Tomo Kobayashi was born in 1983 in Tokyo, Japan, where she lived until she was 15 years old. In 2000, she entered a high school in Pennsylvania in the United States, where she took art classes such as photography and ceramics for the first time, which she become passionate about. Influenced by this experience, she continued her studies in photography and ceramics at Arizona State University, later working as an associate artist at the Urban Institute of Contemporary Art in Grand Rapid, Michigan, and then went on to earn a master’s degree in ceramics at Michigan State University. During that time, she won two travel scholarships, one for an artist residency in Thailand and one to study museums and exhibition practices and other art forms in New York City. After graduating, she worked as a ceramic instructor at the San Juancito Foundation in Honduras as a JICA volunteer for 2 years.
She continued her journey in El Salvador, meeting and exchanging experiences with local artists in Guatajiagua, Ilobasco, Santo Domingo de Guzmán and Suchitoto, and has also collaborated in strengthening local initiatives by supporting Shicali Pottey in San Salvador and giving a pottery training to young people in the area of La Palma, Chalatenango.
She has mainly exhibited her works in various places in the United States. However, after settling in El Salvador, she has exhibited at Pascal’s gallery in Suchitoto and exhibits her most recent works on the Premium Art Gallery website. Her work has been selected for SUMARTE at Museum of Art of El Salvador in 2022, exhibited at event organized by Alianza Francesa in 2023 and the Invernadero, organized by Cento Cultural de España en El Salvador in 2024. Her most recent work will be in Honduras in 2024 and Guatemala in 2025.
