The Kala Art Institute was founded in 1974 by Archana Horsting and Yuzo Nakano, who met while studying printmaking at S.W. Hayter's Atelier 17 in Paris. The two young artists decided to establish an urban, multicultural printmaking workshop in the San Francisco Bay Area for local and international artists, especially those from Pacific Rim countries. From one etching press in a San Francisco garage, Kala has since grown into its current 8,500 square foot facility in West Berkeley, a shared workspace housing extensive professional equipment for printmaking and digital media (including video and sound), an art library, an exhibition gallery, a print archive, administrative offices and a consignment sales department.

Through all the years of growth, Kala continues to fulfill its primary mission of providing artists with the professional facilities, tools and equipment needed to create quality works of art. Artists-in-Residence who share the working facilities naturally exchange artistic ideas, ideas which are transformed into finished works of art that can be viewed several times a year at the Kala Gallery. In addition to this cross-cultural dialogue on contemporary printmaking, Kala offers the general public approximately 100 classes and workshops every year. These classes are taught by recognized artists who specialize in a printmaking, photographic, or digital process, or in combined technologies.

Another crucial component of Kala's mission is to provide quality visual arts enrichment programs for public school children in the East Bay. Kala Artist-in-the-Schools programs are currently in place in schools and summer programs in Emeryville, Berkeley and Oakland.

Board of Directors

Kate Eilertsen, Fred Fassett, Thomas Foster, Nancy Genn, Archana Horsting, Patrick McMenamin, Yuzo Nakano, Dorothy Patterson, Peter Selz, Donna Brookman

Staff

Archana Horsting - Executive Director (co-founder)
Yuzo Nakano - Artistic Director (co-founder)
Suzanne Tan - Development Director
Lauren Davies - Program Manager: Exhibitions & Public Programs
Lisa Martin - Program Coordinator: Classes and Artist in Residence Programs
Caitlin Leiweke -- Program Coordinator: Artists in the Schools Program
Eric Sanchez - Workshop Manager
Taro Hattori - EMC Manager
Ema Antl - Art Registrar
Robert Chlala - Bookkeeper

Visit us

Kala Art Institute
1060 Heinz Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 549-2977
fax (510) 540-6914
e-mail:kala@kala.org

Joanne Kamiya . Nick Hurd

Become a Friend of Kala

For information about supporting membership or volunteer/intern opportunities, call 510 549-2977.

Acknowledgments

Kala Art Institute gratefully acknowledges support from Adobe Systems, Alameda County Arts Commission, ArtsLink International, Berkeley Civic Arts Commission, California Casualty Group, City of Emeryville, The Clorox Company Foundation, Francis Collins, Walter and Elise Haas Fund, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, LEF Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, The Nichols Foundation, The Bernard Osher Foundation, The PSB Fund, The San Francisco Foundation, Savoir Faire/Fabriano Paper, Mercy and Roger Smullen Fund, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, West Berkeley Foundation, The Bernard E. and Alba Witkin Charitable Trust and the Friends of Kala Art Institute.

A brief history of Kala Institute

Web Credits

Web design/program - Yuzo Nakano / Lisa Martin (assistant)
Photography - Yuzo Nakano / Beatriz Coll / Jan Wilson Kaufman
Text - Elaine Cohen / Lauren Davies / Archana Horsting