Poster by Willy Duerr
Poster by Barry Cown
Poster by Micah Hastings
This marks our second show at Berkeley Espresso, a local cafe on the corner of Shattuck and Hearst at the north end of Downtown Berkeley. Berkeley Espresso has been a neighborhood staple for years, serving as a gathering place for students, longtime residents, artists, and families alike.
The café operates as more than just a coffee shop. As we highlighted in our Around About show, it functions as a multipurpose studio and social space.
After mounting a show last year using the café walls, we wanted to expand the experience and bring more people into the space in a new way. Barry Cowan proposed the idea of using the many tables that fill the café as individual exhibition sites. Each artist was assigned a table to transform into something entirely their own.
This format moved away from the meticulous process of hanging and curating framed work on walls and instead invited artists to create immersive and interactive installations on the spot.
Photo taken by Brandon Sanchez
With 17 incredible artists, alongside friends, drinks, and great music, the event became a lively and collaborative celebration of art, community, and shared space.