi continues to explore materials and processes, but often returns to the loom to create uniquely beautiful works of fiber art.

Locations