kay sekimachi/fiber artist

All over Kay's home are beautiful little groupings of found objects from nature and artwork by friends. This first image is what happened to one of her perfect little arrangements when I walked by too quick....whoops!

See how it was originally arranged below.

kay sekimachi/fiber artist

Last Thursday and Friday I began my new project on American craftspeople. There is such a resurgence of craft right now, but I feel like much of it is really trendy with no knowledge of the incredible tradition it comes from. Kay Sekimachi is a master fiber artist. She is in her 70's I would guess and still works everyday at the loom or on other projects in her home studio. I am continuing the work I started with Handcrafted Modern, documenting houses, so I shot the entire house. But today I thought I would give you all a little taster of Kay's work. These are all hanging in the upstairs loft studio. I have included a detail of this long hanging piece. It is made entirely of fish line. The result is incredibly beautiful. It almost feels like some amorphous creature from the sea....

sunset

What is going on in the sky out in Davis? Look at this - completely otherworldly. I love it out there!

color/my morning walk

Sometimes mother nature knows best about color. I stumbled on this on my morning walk. This shade of green almost seems unreal, yet there it was, just off my path.

color/ray kappe

An other from Ray Kappe's home. I also love the royal blue with the avocado carpet.

color/ray kappe

I have been working with a color consultant on a job recently and it has reawakened my fascination with color - namely the combining of interesting color combinations. So many of the houses I have shot for Handcrafted Modern have a unique color sense, but two in particular come to mind. Ray Kappe's home in Pacific Palisades is one of them (more on the other home later in the week). Although it is not in the final version of my book, I wanted to share some of the images here. I love the royal blue with the wood.

henry varnum poor/

These last couple of images  am going to show from HV Poor's house are self portraits. Yes, I know...I am so vain...taking pictures of myself...but sometimes I just need to take a silly picture, or I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror and it looks interesting. Usually I am the only person there, so self portrait it is! I have probably taken pictures of myself in the mirrors of most of the homes I have shot. These two that I shot at Poor's home, are two of my all time favorites. I went to photograph there twice, so there is one shot from each visit.