Andrew Kreps Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of works by the Berkeley-based artist Kay Sekimachi (b. 1926, San Francisco), organized in collaboration with browngrotta arts. Including rare, early works from Sekimachi’s personal archive, the exhibition is the first of the artist's work in New York since 1970.
A pioneer of weaving, both on and off the loom, Sekimachi developed a singular body of work over the course of seven decades. Often referred to as a “weaver’s weaver,” Sekimachi’s work synthesizes traditional craft, with innovative techniques and her own Japanese heritage. Working in series, often employing a singular material or fiber, Sekimachi pushed the individual characteristics of textile, sculptural dimensions. In the 1960s, Sekimachi began a series of sculptures employing nylon monofilament, then a newly introduced material from DuPont Chemical. Built from flat interlocking shapes, the resulting tubular forms enacted an interplay of movement, transparency, and light, often referencing natural phenomena as referenced in the works’ titles. In the 1970s, Sekimachi would explore off-loom weaving techniques, as demonstrated in the series Variations on a Camel’s Girth, before producing intricate woven books, and boxes. While incorporating other forms into her practice, such as delicate bowls made from paper and leaves, she remained fascinated by the challenges of the loom, continuing to weave.
A second-generation Japanese American, Sekimachi was born in San Francisco, spending her early youth in nearby Berkeley. During the Second World War, Sekimachi and her family were among the thousands of persons of Japanese descent who were forcibly incarcerated, first at Tanforan detention center in San Bruno, and later, at Topaz Relocation Center in Utah. Sekimachi received her first formal artistic education at Tanforan, documenting her experience in watercolors and sketches. Upon her family’s return to Berkeley, Sekimachi attended the California College of Arts where she first discovered weaving as a student Trude Guermonprez, who Sekimachi credits as a significant influence. In 1956, Sekimachi received a scholarship to Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Liberty, Maine, where she met the influential textile designer Jack Lenor Larsen (1927–2020), who would later commission Sekimachi to design textiles for commercial use. Sekimachi’s work was included in the landmark exhibition Objects: USA at the Smithsonian America Art Museum, Washington D.C., 1969, alongside Anni Albers, Sheila Hicks, Doyle Lane, Lenore Tawney, Peter Voulkos, and others. In 1972, Sekimachi married the celebrated American woodturner Bob Stocksdale. The couple frequently collaborated, with Stocksdale often creating custom tools for her weavings.
Kay Sekimachi lives and works in Berkeley. Her work has been exhibited widely, and often draws comparisons to her friend and contemporary, Ruth Asawa. In 2024, a comprehensive survey of her work titled Kay Sekimachi: Weaving Traditions was presented at the SFO Museum. In 2021, BAMPFA, Berkeley presented Kay Sekimachi: Geometries, and in 2016, the exhibition Kay Sekimachi: Student, Teacher, Artist, was presented at the de Young Museum, San Francisco. Her work is held in the permanent collections of Smithsonian America Art Museum, Washington D.C., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, de Young Museum, San Francisco, SFMoMA, San Francisco, Musée Des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota; Oakland Museum, California, Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, Detroit Art Institute, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, among others.
