Berkeley Art Center

About the Center Our Mission

Berkeley Art Center (BAC) serves the diverse and creative citizens of this unique regional area, through the presentation of visual art exhibitions and related programs that are relevant, engaging, and inspiring.

Recent News
and Reviews

	Blog.SFGate.com — January 16, 2014 Interview: How an exhibition juror chooses what the public sees Bay Area sculptor Weston Teruya was persuaded to winnow the scores of participant artists down to the few — 8, as it turned out — represented in “Feature.” Teruya and I spoke at the BAC while the full-scale members’ show was still hanging....
	SFGate.com — January 15, 2014 Weston Teruya: Sole juror for 'Feature' show Bay Area sculptor Weston Teruya, 36, was invited by the Berkeley Art Center to cull fewer than 10 outstanding things from its annual unjuried members' exhibition - more than 200 submissions...
	SFGate.com — August 21, 2013 Bay Area visual arts picks Works in many media reflecting on "risk" by 34 contemporary artists, chosen by Berkeley Art Museum curator Apsara DiQuinzio and Oakland gallery owner Kimberly Johansson...
	East Bay Express— August 2013 RISK All good art begins with a risk. Many of the ones in Risk, now at the Berkeley Art Center, pay off...
	Berkeleyside— May 7, 2013 Berkeley Art Center showcases sculpture in new show One of the many aesthetic pleasures of ORIGINS:Elemental Forms in Contemporary Sculpture — a provocative group sculpture exhibition now at the Berkeley Art Center through June 9 — is the installation itself.....
	East Bay Express— May 1, 2013 Festival of Form This enjoyably crowded, twelve-artist sculpture exhibition highlights a nature-focused sensibility....
	SFGate.com — January 4, 2013 Review: 'Wonder'—big curiosity on small scale Occasionally an exhibition, such as "Wonder," the Berkeley Art Center's unjuried members' annual, invites us to imagine dilemmas of the contemporary artist...
	East Bay Express WONDER: 2012 Artists Annual In an art climate heavily defined by the reign of the curator, an exhibition such as Wonder, Berkeley Art Center's annual open call, truly is a relaxing experience...
	View all posts»

Major Contributors

As a private, non-profit organization supported in part by the City of Berkeley, the Berkeley Art Center would like to thank the major contributors that make our exhibitions and programs possible:

Alameda County Arts Commission, ARTSFUND Grants Program
Paule Anglim
Anonymous
Matthew Barton
Lee Bevis
Berkeley Foundation for the Arts
Rena Bransten
Christopher Brown
Joy and Jerry Carlin
Kati & John Casida
City of Berkeley
City of Berkeley Civic Arts Commission
Jackson Construction
Kevin & Amy Cullen
Narsai David
Kim Eagles-Smith
Lucille Freedman
John Friedman
Sheldon & Judy Greene
Joe Slusky & Katie Hawkinson
Mr. & Mrs. David Levine
Leslie Ceramics
Judith & Stanley Lubman
Jim Melchert
Lorna Meyer
Meyer Sound
Richard Nagler
Open Circle Foundation
Steven Oliver
Josh Oliver & Azar Zavvar
Robert & Mary Jane Pauley
Penny Cooper & Rena Rosenwasser
Rotary Club of Berkeley
Rotary Club of Berkeley Art Center
Dorothy Saxe
Shannon Trimble
Ship Art International
Susan Klee & David Stoloff
Roselyne Swig
John Toki and Pamela Stefl Toki
Diane Tokugawa
W A Gerbode Foundation
Reed Westphal & Puneh Sohrabpour
The Winifred & Harry B. Allen Foundation
Zellerbach Family Foundation

2012-2013 Contributors
(above $100) »

Board and Staff

Board of Directors 2013
Marianna Stark, President
Sheldon Greene, Vice President
Lucille Freedman, Treasurer
Ernest Jolly, Secretary
Elliot Halpern
Josh Oliver
Susan Roth
Elizabeth Sher
David Snippen
Larry Stefl

Staff

Aimee Le Duc, Executive Director
aimee [at] berkeleyartcenter.org
Amanda Klimek, Program Coordinator
amanda [at] berkeleyartcenter.org
James Hart, Preparator
Leilani Main, Intern

Contact Us

Berkeley Art Center
1275 Walnut Street
Berkeley, CA, 94709
(510) 644-6893 phone
(510) 644-0343 fax
info [at] berkeleyartcenter.org

We would like to thank our program sponsors and business contributors:

History

Designed by Robert Ratcliff Architects in 1967, the Berkeley Art Center was built by the Rotary Club as a gift to the City of Berkeley, and was instituted as a city program until BAC adopted its private, non-profit status in the late 70s. A beautiful arts and crafts-style structure in Live Oak Park, North Berkeley with an outdoor sculpture patio featuring the work of renowned area sculptors, BAC has established itself as leading local gallery presenting the work of talented regional artists in diverse media.

Exhibitions
& Programs

Berkeley Art Center presents a variety of visual art exhibitions and related programs for its membership and the general public. Recent exhibitions have included Local Treasures: Bay Area Ceramics, Intimate Nature: Explorations in and around Berkeley Art Center; Light/Dark: Selections by Enrique Chagoya; and Abstract Visions, featuring six artists curated by noted art historian and curator Peter Selz. Exhibitions serving members and a wider group of regional artists include the annual juried exhibition with noted area curators and gallerists, and the center's Artists Annual, a year-end non-juried showcase of work by Berkeley Art Center's artist-level members, featuring over 200 works in a salon-style resentation. Related programs have included the center's widely praised Artist Lecture Series which has hosted extremely accomplished and well-respected artists in intimate, informal conversations and presentations in the center’s unique exhibition space. Other public programs include Family Day, film screenings, educational workshops, and more, as appropriate to the exhibition on view.

Artist Lecture Series • Participating artists:

2013 (to date)
Stephanie Syjuco
Jann Nunn
Ann Weber
Jonn Herschend

2012
Kenneth Baker
David Best
Tom Holland
Jim Morphesis
Deborah Oropallo
Raymond Saunders

2011
Chris Brown
Gay Outlaw
Hung Liu
Maria Porges
Allan deSouza
Kathryn Jacobi
Michael C. McMillen

2010
Robert Bechtle
Suzaan Boettger
Squeak Carnwath
Pierre Picot
M. Louise Stanley
Jan Wurm
Robert Hudson

2009
Tom Marioni
Martin Lubner
Kara Maria
Martin Facey
Terry St. John

Audience

Berkeley Art Center’s audience serves and represents the diversity of the city and region in which it operates, and includes the active participation of over 10,000 individuals on an annual basis. As a fully handicapped-accessible facility, Berkeley Art Center is also accessible to a large section of the senior and disabled population. Artists comprise a significant part of Berkeley Art Center’s audience, and comprise the majority of our memberships with participation in our Artists Annual, a non-juried exhibition at the close of each year, attracting upwards of 200 artists. Artist talks, opening receptions and presentations/programs are regularly attended to capacity. The biennial Youth Arts Exhibition in collaboration with the Berkeley Unified School District, grades K-8, attracts hundreds of students and their families from twelve area public schools each year.

Collaborations
& Partnerships

Berkeley Art Center works with a wide variety of local organizations and agencies to strengthen its programming and advocate for the arts. Recently, these have included Berkeley Cultural Trust, Kala Art Institute, JFK University’s Museum Studies Department, the City of Berkeley, Rotary Club of Berkeley, UC Berkeley, Berkeley Art Museum, Bedford Gallery, ProArts, Paulson Bott Press as well as many others.