Lilly the Cat  Fiber  Paper  Digital Contact  Email List  Shop  Music

Gen Obata is a Tacoma artist who creates fiber art, drawings, paintings, photographs, and artist’s books dealing with patterns, places, collections of objects and personal experiences. He is also a songwriter and a musician.

 

Gen has been creating artist’s books of photographs since 1997 using a digital camera. The subjects of the books range from botanical images to places in St. Louis to images of his daughter’s toys.

 

Gen’s photographs of the Center of Contemporary Art have been featured in the book, In the Spirit of Our Age: Eric Mendelsohn’s B’nai Amoona Synagogue by Kathleen James-Chakraborty.

 

Gen collaborated with writer Lee Ann Sandweiss and illustrator Phyllis Harris on a book about St. Louis architecture called St. Louis Architecture for Kids. This book combines Gen’s photographs of St. Louis with Phyllis’ illustrations and Lee Ann’s verses to give kids a fun look at the city.

 

More recently, Gen has been creating quilts, purses, and crocheted art. He has also created a series of note cards featuring his cat, Lilly, as a giant cat traveling across the country.

 

Exhibitions

2016                     Kent Summer Art Exhibit, Centennial Center Gallery, Kent, WA, Group show.

2015-16                B Sharp Coffee House, Tacoma, Solo show.

2015                     Kent Summer Art Exhibit, Centennial Center Gallery, Kent, WA, Group show. Two purchase awards.

2015                     Mt. Rainier Quilts, The Swiss, Tacoma, WA, Solo show.

2014                     Kent Summer Art Exhibit, Centennial Center Gallery, Kent, WA, Group show.

2013                     Spirals, The Swiss, Tacoma, Solo show.

2008                     Three Degrees of Spirals, Third Degree Glass, St. Louis, Solo show.

2008                     Michigan Quilts, Center Gallery, Glen Arbor, Michigan, Solo show.

2007                     Small Spiral Drawings, Left Bank Books, St. Louis, Solo show.

2006                     Quilts On Main, Historic Main Street, St. Charles, Group show.

2005                     Art For AIDS, Gallery Visio, UMSL, St. Louis, Group show.

2005                     Featured Artist, Thimble and Thread Quilt show, St. Louis, Group show.

2004                     Lilly at Rest, The Commonspace, St. Louis, Solo show.

2003                     Book Works, Center of Contemporary Art, St. Louis, Group show.

2003                     Men Who Quilt, Quilts on Main, St. Charles, Group show.

2003                     Provisions, St. Louis, Solo show.

2001                     Taproots School of the Arts, St. Louis, Book Arts Exhibit, Invitational group show.

2001                     University City Public Library, University City, Three person show.

2000                     St. Louis: Books and Photographs, UMSL, St. Louis, Solo show.

2000                     Michigan Tripychs, Left Bank Books, St. Louis, Solo show.

2000                     Center Gallery, Glen Arbor, Michigan, Solo show.

2000                     Kennedy Forest, Library Ltd., St. Louis, Solo show.

1994                     Works on Paper, Robert Stein Fine Art, St. Louis, Solo show.

1992                     Faculty Art Show, Steinberg Gallery, Washington University, St. Louis, Group show.

1992                     Hubs and Hoods, Center of Contemporary Art, St. Louis, Group show.

1991                     In the Streets, Robert Stein Fine Art, St. Louis, Solo show.

1991                     Making Waves, Center of Contemporary Art, St. Louis, Group show.

1990                     Faculty Art Show, Steinberg Gallery, Washington University, St. Louis, Group show.

1990                     Elliot Smith Gallery, St. Louis, Group show.

1989                     Spotlight on Drawing, Gallery of Contemporary Art, St. Louis, Juried group show.

1989                     Elliot Smith Gallery, St. Louis, Solo show.

1989                     Bonsack Gallery, St. Louis, Two person show.

1988                     University City Library, University City, Two person show.

1988                     Directions, Elliot Smith Gallery, St. Louis, Group show.

1987                     Elliot Smith Gallery, St. Louis, Group show.

1987                     Elliot Smith Gallery, St. Louis, Three Person Show.

1987                     5th Annual Juried Show, KCAC, Kansas City, Juried group show. Juror’s award.

1987                     St. Louis Artists Today, St. Louis Artists’ Guild, St. Louis, Juried group show.

1987                     Acrylic Show, St. Louis Artists’ Guild, St. Louis, Juried group show.

1987                     Drawing Show, St. Louis Artists’ Guild, St. Louis, Juried group show. Leone Cooper Prize.

1986                     Portrait Show, St. Louis Artists’ Guild, St. Louis, Group show.

1983                     Radcliffe College Library, Cambridge, MA., One person show.

1983                     Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA., Juried group show

1982                     Artists for Survival, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA., Juried group show

1982                     Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA., Juried group show

1979                     Amherst College Art Gallery, Amherst, MA., Juried group show.

1979                     Amherst College Student Gallery, Amherst, MA., Juried group show.