Art & Lit

Art & Lit is a Little Free Library and a miniature Art Gallery. Take a book / leave a book to share

08/02/2026

Antonia Casino created her Art & Lit exhibit with just a single ceramic spoon, one of the thousand(!) spoons she has made. It's making a "giant" impression!

Showing at our tiny Art & Lit gallery at the sidewalk August 1 - 21, 2026.

A note from Antonia:

One Thousand Spoons

I discovered clay while taking a spoon making class in San Francisco. What began as a simple introduction to ceramics grew into a lifelong practice and years later inspired the idea of creating 1,000 handmade ceramic spoons.

Each spoon is made individually, embracing the subtle differences in form, surface and gesture. Drawn to quiet repetition and the beauty of small variations, my work reflects a deep appreciation for process, observation and the handmade. Through repetition the collection becomes a record of time, attention and the quiet discovery of exploring a single form.

You can see more of Antonia’s work on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/mipiati.ceramics/

07/11/2026

Susan Brooks' latest fantastical exhibition is now up at the tiny Art & Lit Gallery! Don't miss a peek at the mirrored walls, as every figure is equally amazing on the front and on the back.

Showing July 11-31, 2026

“Objects of Desire and Mirth: Egg, caterpillar, chrysalis…” is my take on the made-up visuals I created of my beloved hobby of providing habitat and watching caterpillars transform in front of my eyes.

Some background:
One day out of nowhere on February 14, 2017, I remembered that there was a small amount of clay in my studio. As soon as I opened the bag and touched the clay a tiny figurine emerged. I felt calm and focused, something I had not been for quite a while after having recently lost my sister.

I was totally taken with the tiny anthropomorphic two sided figures that started populating my worktable. I decided I would make a thousand, and Objects of Desire and Mirth was born. I love the idea of non-identical multiples and creating a tiny, offbeat crowd of characters and creatures you have never seen.

Though I am the maker of these objects, I often gaze at them as if I didn’t make them, and that I just randomly came upon them. I can’t believe they exist. To be totally honest, I’m completely in love with them. They bring me great satisfaction. They have become a conduit between me and others to tell stories of healing and loss, happiness, mirth and joy.

On more than one occasion, making art has saved my sanity.

In my everyday life, I run my art studio / gallery moving freely between jewelry, figurative painting, drawing and miniature ceramic sculpture, called Objects of Desire and Mirth, all with a strong visual crossover.

You can see more of my work at my studio at the Sawtooth Building in Berkeley every Thursday and the first Saturday of the month and during special events. My next event is National Craft Open Studios Weekend, July 18/19, noon-5pm. Sponsored by The American Craft Council.

Join my mailing list.

http://www.susanbrooks.com
https://instagram.com/susanbrooksartist/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063563799898

Susan Brooks
Berkeley CA

06/19/2026

The Art & Lit gallery’s latest exhibition celebrates works by the Berkeley architect Bernard Maybeck (1862 -1957).

You can learn more about Maybeck and his iconic architecture at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Maybeck

Thanks to photographer Alexander Vertikoff for photos of the Senger House and the Guy Hyde Chick House.

05/29/2026

Our newest exhibition by Lea Zalinskis is now installed at the tiny Art & Lit Gallery!

Showing May 30 - June 19, 2026

“Past, Present, Future” is part of an ongoing project by East Bay artist and illustrator Lea Zalinskis. Pulling from her own visual vocabulary and from ancestral Latvian mythology/motifs, she reimagines the tarot to place human beings gently back into their role as a non-separate part of the Earth and its creatures.

This project is twenty years in the thinking, and has only recently begun to take physical shape. To keep tabs as it unfolds:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lea.zalinskis/

For art prints from this project, more work, and other goodies: www.zalinskis.com

05/11/2026

Audrey Heller is back with a new exhibition, "Angle of Incidence."
Showing at Art & Lit's tiny gallery May 9 - 29, 2026

Angle of Incidence

For this series, I projected slides from my travels onto a canvas of bald heads, and captured the result with my father’s twin lens Rolleiflex. A three dimensional scene became a two dimensional slide, then three dimensional model, and then a two dimensional print. With each iteration the result is affected by its transformation. But the final interpretation is all inside our heads.

I had the joy of exhibiting these at Burning Man, in a very different scale. You can read a blog post about that at https://scenicturnouts.wordpress.com/2013/09/09/not-my-normal-art-show/

I’d love to hear what they evoke for you!

Visit me during East Bay Open Studios, June 6-7, 13-14, 2026 at The Sawtooth Building, 2547 Eighth St., Berkeley. Over 25 artists will be showing in the building.

www.audreyheller.com

04/18/2026

Our latest exhibition, “Maverick Photography,” by Heather Hafleigh, will be showing at our tiny Art & Lit gallery at the sidewalk April 18 – May 8, 2026.

Heather Hafleigh began photographing while in college, getting a degree in art/design and has devoted 25 years to documenting contemporary ranchers, horsemen and craftsmen in California who are carrying on the Vaquero tradition.

Since 1972 she has exhibited widely, including the Museum of Northern Arizona, Northeastern Nevada Museum, Oakland Airport, Skyharbor International Airport in Phoenix, and the “Trappings of the American West” exhibit in Flagstaff. Her exhibit “Viva La Charreria Mexicana,” which documents equestrian skills and fancy roping, has toured many museums in California.

Heather’s work is in the permanent collections of the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, Oakland Museum of California, and The Western Folklife Center in Nevada.

Selected magazine publications include Cowboy, Cowboys & Indians, Equus, Range, Living Cowboy Ethics and Shambhala Sun. In 2000, News from Native California published “Indian Vaqueros of California,” a fifteen-page article written and photographed by Heather.

Among the books containing Heather’s photos are California Cowboy Inventions by Ernie Morris, Spirit (Cowboys, Horses, Earth & Sky) by C.J. Hadley, True Horsemanship Through Feel by Bill Dorrance & Leslie Desmond, and True Unity by Tom Dorrance, (French edition). Her work was also included in the film Tapadero, by J & S Productions.

Heather grew up in Arizona where her dad, a fine horseman and polo player, put her on a horse at age four. She has continued to ride all her life, including photographing from horseback in Scotland, Kenya and Argentina. Her last horse was a wonderful little Buckskin quarter horse named Monte.

To see more of Heather’s work, visit: http://www.heatherhafleigh.com/hhp_002.html

Address

Bay View Place Near Euclid Avenue
Berkeley, CA
94708

Website

https://www.bayviewartandlit.com/

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