Community & Family Events

Join us for a fun day of learning and creating artwork together. Community members and families are invited to visit Kala and participate in hands-on workshops and activities that connect to our exhibitions on view and/or explore a variety of themes related to the community as we learn new art-making skills. Themes may include family, legacy, culture, traditions, belonging, and identity. To learn more, please contact education@kala.org.

Upcoming Community Workshops & Events

Date: September 18, 2023
Time: 6-9 pm
Location: Kala Gallery @ Kala Art Institute
Cost: $20 – 35 + Eventbrite Fee (sliding scale)
Please Click here to RSVP via Eventbrite

Come draw with us in the spacious Kala gallery space! We will have a model for the full 3 hours during which participants can practice their figure drawing at their own pace, work on incorporating a figure into an existing piece, or however they’d like to use their time! Kala staff members – who are also practicing artists – will facilitate the session. Kala will provide drawing boards and standing easels, but recommend that participants bring tools and surfaces of their choice to the session. Kala will have limited basic materials for general use (such as charcoal, graphite, and newsprint). The session will include a series of short poses (1 – 5min) as well as some longer poses (10 – 20min).

*This community workshop is open to all 18 and above. This is an open studio drawing session as opposed to an instructional class. Kala facilitators may provide drawing advice and support on a request basis. The figure model will be unclothed for the duration of the drawing session. As of this month, mask-wearing is recommended but optional for all visitors in Kala’s gallery and community classroom. Space limited.

Kala reserves the right to cancel any session due to low enrollment or other circumstances. In this case, you can request a tuition refund. No refunds or transfers will be issued for days missed due to illness, family travel, or any no-show of any kind.

First Annual West Berkeley Community Print Festival

Date: Saturday, April 15, 2023
Time: 12-5pm
Location: Kala Gallery @ Kala Art Institute
Cost: Free

Celebrate spring and the art of printmaking and more! Join us for a fun day of art activities! From a community art workshop and artist demos to art sales and studio tours, stop by during the day and see what’s haRemove featured imageppening at Kala Art Institute. The festival wraps up with a book launch of Mission Gráfica: Reflecting a Community in Printmaking and a panel discussion of women printmakers featured in this recent publication. We hope to bring together our local community of artists, youth, and families for a day of sharing and experiencing art in West Berkeley. Free and open to all ages.

While at Kala, enjoy the Art Kala 2023 Exhibition & Auction and the Arts & Humanities Academy (Berkeley High School) Spring Exhibition. We’ll also have artwork by youth in Kala’s After School Studio program.

Community Figure Drawing Session

Date: March 20, 2023
Time: 6-9 pm
Location: Kala Gallery @ Kala Art Institute
Cost: $20 – 35 + Eventbrite Fee (sliding scale)
Please Click here to RSVP via Eventbrite

Come draw with us in the Kala gallery space! We will have a model for the full 3 hours during which participants can practice their figure drawing at their own pace, work on incorporating a figure into an existing piece, or however they’d like to use their time! Kala staff members – who are also practicing artists – will facilitate the session and offer any desired feedback or support. Kala will provide drawing boards and standing easels, but recommend that participants bring tools and surfaces of their choice to the session. Kala will have limited basic materials for general use (such as charcoal, graphite, and newsprint). The session will include a series of short poses (1 – 5min) as well as some longer poses (10 – 20min).

Please RSVP ahead of time for this session, as we have limited spots available.

*This community workshop is open to all 18 and above. The figure model will be unclothed for the duration of the drawing session. As of this month, mask-wearing is recommended but optional for all visitors in Kala’s gallery and community classroom. Space limited.

Kala reserves the right to cancel any session due to low enrollment or other circumstances. In this case, you can request a tuition refund. No refunds will be issued for days missed due to illness, family travel, or any no-show of any kind.

Emergent Connections: Explorations in Art & Movement

Emergent Connections  is an invitation to connect with ourselves and each other. Movement can expand what feels possible in ourselves, bringing awareness to the space already within us, a space through which pleasure, sensation, and loving awareness can pour through our bodies. Movement can also expand what feels possible in our connections, inviting us to drop into a deeper listening to ourselves and others, providing a space for experimentation, vulnerability, and witness.

This workshop is inspired by artist Yuzo Nakano’s pursuit of three basic human desires: reproducing one’s experiences, recording (storing) them, and transmitting them to other people. This workshop will play with our experience of visual art (specifically looking at Nakano’s artwork and creative approach) and invite us to store and transmit those experiences through movement.

