About Dave
I’m an artist, musician, and writer, and I get a lot of my inspiration from my adventures traveling to interesting places.
I’m passionate about anthropology, which is to say, I want to understand the human experience and this thing that we call culture. My explorations into the diverse cultures of the world have inspired me to make artwork and music about the people and places I have seen. I’ve also written and illustrated two books about my time living in West Africa, where I studied traditional music styles over the past decade and a half.
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My artwork and music are a means for me to tell stories about the diverse world in which we live. I have traveled well off the beaten path to find these stories, and I am pleased to share them with you in my projects and latest artwork. My hope is that they can add something of value or interest to what it means to be human, and alive, on this magnificient Earth.
This website serves as a repository for my ideas and creations as I continue along the path that started some forty years ago when I made my first drawing.
Books by Dave Kobrenski:
Finding the Source
A profound real-life adventure story that spans continents—and worlds.
Drawing on Culture
More than 30 new artworks and travel writings from West Africa.
Djoliba Crossing
Updated 2nd Edition, with 50+ pages of illustrations and rhythm notations.
More of Dave’s Projects:
Afroflute
Fula flute, balafon, djembé, and ngoni come together in this joyful musical romp through the highlands of West Africa.
West Africa 2000–2011
Drawings and Paintings celebrating cultural diversity, based on my travels to Guinea, West Africa living with the Malinké people of the Niger River Valley.
Drawing on Culture
Drawing on Culture: West Africa is the first in my series of artworks that explore various cultures from around the world, based on travels in those places.
Music
Musical compositions, recordings, and performances. Projects such as: Afroflute, Donkilo! Afro Jazz, and Landaya Ensemble.
Wildlife Art
In the wild places on Earth, we find reminders of our own roots. In this series of art, I celebrate the sacred nature of the beings with whom we share this planet.
Figure Drawing
An ongoing journal of my studies of the human figure. Drawings and paintings in charcoal, pencil, conté, watercolor, gouache, and more.