View our schedule in August to see our 2013 Fall/Winter Session.
Visit the Westside Studio website for adult classes and young artists camps.
YAWS 30 Days Drawn!
a month long drawing practice
March 15 to April 15, 2013
We had 70 artists participate in the 30 Day Draw adventure! It was an incredible success and not just because we raised over $5200. 
What was more impressive than the donations we recieved was the artistic enthusiasm that gripped our 30 Day Drawers. You can see the results of their drawing inspiration by stopping in to view the exhibit of our artists' favorite drawings at Cafe Local 123 n Berkeley. (Details about the ArtUp! show below.)
The YAWS Studio Upgrade Project is almost funded!
You can still support our project. Just click here to donate:
Young Artists of Berkeley
New Work
May 6 to June 2
Local 123 * 2049 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley
Opening Reception May 9, 6:30-8:30pm
YAWS students, ages 8 to 16, have created a dazzling collection of cut-out wooden animal paintings, silkscreen portraits, yarned stick sculptures, inked-up collages, gouache and ink botanical drawings, and chalk pastel dragons. New Work is currently on view at Cafe Local 123 - one of Berkeley's best cafes and a great friend to YAWS!
All artwork is available for purchase.
Silent auction bids begin May 9th and end June 1, 2013.
Sales support the artists and the YAWS Studio Upgrade Project.
ArtUp! Berkeley
and YAWS
thank those who have contributed to our
YAWS Studio Upgrade Project
Our Amazing Supporters:
Lori and Bill Hebert, Anne Marxer, Veronica Chater, Besty Teller, Emily Klion, Nova Blazej, Nick and Sloane Morgan, Amy Torgenson, Susan Andres, Ward and Liz Wallau, Juan Gil, Marti Grubb, Caroline Seckinger, Hitomi and Kenji Murokami, Picante, Local 123, Berkeley Natural Grocery, Mi Tierra Foods, Cheeseboard Pizza, Transit of Venus, Michael Blossom and "Vote for Love" Productions, Spencer Honeyman, Emanuelle Schwarz, The Abrahamson Family, Jennifer Larsh, Jada Delaney, JT Thomas,
The mission of ArtUp! Berkeley is to expand opportunities for the community to make, experience, and be transformed by art.
Lucila De Anda-Casteneda, age 8, 12”x 30”, colored pencil and chalk pastel on paper.
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garbage globes |
The Garbage Globes were built to demonstrate how we can create something dynamic by combining natural materials with things we usually throw away or recycle. Artificial materials are seen in new ways when reconfigured and placed in a different context. Everything used to construct the globes was found in salvage yards, garages, junk drawers, garbage cans, or recycle bins. Students from Berkeley’s Young Artists Workspace (YAWS) and participants of ART UP! brought in bags of collected plastic cups, soda bottles, bubble wrap, rubber bands, plastic bags, leftover building supplies, and garden debris and sculpted them into amazing artistic materials. The installations were hung from the rafters at Richmond's Craneway Pavilion during last June's TEDx GoldenGate event. For more about the Garbage Globes, check out the images in our gallery and the new post in "happenings and exhibits."
YAWS in Local News!
Berkeley women honored for going above and beyond
Left to right: Silas and Stella Burke, collecting the award for their mother who was in Mexico, Nancy Schimmel, Ginger Ogle, Suzoni Camp (hidden), Hope McDonnell, Vicky Alexander and Linda Schacht Gage.
March 15, 2011 The Berkeleyside
Seven women were honored last night at the 2011 “Outstanding Women of Berkeley” awards ceremony, sponsored by the City of Berkeley Commission on the Status of Women.
Established in 1978, the Commission honors women who “live, work, or learn in Berkeley” and who have “demonstrated a strong track record of volunteerism, or, if in a paid position, have gone above and beyond their regular duties.” The winners were nominated by someone who knew them and two additional references supported the nominations.
