West Berkeley Arts District

09/28/2024

09/28/2024

Berkeley artist urges healing through creativity and freedom from restrictions : 'Just make art and laugh.'

07/19/2024

06/08/2024

Saturday, June 8th experience Amrita Singhal’s painting in her show, Nothing Lasts, Everything Matters at SHOH Gallery and see a preview of her virtual piece based on her Rama Prayer Series.
4-7pm

06/08/2024

05/10/2024

05/10/2024

THE WEEKEND IS STARTIN' TONIGHT!!!!

☆ NEUROOT (FROM HOLLAND)
☆ VIOLENT COERCION
☆ MUTILATED TONGUE

DOORS AT 7PM, $15
COME EARLY 2 VOLUNTEER

11/11/2023

is so excited to share this progress shot from the fabrication of the new sculpture by Mildred Howard, which will be installed in Berkeley in early 2024 at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr Way and Adeline Street. More to come as installation nears.

11/11/2023

11/11/2023

Upcoming December 2-3, East Bay Open Studios
Over 150 artists around the area with 20+ Sawtooth Building Artists participating. www.eastbayopenstudios.com
Plan your weekend.
Keep in touch with your local art community at the historic Sawtooth Building by following this page, Sawtooth Building Artists, liking it and the pages of those you enjoy. Check back often to see what we are up to!

03/14/2023

The Berkeley Potters Guild—one of the oldest continuously operating ceramic cooperatives in the United States—is a treasure trove of clay arts in West Berkeley with an ever-changing display of work backed by decades of skill.

The Guild’s 20 artists include a
sculptor who is also experienced in kimono design, interior design and graphic design; a Berkeley psychotherapist whose passion for working with his hands led him to working with clay; a weaver who twines natural elements into her pottery; and a number of ceramicists who are also visual artists. Works from Guild members have over the years been on display at the Oakland Museum of California, the de Young and Asian Art museums in San Francisco, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Smithsonian and, further afield, the State Historical Museum in Moscow.

The Guild was launched in 1971, in an abandoned window-manufacturing warehouse on Jones Street. A decade later, the founders scraped together funds to buy the building. Over the group’s long tenure, other clay and glass artists have moved into the area.

In recent years, the city designated the neighborhood the West Berkeley Arts District Each artist has their own personalized studio and kiln. The Guild is open to the public every Saturday (except in January) from 11am-5pm, and more frequently during two annual open house events: A holiday show (this year, Nov. 25th through Dec. 24) and a spring “seconds sale” followed by
East Bay Open Studios (all weekends in May). Hand-formed and thrown pieces range from practical, daily-use items—the Guild has a huge diversity of bowls, mugs, plates and cups on offer—to sculptures, vases, bird baths, jewelry, clay art hangings and additional one-of-a-kind items. Custom work is also possible.

The group’s president, Berkeley resident Pamela Zimmerman, has been making clay art at the Guild for more than 40 years. “There is so much diversity here now, both in terms of who we are and in how we create,” she says. Zimmerman emphasizes that the Guild is appreciative of the support from the community, and from the city itself, which has developed policy and planning tools to sustain the arts.
“Over the years the Guild has developed a loyal following not
only in Berkeley, but in surrounding communities,” she says. “The City of Berkeley supports the Guild with guidance for our future and by creating the artisans district.” Having such talent in our midst is both humbling and uplifting. “Handmade ceramic art brings the joy of wabi sabi, Japanese for the beauty of imperfection, and a connection to the person behind the piece,” adds long-time member Margaret Grisz-Dow.

These creative connections help make Berkeley a truly special place.

Learn more: BerkeleyPotters.com
or Berkeley Potters Guild

Article by Lori Pottinger
Photos by Berkeley Potters Guild

03/12/2023

Commotion West Berkeley is an arts organization to foster civic engagement through mini-grants.