Bob Stocksdale and Kay Sekimachi papers
name: label: Creator
content: Stocksdale, Bob, 1913-2003
label: Names
content: Central Utah Relocation Center
label: Names
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: Tanforan Assembly Center (San Bruno, Calif.)
label: Names
content: War Relocation Authority
label: Names
content: Anderson, Norman
label: Names
content: Collingwood, Peter, 1922-2008
label: Names
content: Larsen, Jack Lenor
label: Names
content: Maloof, Alfreda Ward
label: Names
content: Maloof, Sam
label: Names
content: Merrill, Forrest L.
label: Names
content: Okubo, Miné, 1912-2001
label: Names
content: Shawcroft, Barbara
label: Names
content: Stocksdale, Bob, 1913-2003
label: Former owner
content: Stocksdale, Kay Sekimachi
label: Names
content: Stocksdale, Kay Sekimachi
label: Names
content: Turner, Tran
label: Names
content: Uchida, Yoshiko
topic: label: Occupation
content: Fiber artists -- California
label: Topic
content: Textile design
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Asian American art
label: Topic
content: Asian American artists
label: Topic
content: Japanese American art
label: Topic
content: Japanese American artists
label: Topic
content: Asian American fiber artists
label: Topic
content: Asian American educators
label: Topic
content: Japanese Americans -- Forced removal and internment -- 1942-1945
label: Topic
content: Woodwork
label: Topic
content: Textile crafts
label: Topic
content: Fiberwork
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Bob Stocksdale and Kay Sekimachi papers were donated in 2003, 2004, and 2015 by Kay Sekimachi Stocksdale as part of the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America.
creator: label: Creator
content: Stocksdale, Bob, 1913-2003
setName: label: See more items in
content: Bob Stocksdale and Kay Sekimachi papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of woodturner Bob Stocksdale and fiber artist Kay Sekimachi measure 19.5 linear feet and 0.125 GB and date from circa 1900 to 2015.  Found are biographical materials, correspondence, writings, professional files, exhibition files, project files, personal business records, printed and digital material, scrapbooks, photographic material, and artwork.  Of note are records from Sekimachi's forced internment during World War II at Tanforan Assembly Center and Topaz War Relocation Center from 1942 to 1944.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Bob Stocksdale (1913-2003) was a woodturner active in California. He was known for bowls he formed from rare types of wood.  Kay Sekimachi (1926- ) is a Japanese-American fiber artist and educator also active in California. She began her career in weaving on and off the loom and was part of the New Basketry movement.  

Born in Indiana, Bob Stocksdale began his interest in carving by whittling with a pocket knife. Later, he created his own lathe with a washing machine motor and turned items such as baseball bats. During World War II, he was a conscientious objector and worked at various camps performing forestry work. It was in one of the camps that he turned his first bowl on a lathe. 

After the war, Stocksdale settled in the Bay Area of California where he established his own woodturning shop in his basement. He concentrated on making bowls out of rare woods. His work has been recognized throughout the world and in 1998, he received the American Association of Woodturners Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2003, he received the James Renwick Alliance Masters of the Medium Award.

Kay Sekimachi was born in San Francisco, California in 1926. As a high school student, she was forcibly interned through Executive Order 9066 issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt which incarcerated approximately 120,000 Japanese and Japanese-American citizens during World War II. Along with her mother and siblings, Kay lived at Tanforan Assembly Center and later moved to Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah. She continued her schooling at Topaz and after 1944, was resettled in Cincinnati, Ohio.  

After graduating from high school, Kay Sekimachi enrolled at the California College of Arts and Crafts and the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts where she learned the craft of weaving under Trude Guermonprez and Jack Lenor Larsen. Her early works were tapestries and garments. She later used her weaving techniques as part of the New Basketry movement to create baskets and boxes out of fibers. Also an educator, Kay taught weaving at San Francisco Community College. She received the American Craft Council Gold Medal for Consummate Craftsmanship in 2002.  

After the dissolution of his first marriage through which he had two children, son Kim and daughter Joy Stocksdale, Bob married Kay Sekimachi in 1972. The two had been acquainted for many years as they were both craft artists living in the Bay Area. Although they married later in life, Kay and Bob travelled the world and exhibited their art together in many exhibitions including Marriage in Form and Loom and Lathe.

