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The current show at the Maloof Foundation Jacobs Gallery celebrates two very accomplished individual artists who also happened to have been married. Kay Sekimachi, now in her 80’s, is a distinguished fiber artist and weaver. Known as a “weaver’s weaver,” Sekimachi uses the loom to construct three-dimensional sculptural pieces. She attended the California College of Arts and Crafts, where she studied with Trude Guermonprez and at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts where she studied with Jack Lenor Larsen. Her exhibition record is extensive and includes shows at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, just to name a few. She is a recipient of many awards including the Gold medal from the American Crafts Council in 2002.
She was married for 33 years to the internationally known wood turner, Bob Stocksdale, who passed away in 2003 at the age of 89. His magnificent bowls, which are displayed in leading museums throughout the United States, revolutionized how wood turning was viewed, elevating it to high art. Stocksdale was inducted as a Fellow of the American Crafts Council in 1978, honored as a “California Living Treasure” in 1985, was named an Honorary Lifetime Member of the American Association of Wood Turners for his contribution to wood turning, and received a Gold medal from the American Craft Council in 1995. His work is in many permanent collections including: The American Craft Museum, New York; the Contemporary Museum of Art, Honolulu; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
It is notable that both Stocksdale and Sekimachi were awarded Master of the Medium Award from the James Renwick Alliance. In 2001, before Bob’s passing, they worked together on a series of matching “Marriage sets” vessels, and showed concurrently at the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park in San Diego. The Maloof Gallery is honored to be showing these two consummate craftsmen, once again, together.
The exhibition is comprised of eighty works selected from various public and private collections, most of which have never been previously exhibited. An illustrated catalogue with curatorial essays and a checklist accompanies the show. Organized by the Berkeley Art Center and Guest Curator Robbin Henderson, the show will travel nationally.
The show is sponsored in part by the collectors of Wood Art and the Friends of Fiber Art International.
Kay Sekimachi signing books at opening of exhibit, June 1, 2008
Front row, left to right:
1. Leaf Bowl, 2007, 6 ¼ x 5 ½, skeleton of big-leaf maple leaves, kozo paper, watercolor, laminated and Krylon coated. Collection of the artist.
2. Leaf Bowl, 2007, 6 x 5 ½ x 5 ½, skeleton of big-leaf maple leaves, kozo paper, watercolor, laminated and Krylon coated. Collection of the artist.
Back row:
Basket with Sphere, 2003, 6 ½ x 14 x 14, hand-plied synthetic raffia. Collection of the artist.
Front row, left to right:
1. Mascal Bean, Texas, 1980, 2 ¼ x 6. Collection of Ruth Asawa and Albert Lanier.
2. Thuya Burl, Morocco, 1981, 3 ¾ x 5 ¾. Collection of Forrest L. Merrill.
3. Lacewood, Australia, 1980, 2 x 8 ½ . Collection of Sylvia & Garry Bennett.
4. Masur Birch, Russia, 1990, 4 x 4 x 4. Collection of Marion & Jorgen Hildebrandt.
5. Pink Ivory, Zululand, 1986, 4 ¼ x 7. Collecton of Kay Sekimachi.
Back row, left to right:
1. Amboyna, Malaysia, 1999, 3 ½ x 8 ¼. Collection of Forrest L Merrill.
2. Tamo, Japan, n.d., 2 x 14 ½. Collection of Martha Bielawski.
3. Smoke Tree, Indiana, 1991, 3 ⅛ x 4 ¼. Collection of Kay Sekimachi.
4. Spalted Ginko , 1994, 3 ¼ x 4 ¼. Collection of Dorothy & George Saxe.
Center of exhibit looking back towards gallery entrance door
Front row:
Hornet’s Nest Paper Bowl, 1999, 4 ¼ x 7 (paired with Bob Stocksdale’s Chichemas part of the Marriage Sets series), Japanese paper, laminated and Krylon coated. Collection of Forrest L. Merrill.
Back row, left to right:
1. Sugar Maple, Vermont, 1983, 4 ¼ x 5 3/8. Collection of Forrest L. Merrill.
2. Chichem, Mexico, 1999, 4 ¼ x 7. Collection of Forrest L. Merrill.
Visitors enjoying exhibit
right foreground:
Washi Vessels, 1987, 24 x 6, antique Japanese paper, cut, machine-stitched and folded. Collection of Forrest L. Merrill.
Paired Box I and Box II, c.1990s, 4 x 4 x 4, linen (orange, natural, blue,), double-weave pick-up. Collection of Forrest L. Merrill.
Front row, left to right:
1. Orange Paper Bowl, 1998, 4 ¼ x 5 ½ x 4 ½, orange antique Japanese paper, laminated and Krylon coated (paired with Bob Stocksdale’s Cocobolo as part of the Marriage Sets series). Collection of Paul Stricklin.
2. Cocobolo, Guatemala, 1999, 4 ¼ x 5 ½ x 4 ¼. Collection of Paul Stricklin.
3. Ebony, Ceylon, 1979, 2 7/8 x 8. Collection of Judy & Jerry Rose.
4. Ebony, Ceylon, 1981, 3 ¾ x 7 3/8 x 5 ¾. Collection of Forrest L. Merrill.
Back row, left to right:
1. Nigerian Ebony, Africa, n.d., 5 7/8 x 10 ¾. Collection of Forrest l. Merrill.
2. English & Black Walnut (grafted), 1999, 2 x 13 ½. Collection of Griffin Okie.
3. African Blackwood, 1984, 7 x 10 ½. Collection of Forrest L. Merrill.
Flax Bowl, 1989, 5 x 15, unspun flax, linen threads with gold metallic, gel medium. Collection of Forrest L. Merrill.
Sam Maloof and Kay Sekimachi at opening of exhibit, June 1, 2008
