Ilah Jarvis

I am a life long Berkeley resident and graduate of the California College of Arts and Crafts.
This watercolor series is an expression of love for our rapidly changing home. My hope is that these paintings will help others to connect emotionally with their memories of the East Bay, as well as act as visual records of this period in time.
This work is a love letter to all of these neighborhoods, as well as a way to remember the places that have changed, businesses that have closed and family and friends who have passed on or moved away due to covid, inflation or other circumstances beyond our control. Many paintings include magical realism in an attempt to capture the surreal experience of watching places felt permanent change or disappear. The inclusion of West Berkeley’s Shellmound is a reminder of the Ohlone people, who have lived on this land for thousands of years, and that the East Bay as we know it is fleeting.