Bob Stocksdale died in Oakland, California in 2003.  Kay Sekimachi continues to exhibit her work and lives in Berkeley, California.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 19.5 Linear Feet
label: Extent
content: 0.125 Gigabytes
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1900-2015
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.stockbob
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Gigabytes
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 11 series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1920-2003 (1.5 linear feet; Box 1-2)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1943-2014 (7.6 linear feet; Box 2-10)

Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1960s-2008 (0.2 linear feet; Box 10)

Series 4: Professional Files, 1950s-2011 (1.1 linear feet; Box 10-11, 22)

Series 5: Exhibition Files, 1951-2015 (2.9 linear feet; Box 11-14, ER01; 0.125 GB)

Series 6: Project Files, circa 1900-2004 (0.3 linear feet; Box 14)

Series 7: Personal Business Records, 1970s-2010 (0.7 linear feet; Box 14-15)

Series 8: Printed Material, 1943-2011 (2.3 linear feet; Box 15-17, 22)

Series 9: Scrapbooks, 1937-1946 (0.9 linear feet; Box 17, 21)

Series 10: Photographic Material, circa 1950-2001 (0.9 linear feet; Box 18)

Series 11: Artwork, 1942-circa 1970 (1.1 linear feet; Box 18-20, 22-23)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was fully merged, processed, and described by Jayna Josefson in 2017 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Institution Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool. Born-digital materials were processed by Kirsi Ritosalmi-Kisner in 2020 with funding provided by Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of woodturner Bob Stocksdale and fiber artist Kay Sekimachi measure 19.5 linear feet and 0.125 GB and date from circa 1900 to 2015.  Found are biographical materials, correspondence, writings, professional files, exhibition files, project files, personal business records, printed and digital material, scrapbooks, photographic material, and artwork.  Of note are records from Sekimachi's forced internment during World War II at Tanforan Assembly Center and Topaz War Relocation Center from 1942 to 1944.  

The bulk of biographical materials are from Kay Sekimachi with some originating from her time spent in forced internment at Topaz and Tanforan camps. These records include identification cards, War Relocation Authority printed materials, and school records. Also found are awards, resumes, and blank stationery. Some materials are from Stocksdale's 85th birthday and memorial service.

Letters and extensive greeting cards are from friends, family, and professional acquaintances. Correspondents include Norman Anderson, Peter Collingwood, Jack Lenor Larsen, Sam and Alfreda Maloof, Forrest L. Merrill, Miné Okubo, Barbara Shawcroft, and others. 

Writings and notes are scattered and include two interviews with Kay Sekimachi, hanging instructions, and notes.  Writings by others are by Jack Lenor Larsen, Tran Turner, and Yoshiko Uchida. 

Sekimachi's and Stocksdale's professional activities are documented through files relating to their participation at conferences, awards ceremonies, and lectures.  Also found are fiber samples, order forms for materials and equipment, and notes on techniques and design by Kay Sekimachi. Exhibition records include extensive documentation on Marriage in Form, In the Realm of Nature, and Loom and Lathe as well as files for various solo and group exhibitions for both Sekimachi and Stocksdale.  Gallery and institution files include material on multiple or unnamed exhibitions. Exhibiton documentation may include correspondence, writings, proposals, printed material, financial and loan records, condition reports, and photographs. Project files contain material for proposed book projects, a retrospective, and portfolio, by and about Sekimachi and Stocksdale. Also found are three commissions files for works by Sekimachi. A proposed retrospective on the work of Bob Stocksdale by Kay Sekimachi includes a digital sound recording of recollections.

Personal business records include sales books, purchase records for works of art by others, appraisals, contracts, consignment receipts, and insurance records.  

Published books, clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, magazines, and newsletters are found within printed materials.  Of note is a publication by the San Francisco Chronicle entitled "This World" which features illustrations by Miné Okubo.  

Four scrapbooks compiled by Kay Sekimachi date from 1937 to 1944.  Most of the scrapbooks contain printed material from magazines and other sources with images such as children, valentines, food, birds, clothing, and may include scattered sketches and notes by Sekimachi.  One scrapbook dates from the end of Sekimachi's internment at Topaz and relocation to Cincinnati, Ohio.  This scrapbook includes sketches and printed materials concerning local and global events. Loose material found in this series was likely meant to be pasted into a new or the forth scrapbook.  These materials include relocation information, Japanese-American publications, maps, clippings, sketches, and printed programs. 

The bulk of photographic materials consist of slides of various vacation locations and homes and date from the 1960s to the 1980s.  Also found are scattered portraits of Kay Sekimachi and Bob Stocksdale, as well as a photo of Miné Okubo with Roy Leeper and Cecil Thompson. Artworks are largely by Kay Sekimachi and include watercolor and pencil sketches as well as designs for fabrics and a weaving portfolio.  Watercolor and pencil sketches are of Tanforan Assembly Center and date from circa 1942.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Also found in the Archives of American Art are an oral history interview of Bob Stocksdale conducted February 16-March 21, 2001, by Signe Mayfield and an oral history interview of Kay Sekimachi [Stocksdale] conducted July 26-August 6, 2001, by Suzanne Baizerman.  Both interviews were conducted in Berkeley, California, during the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America.