lena Wolff

COMING * SOON

REPAIR SHOP

a new center for art, craft, and public gatherings
at 1220 4th Street, Berkeley

founded by Lena Wolff & Miriam Klein Stahl
fiscally sponsored by Headlands Center for the Arts

Upcoming Events:

• fall workshops

• Holiday Open Studio, December 5 & 6, 2026

Now is the time for artists to do what we have always done, to fill the gaps with unexpected life.

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Repair Shop is a one-room schoolhouse, collective art studio and gathering space founded by longtime Bay Area artist couple Lena Wolff and Miriam Klein Stahl. Starting out in a little bungalow in the Gilman district in Berkeley to pilot the project, Repair Shop will operate as a social-profit organization, serving local artists and the general public alike, offering: 

• hands-on workshops in art and craft practices in a wide range of mediums and disciplines

• space for the development of new work and collaborations

• a small Risograph studio 

• a sewing studio

• a lab for natural color making and color theory experimentation

• free to low-cost art programming for young people

• a range of free events including book releases, readings, salons, talks, conversations, temporary exhibitions, skill-shares, and action-oriented gatherings focused on democracy and civic participation

Guided by the ethos and mission of repair, the site will provide ongoing opportunities to come together in-person for creative activity and the furtherance of social, political and environmental well-being.

A note from Lena and Miriam:

We are deeply grateful for the support of the wider arts community of the Bay Area! Please contact us to learn more about the space and find out how to help bring Repair Shop to fruition. Donations to the center will be fully tax-deductible through our 501c3 fiscal sponsor, Headlands Center for the Arts.

ABOUT THE FOUNDERS

Miriam Klein Stahl is an artist, arts educator, activist, and the New York Times-bestselling illustrator of Rad American Women A-Z and Rad Women Worldwide. In addition to her work in printmaking, drawing, sculpture, paper-cut and public art, she is also the co-founder of the Arts and Humanities Academy at Berkeley High School where she’s taught for the last three decades. As an artist, she follows in traditions of making socially relevant work, creating portraits of political activists, Queer icons, movement leaders and collective efforts for social justice. As an educator, she has dedicated her teaching practice to address equity through the lens of the arts. Her work has been widely exhibited in local and national exhibitions including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Oakland Museum of California, the Smithsonian, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others. She is currently in her final year before retiring from BUSD and working on illustrations for a book on the Bearded Lady Truckstop Cafe, a centerpoint of the Dyke scene in the early 1990’s in San Francisco (coming out in 2027, on AK Press).

Lena Wolff is an artist, craftswoman, and democracy activist who has been based in the San Francisco Bay Area since the early 1990's. Her work extends out of American folk-art and quilt making traditions, minimalism, geometric abstraction, pattern and decoration movements, feminist art and social practice, with a studio output that spans drawing, collage, sculpture, text, frequent collaboration, and public projects. In 2017, she formed Art for Democracy, a project that began with an anti-hate poster that has since grown to become a public art campaign to encourage voter participation, with ongoing, national reach across the United States. Her work has been presented in galleries and museums across the country and is held in the collections of ONE National Lesbian and Gay Archives, Berkeley Art Museum, Oakland Museum of California, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Arts Commission, University of Iowa Museum, Stanford University and the Zuckerman Museum of Art, among others. In addition to her work as an artist, she volunteers to raise funds and awareness for small progressive grassroots voting organizations led by people of color in the US.

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In recognition of their work merging art and civic participation, Lena Wolff and Miriam Klein Stahl Day was declared in perpetuity by Mayor Jesse Arreguin on November 12th, 2019 in the City of Berkeley.

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PROJECT CONSULTANT

Lauren Schiller is a strategist, author, producer, artist, and live event moderator whose work is fueled by the power of stories and shared experiences to spark curiosity, create connections and catalyze change. Lauren moderates live events at venues like City Arts & Lectures, JCCSF, and The Commonwealth Club. Her groundbreaking, nationally syndicated show Inflection Point ran for 10 years and was the first podcast to exclusively feature conversations with women about how they build power and lead change. It led to her book It’s a Good Day to Change the World, a Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media, and a home in the American Archive of Public Broadcasting at the Library of Congress. Before that, she co-created one of the world’s first female-led podcasts, ran audio at Salon Media; and guest hosted on the BBC World Service.