August 25, 2024 – Yosemite National Park officials invite everyone to fourth annual Obata Art Weekend.

Join us for our fourth annual Obata Art Weekend, Friday, August 30 through Sunday, September 1, and celebrate the legacy of artist Chiura Obata. This weekend is packed— with art workshops, a community art fair, ranger talks, and other events held by NPS and our park partners. Watch a demonstration on ikebana or printmaking, or try your hand at landscape watercolors.

"I dedicate my paintings, first, to the grand nature of California, which, over the long years, in sad as well as in delightful times, has always given me great lessons, comfort, and nourishment. Second, to the people who share the same thoughts, as though drawing water from one river under one tree."

Chiura Obata's meditations on California assume form as energetic ink and watercolor landscapes, woodblock prints, and prose, and exemplify a deep connection to place and the beauty of nature. Obata was a lifelong observer of the outdoors and became acquainted with the High Sierras during a two-month trip in 1927, where he produced 100 works serenading "Great Nature."

Though Obata's seven-decade-long career was fruitful, culminating in his position as an esteemed art professor at UC Berkeley, it was not without its struggles. Obata was relocated and confined during the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII. Yet, still, he turned to art as a refuge, teaching art classes in the camps.

To learn more about Obata and his intimate relationship with the nature of Yosemite, join us for Obata Art Weekend (August 30- September 1.)

For a full event schedule, and to reserve a place in the workshops, visit: https://yosemite.org/obata-art-weekend-2024.

A reservation is required to enter the park between 5:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. on August 31 and September 1 during this event.

Thanks to Yosemite Conservancy donors for their generous support of this project.

Source: NPS