Yuzo Nakano and Archana Horsting

A Brief History of Kala Institute

The Kala of today has been evolving for three decades. The initial inspiration came in 1972, when two young artists, Yuzo Nakano from Japan and Archana Horsting from California, met at S.W. Hayter's Atelier 17 in Paris, This in itself was nothing unusual; Hayter's printmaking studio had been an important center for artists from the international community since the 1920's. But this particular encounter resulted in a dialogue that is still in process today, almost thirty years later.

Inspired by the exciting ambiance of their Parisian experience, Yuzo and Archana returned to California with the determination to establish a studio where artists from around the world could exchange ideas and form a strong community of shared interests. They saw the Bay Area as an ideal location for a new artistic hub, a place to build on the strengths of the Atelier 17 model. Situated prominently on the Pacific Rim, the new organization could seek inspiration and draw artists from both East and West. Accordingly, they chose to call it Kala, a name with many meanings: arts in Sanskrit: good or beautiful in Greek; sky, emptiness, or eternal creation in Japanese; sun, gold or money in Hawaiian: fortress in Turkish: and bride in Hebrew.

In 1974, Kala Institute first opened its doors in San Francisco's Japan town, the creaking doors of a basement garage that housed one lone etching press. In that first year a dozen artists from seven different countries worked there. Soon the Kala workshop grew into larger quarters and began attracting a number of mature artists with international reputations such as Krishna Reddy from India. In 1979, Kala moved into its current 8,500 square foot home in Berkeley in the old Heinz factory building, with room for a Gallery as well as an increasing array of equipment for etching, aquatint, lithography, photography, letterpress, book arts, and most recently, digital media including video arts. Through the years, Kala Art Institute has become a widely used community resource, offering close to 100 adult classes each year, and sending artists into local public schools. Yet Kala has remained true to its original vision by remaining an oasis for professional working artists and offering Fellowships to assist artists with sophisticated and challenging work.

Elaine Cohen
former Director of Development
Kala Art Institute

Kala Art Institute
1060 Heinz Ave
Berkeley, Ca 94710
510.549.2977 phone
510.540.6914 fax
kala@kala.org

© 2002 kala Art Institute

This web site provided by Yuzo Nakano (Artistic Director of Kala Institute)