Japanese textiles are having a moment, thanks to galleries in St. Pete and Ybor City [PHOTOS]

Japanese textiles are having a moment in Tampa Bay.

At St. Petersburg’s Museum of Fine Arts, more than 150 garments celebrate craft and culture through artistry as part of “Kimono: The Triumph of Japanese Dress.” Artifacts in that show—many on public display for the first time—date all the way back to the early-1600s and run up to 1989.

The exhibit runs through Sunday, June 8, with Sue Castner, who’s loaning many of the objects in “Kimono” and set to do a collector’s talk on Saturday, June 7.

Across the bridge, Ybor City’s OXH Gallery is getting ready to say goodbye to works by Japanese textile artist Misako Nakahira who wraps up her first solo U.S. exhibition, “Weave A Tale,” focused on tsuzure-ori or nail weaving. A press release from the gallery—located inside the Kress Collective on 7th Avenue—says the technique is “based on irregular hand-manipulated weft threads adapted to reflect, through deliberate distortions and overlaps.”

“The layers created by the two stripe patterns may appear to clash or harmonize depending on perspective, yet neither pattern dominates the other,” the release adds. “Nakahira believes that using stripes as a motif―a universally understood and versatile form of expression―provides a way to view society from a broader perspective and interpret the times.”

Misako Nakahira’s “Weave A Tale” closes at OXH Gallery in Ybor City on Thursday, May 22, and has one last event this Friday, May 16 at 7 p.m.