Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Small little gem of an art museum. You can see. The whole thing in an hour. Street parking available

Really great exhibits and deals such as free first Thursday and Berkeley students get in free! They also have films and special events that occur which showcase different local artists which really serve to amplify the voices in our surrounding area. The films are usually very niche and sometimes they have the filmmaker come and talk as well. I loved the exhibits that I went to below which my favorite was the fallen raven with the ribbon in its mouth. Not only do you get to know about the art piece and the artists, but there are also historical pieces to the puzzle and you really get to learn more about different cultures and similarities between yourself and the artists. Thus, it is a great way to spend an afternoon diversifying viewpoints while looking at food for the eyes.

Excellent tour of a fascinating exhibit of various artists interpretation of the southern immigration in the US.

I enjoy spending time here and like to check out the annual UC Berkeley MFA exhibit. It's a small museum, you can probably see everything in an hour. They have lots of special events and movies, check the calendar. The entry is only $14 for adults.

Caught their Free 1st Thursday of the month entry & I'm so happy for these kinds of events.Only 2 levels of art work & the 1st level is really the main attraction with 4 art collections to view. Candice Lin's Art work featured downstairs.Personal Impressionable Artists at BAMPFA:John Zurier's art, it wasn't so much as his art but his quote "The common quality linking all of his work, is a sense of silence & solitude or perhaps a longing for solitude,freedom,calm, & serenity..." Although we aren't in a state of war, sometimes there's a crisis within yourself that prevents you from obtaining that sense of inner peace & calm. It reminds me of taking the time to "smell the roses" in this fast paced world.It was also great to see that BAMPFA recognizes it's UC Berkeley Fine Art students by displaying 7 of its student's artworks. I really liked Ahn Lee's ceramic lanterns. The Jade green lanterns add a soothing sense of calm for me.Downstairs is Candice Lin's art work featuring her Indigo colored work inspired by the Nigerians & Japanese. She not only dyed the fabric with meticulous time & care, but she also added a print design. The reason for Candice's use of indigo was bc indigo is considered to be a "magical" & "cool" color, it has even been said to help cure feverish conditions.Also downstairs are reading areas with books & a theatre.So much to see on the 1st floor, it's a nice place to relax & slow down.

Beautiful museum - love the film festivals. Entry price is affordable so hopefully most public will patronize it.

Maybe this kind of museum is just not directed toward people like me, but I found the exhibits at this museum to be really weird and peculiar. The special exhibit on Alison Knowles art don't make sense to me. My kids 7 and 10 didn't really like the exhibits either and kept asking me when we could leave.... Not sure we would be returning again unless there's significant changes to the exhibits... I had much more fun at other Bay Area museums like Oakland Museum and SF MOMA.

I love the Osher Theater! I always feel so inspired when I come see the new art exhibits, vintage foreign films, or old school live concerts in the theater. Treat yo' self!

Unfortunately I haven't spent much time in the museum portion of BAMPFA, so my review will focus exclusively on the theater portion.I love films. I know a lot of people say that, but I sincerely mean it. And BAMPFA is one of only a few local theaters that plays the kind of films that resonate with me. You want to see a screening of Nosferatu with a live piano accompaniment? You want to see Werner Herzog in-person introducing his film Stroszek? You want to see a Yasujiro Ozu retrospective? Well damn, did you come to the right place.The tickets are incredibly affordable, and with each purchase you're helping to keep cinema and the history of cinema alive. I wish that more theaters had such careful curation as BAMPFA obviously does.

Incredible and intriguing art shows here. We stopped here for a couple of hours before a performance at Zellerbach and glad we did.