Berkeley Art Center

✨OPEN CENTER: Artists-in-Residence— A Conversation ✨ Join us on May 29 from 6–8 pm for a final evening with our OPEN CENTER artists-in-residence. Spend time with Jillian Crochet (@jilliancrochet ), Dawline-Jane Oni-Eseleh (@disfordilettante ), Natalie Palms (@natalierose_textiles ), and Sabina Shanti Kariat (@sabinabinabina ) as they share reflections on their practices, works-in-progress, and the ideas that shaped their month-long residency at Berkeley Art Center. Together, we’ll gather to listen, connect, and talk about art, nature, place, and our relationship to the environment, rooted in conversations inspired by Live Oak Park and the broader Bay Area landscape. Refreshments and snacks will be provided, and we invite you to stay afterwards to hang out and continue the conversation 🌿 ABOUT OPEN CENTER: Artists & Community Throughout April, Berkeley Art Center transformed into a communal workspace and gathering space for artists and community members. Working across diverse media, the artists-in-residence explored the intersections of art, nature, culture, and site while experimenting with new forms of engagement and collective creative practice. 📍 Berkeley Art Center 🗓 May 29, 6–8 pm More information in bio.

TONIGHT Join us for a special preview fundraiser for Berkeley Commonplace and the opening of the Round Table Collaboration Postal Collage Project No. 15: celebrating 15 years of global creative exchange through collage ✂️🌍 This year’s exhibition brings together 459 collaborators in 94 groups across 16 countries, weaving an international tapestry of connection, creativity, and community through the medium of collage. As a longtime community partner, Berkeley Art Center has proudly hosted the exhibition for six years. 🟠Friday, May 15, 5 - 8 pm: Preview Fundraiser (RSVP required, link in bio) 🟡Exhibition: Saturday, May 16 - Sunday, May 31 (12 - 5 pm) 🟣Sunday, May 24, 12-2pm: Memory Maps: Collage & Assemblage Workshop led by @kwelife123 🟢 Sunday, May 31, 3 - 5 pm: Closing Reception Learn more about the exhibition and RSVP — link in bio ✨

Join us for Memory Maps, an intergenerational weekend artmaking workshop exploring memory, place, ecology, and storytelling through collage + assemblage led by Kweli Kitwana ✂️🌿🗺️ Using layered paper, maps, recycled and natural materials, textures, and found objects, participants will create sculptural collages inspired by personal reflection and community connection. No experience needed, just curiosity and a willingness to create together! Facilitated by local artist @kwelife123 , this workshop invites playful, cross-generational making where memory becomes material and story becomes structure. All materials provided! Participants are welcome (but not required) to bring photocopies of photos or images to incorporate into their artwork. 🗓 Sunday, May 24 ⏰ 12–2 PM 📍 Berkeley Art Center 🎟 Free + Sliding Scale (link in bio to RSVP) All ages welcome, 5+ (Adult supervision required for children 10 and under.) Your contribution helps keep these events accessible for everyone and supports material costs 💛 This workshop is supported b@poweredwithava and @berkeleycommonplace .

Tomorrow is the last day of OPEN CENTER ✨ Don’t miss your final chance to experience what Jillian, Dawline-Jane, Natalie, and Sabina developed during their month-long residency at Berkeley Art Center. Over the past month, the gallery transformed into a living studio space, inviting visitors into evolving artistic processes, experimentation, and works unfolding in real time. If you can’t make it, selected works will remain on view in the Lobby Project Space throughout May! Gallery hours: 12–5 pm. Slides 1–2: @disfordilettante Slides 3–4: @sabinabinabina Slides 5–6: @natalierose_textiles Slides 7–8: @jilliancrochet

Throwback to last weekend’s events as part of OPEN CENTER: Artists & Community ✨ Thank you to everyone who joined us for these thoughtful gatherings centered around learning, conversation, creative exchange, and collective care. From exploring artists’ rights and legal resources, to stepping inside the AIR studios, to sharing stories and memories through participatory dialogue. We’re grateful to everyone who contributed their time, energy, and presence. These moments continue to remind us how art can foster connection, reflection, and community 💫 Slides 1–2: OPEN CENTER: USF Law: Artists’ Rights Workshop with @usfcreatelawclinic (April 30) Slides 3–6: OPEN CENTER: AIR Open Studios featuring @jilliancrochet @sabinabinabina @disfordilettante @natalierose_textiles (May 2) Slides 7–8: OPEN CENTER: A Participatory Gathering – Memory & Storytelling facilitated by @minoosh_z (May 3) Thank you to all of the artists, facilitators, collaborators, and attendees who made these events so meaningful. Hope to see you soon 💫

The Rock 🪨 Costume is finally happening! I’ve been dreamin’ about it for at least six years. Iykyk. Experimenting and new material research makes my brain zing. My hands have been giving me a lot of trouble the past year, which has been really frustrating, but working with @nicolekshaffer has been so healing and invigorating. We were troubleshooting in our last session and they were taking this absurd project so earnestly and seriously that I felt it heal my inner artist critic. It’s made making fun again! More art w/friends please. It has been such a joy to be able to work on it during my residency @berkeleyartcenter . I’m so grateful to @giselanycoak for inviting me and all the help and support! Listening to the birds and creek babbling while working on it has been such a pleasure. Saturday is the last day I’ll be @berkeleyartcenter from 2-5pm so hit me up to visit!I I love to show you and/or troubleshoot with you ;) First two images of me a curly haired person in a power chair inside the wire armature of a rock (or bolder). It will eventually be a reed armature with a soft rock-looking fabric. Third video is of a grey sheet vaguely rock shaped covering a wire armature (a failed 1st attempt of the rock costume inner-covering), it is slightly wobbling and you can hear me talking inside of it) Fourth is an image of a sexy rock in the sun with green grass and smaller rocks behind it. It is a light grey with some tan shading and one side is in high shadow. Fifth image is of 3 rock material prototypes/tests/ma. quettes. (There have been a bunch…) And some dream ramp watercolors in a stack. Sixth image is a close up of one of the tests, it’s a shiny black rock giving obsidian, next to it are wire rock armatures that I used to build the tests on.