The session will begin with a warm-up for us to center in our own bodies through meditation and imagery prompts. We will then open our awareness through group and partner activities that invite play and connection. This workshop is designed for people of any and all movement experience. Activities will include lying down, standing, and moving through the space, and modifications and alternatives will be offered as needed.

Workshop participants are invited to the gallery walk of Fossils of Language with artist Yuzo Nakano at 2pm.

Date: Saturday, February 25, 2023
Time: 12:30-1:30 pm
Ages: All ages (children 5+ must be accompanied by an adult)
What to bring: Comfortable clothing, non-slip shoes, and water bottle
Cost: Free/ $5-$10 (sliding scale)

Please click here to RSVP via Eventbrite

Please RSVP ahead of time for this workshop as we have limited spots available. Please contact education@kala.org if you have any questions. As of February 2023, mask-wearing is recommended but optional for all visitors and participants in Kala’s gallery and community classroom.

Instructor Bio: Chi Chi Chang has worked for the past five years as a classroom teacher, outdoor educator, and movement facilitator. In all these contexts, they have been humbled to be able to do the joyful and rigorous work of facilitating the transformation and growth of people of all ages. Chi Chi studied Dance, Sociology, and Spanish at Middlebury College including courses in technique, improvisation, performance art, and choreography. Their facilitation style is influenced by their study of improvisation, experiential anatomy, modern dance, dance-movement therapy principles, and performance art activism. Chi Chi‘s facilitation style centers play, curiosity, responsiveness, and connection. They have facilitated various workshops in the local area.

Community Art Workshop: Lunar New Year – Creating Paper Lanterns

Date: Jan 28, 2023
Time: 12-3 pm
Location: Kala Community Classroom @ Kala Art Institute
Please Click here to RSVP via Eventbrite

Lunar New Year brings families together to celebrate the new year, with lighting a lantern as a way to bring good fortune, make a wish, or set an intention. In many Asian cultures, the lantern during Lunar New Year gathers people and stories together. In this workshop, participants will design and build a unique lantern using matboards and translucent materials, incorporating images and text. Participants will learn various book arts/printmaking tools and techniques to build and decorate their own lanterns to take home. We will explore pattern, adventures in time reversal, and the distance between the real and the ideal. If you’d like to personalize your lantern, we invite participants to bring a small and light object/paper to add to it.

This Lantern Mark workshop will be facilitated by artist Linda Zeb Hang and Kala staff.

*This community workshop is open for all ages (5 yrs and up). Children must be accompanied by an adult.  Mask-wearing indoors is required for all visitors in Kala’s gallery and community classroom. Space limited. 

Artist Bio: Linda Zeb Hang(she/they) is a sculptor, dancer, book expedition designer, lithographer, publisher and living soil/foods advocate. Born in South-side Stockton, California to working-class Hmong refugees, Linda’s point of view is rooted in their Animistic, Shaman and Buddhist ‘life-world.’ Linda studied sculpture, Typographic Design, Book Arts and Horticulture in San Francisco CA and lives and works in Oakland CA.

Community Workshop: Honoring Our Loved Ones- Day of the Dead/ Día de Muertos

Join us for a Community Workshop to celebrate and honor our loved ones who have passed away and are no longer with us (ancestor, family, friend, celebrity, or even a beloved pet). We will provide a variety of materials and templates of Day of the Dead symbols and images that you can use to create meaningful and colorful creations. Create a decorative hojalata (tin art) embossed piece or picture frame to include in an ofrenda/altar, or bring your own symbols or personal images of a loved one to include in an accordion book art activity. Art activities facilitated by Teaching Artist Natalie Palms and Kala staff.

*Drop-ins are welcome but please register upon arrival. This community workshop is open for all ages (5 yrs and up). Children must be accompanied by an adult.  Mask-wearing indoors is required for all visitors in Kala’s gallery and community classroom. Space limited.

PAST WORKSHOPS

Community Drawing Sessions: August 21, 2023
Community Drawing Sessions: July 24, 2023
Community Drawing Sessions: June 12, 2023
Community Drawing Sessions: May 22, 2023
Community Drawing Sessions: March 20, 2023
Community Workshop:  Emergent Connections- Explorations in Art & Movement- Feb 25, 2023
Community Drawing Sessions: February 20, 2023
Community Art Workshop: Lunar New Year – Creating Paper Lanterns
Holiday Art Pop Up Shop & More!
Honoring Our Loved Ones: Day of the Dead/Día de Muertos Workshop
Mixed Media: Basquiat-inspired Family Feelings Portrait (ONLINE)
Bookmaking: Family Stories and Memory (ONLINE)
Needle & Thread: Designing with Embroidery (ONLINE)