| Kala Art Institute | |
| Founder: | Archana Horsting, Yuzo Nakano |
| Type: | arts non-profit |
| Headquarters: | 2990 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley, California, U.S. |
| Website: | http://www.kala.org/ |
Kala Art Institute is a community arts non-profit organization, artist residency, art classes, and an art gallery, founded in 1974, and located in two locations in Berkeley, California.[1] [2]
They offer facilities for printmaking, photography, and book arts.[3] [4] Classes include etching, letterpress, and bookbinding. The studio building is located at 1060 Heinz Avenue in an industrial building and was a former Heinz ketchup factory.[5] The art gallery space is located at 2990 San Pablo Avenue and is 2,200 square feet, this secondary space was from an expansion in 2009.[6]
It is estimated that Kala Art Institute serves between 25,000 and 35,000 people a year.[7]
Kala Art Institute was founded as an international and community arts space in 1974, by printmakers and .[8] Horsting and Nakano met while studying at Atelier 17, under Krishna Reddy and Stanley William Hayter.[9] The first facility for Kala started on Wilmot Street in Japantown, San Francisco; with a single etching press with a hot plate. Six months after first opening, they moved Kala to Ashby Street (near Ashby BART) in Berkeley in order to gain more space. In 1976, Kala became a 501(c)3 organization.[10]
In 2009, the Oakland Museum of California held the exhibition, “Evolution of Print: Artists of Kala,” at the Oakland International Airport.[11] Artists associated with Kala Art Institute have included Squeak Carnwath, Roy De Forest, Margaret Herscher,[12] Jessica Dunne, Bella Feldman, Barbara Foster, Sonya Rapoport, Peter Voulkos, and William T. Wiley.