The awards ceremony was held in the public meeting room at the downtown Berkeley Public Library to a festive, standing-room-only crowd. There was a performance half way through by the a-capella group The Organic Women’s Chorus, who sang original compositions about gravity, and the delicious produce available at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market.
Jennifer Burke founded the Young Artists Workspace (YAWS) in 2000 when she noticed an unused building at Totland that she thought would be great for art classes. In the years since, she has provided low-cost art classes to thousands of Berkeley children, taught stage craft and set design, and instigated teen guerrilla art installations.
Young Artists Workspace Students HEROES OF THE ENVIRONMENT Project The list of Young Artists, ages 12 to 16, and their Portrait Subjects:
Eli Fernau – age 13, 7th grade student from Prospect Sierra School - Dave Phillips, Marine Mammal Protection, Earth Island Institute
Greer Jansen – age 15, sophmore at Berkeley High School - Fred and Ina Pockrass, Transindentists, the first green dentist practice in the USA
Lila Jansen – age 12, 7th grade at Julia Morgan School for Girls - Sylvia McLaughlin, co-founder of Save the Bay
Kyra Traynor – age 13 - 7th grade at Martin Luther King Middle School Deborah Moore, creator of the Green Schools Initiative
B Carlson - Melinda Kramer, founder of the Women's Earth Alliance
Talia Rossi – age 14, 8th grade at Martin Luther King Middle School – Ignacio Chapela, microbial ecologist who has been active in the fight against genetically modified foods and who will be featured in the upcoming film Symphony of Soil
Celia Jailer-Shannon – age 13, 8th grade at Martin Luther King Middle School – Anne Leonard, creator of the Story of Stuff
Madeline King – age 15 sophomore at Berkeley High School - Monti Aguirre, protector of worldrivers for International Rivers
Madison Williams – age 15 sophomore at Berkeley High School - AshEl Eldridge, Alliance for Climate Education, co-founder of Oakland Resilience Alliance and CommuniTree, and creator of “Earth Amplified”
Rozy Bathrick - age 15. sophomore at Berkeley High School – Nikki Henderson, executive director of People’s Grocery
Daichi Murokami – age 12 - 6th grade at Martin Luther King Middle School Ari Derfel, CEO of Gather Restaurant and the person who saved his garbage for one year!
It has been incredibly uplifting to listen to the stories our Eco Heroes have relayed as they answered questions during their student interviews and sat for their photographic portraits. The YAWS artists have worked hard to portray their extraordinary subjects with the radiance their images and devotion to world health inspire.
YAWS artist and Berkeley High Student Rosalyn Bathrick with her eco hero Nikki Hendersen, Executive Director of People's Grocery
Dear Friends and Families of the Young Artists Workspace,
Fall 2009 marked the 10 Year Anniversary of the Young Artists Workspace
(Y A W S) at Totland Park. Here's the photos of our November 8th Celebration
In a culture like ours, where speed is the fashion and constancy less common, it has been an unexpected thrill to watch YAWS maintain its vitality as a children’s art center. What began as a bare bones art class for toddlers has evolved into a complex, multi-media art program that serves as many middle and high school students as it does two and three-year-olds.
YAWS and its students have grown, but some things haven't changed at all. Our modest studio is furnished with the same pre-school sized chairs and tables we had when we opened our doors. While a bit wobbly and clearly too small for our older students, they still do the trick, and thankfully, no one complains. Curious toddlers continue to peer through the windows to watch the young artists as they work, sometimes making us all laugh as they smash their faces against the glass. And as embarrassing as it may be, I still announce the beginning of class by screaming, "ART CLASS! 5&6 (7 - 9, etc.) YEAR-OLDS, COME ON IN!"
Also unchanged is our philosophy that every person has creative impulses and artistic ability. This is especially true for children who, regardless of age and background, need time and decent materials to express their deep-seated desire to make art. As experts in education insist, art is as essential and academically rigorous as any core subject. The young artists at YAWS demonstrate this notion daily. Through their artmaking, YAWS students utilize extraordinary intelligence, discipline, imagination, and flexibility, attributes that transfer well into any subject of study.