Join us on Wednesdays, 12:30–1:30 PM PT, for lunch and great speakers! 📅 May 6, 2026: Gisela Insuaste (@giselanycoak ), Executive Director @berkeleyartcenter , presents “Art in the Park: The Berkeley Art Center at 60.” Visitors are always welcome! Join us in person @firstpresberkeley or via Zoom. More info: link in bio. The speaker is provided by @martinkaliski , BRC President 2025–26. #berkeley #berkeleyrotary #berkeleyartcenter #onwednesdayswerotary • @rotary5160 @rotaryinternational

Throwback to last week’s event as part of OPEN CENTER: Artists & Community Thank you to everyone who joined these community activations! Coming together to exchange ideas, engage in meaningful dialogue, collaborate, and imagine new ways to support artists and collective futures in art. We’re grateful for everyone who showed up, participated, and helped shape these moments of connection and creativity 💫 Slides 1-4: Open Center Open Studios – @natalierose_textiles @sabinabinabina @disfordilettante @jilliancrochet (April 25) Slides 5–8: No Buy Your Wardrobe by @blinkpopshift (April 25) Slides 9–12: Somatic Potluck & Gathering by @trina_m_robinson (April 26) Join us for our final weekend of events—link in bio 🔗 There’s still time to experience what Jillian, Dawline-Jane, Natalie, and Sabina have been developing throughout the month (on view through May 9). The gallery has been transformed into a living studio, offering a rare, real-time glimpse into their creative processes! If you can’t make it this weekend, their work will remain on view in the Lobby Project Space throughout May. Stop by during gallery hours, Thursday–Sunday, 12–5 pm. Hope to see you soon!

This weekend at BAC: ⭐️ TODAY, 2 - 4 pm⭐️ Join us today for our final Open Studios, a drop-in session where visitors can meet with our April Artists-in-Residence! Open Studios are a chance to connect, ask questions, exchange ideas, and experience the gallery as a living, evolving studio space. @jilliancrochet @sabinabinabina @disfordilettante @natalierose_textiles ⭐️ TOMORROW, 1 - 3 pm⭐️ Join us for a participatory gathering that invites reflection on the impact of war through memory and storytelling. Please bring an image that holds personal meaning, such as historical monument, a landscape, or an intimate room connected to memory and belonging. Traditional Persian dishes, ash and shole zard will be prepared and served to nurture a sense of hospitality, care, and collective reflection. Facilitated by @minoosh_z Community events are free and open to all. RSVP is appreciated but not required. For more information, check out the links in our bio!

Collage by Julia Toal (Pennsylvania), with Tess Falcone (California), Teddi Haynes (California), MaryEllen Sanger (Colorado), and mac (North Carolina)

OPEN CENTER: Community Activations 🌿 Week of April 30 – May 3 Join us for a series of workshops, open studios, and community gatherings as we continue to create space for artists, organizers, and neighbors to connect, share knowledge, and reflect together. 🔵 April 30 | 6:00–7:30 pm USF Law: Artists’ Rights Workshop by @usfcreatelawclinic A free workshop covering copyright, ownership, licensing, and the impact of AI on creative work. Open to artists of all disciplines, with time for Q&A, networking, and optional one-on-one sessions with legal professionals. 🟢 May 2 | 2:00–4:00 pm Open Studios A casual open studio where visitors meet artists, explore works in progress, and experience creativity in action. @natalierose_textiles @jilliancrochet @disfordilettante @sabinabinabina 🟣 May 3 | 1:00–3:00 pm A Participatory Gathering: Memory & Storytelling by @minoosh_z A reflective community gathering exploring memory, place, and the impact of war through storytelling. Participants are invited to bring an image of a meaningful place to share. Traditional Persian dishes will be served as part of this space of care, connection, and collective reflection. All events are free and open to the public. Donations are always welcome and appreciated. More details + RSVP links in bio. Come through, learn, share, and connect with us!

Throwback to the first two weeks of OPEN CENTER: Artists & Community (April 9–May 9). Thank you to everyone who joined these community activations! Coming together to exchange ideas, engage in meaningful dialogue, collaborate, and imagine new ways to support artists and collective futures in art. We’re grateful for everyone who showed up, participated, and helped shape these moments of connection and creativity 💫 Slides 1–3: Regeneration & Renewal, an art celebration by @mayoradenaishii (April 11) Slides 4–5: Cohere, Here: An Intimate Lab for Dreaming Art Co-ops by @specs.specs.specs (April 16) Slides 6–7: Artists Take Political Action by @selbysohn (April 18) Slides 8-10: Open Center Open Studios – @natalierose_textiles @sabinabinabina @disfordilettante @jilliancrochet Slides 11-13: South x Southeast Exhibition by Berkeley High School Arts & Humanities Academy (AHA) students (April 19) Slides 14-16: Miniature Shadow Box Workshop by @jostlingjones (April 25) Join us for upcoming events—link in bio 🔗 Hope to see you soon!