I took Joe's Cinema 4D class at Vista when I was a middle school student with one of my best friends at the time. I don't remember too much about Joe except for his name, signature mustache, and that he'd lecture just enough to get us excited and then leave us to work on our own as he roamed the room offering support and critique.

That said, It's probably not putting too fine a point on it to say that his class helped set the trajectory for my entire education and career. I was about to write him a letter of thanks and was saddened to learn of his passing.

During our final class presentation, the then-CEO of Maxon US (US distributor of C4D) judged our animations and gave a license of Cinema 4D XL 5.3 to the winner. Neither my friend nor I placed in the top - but I was invited to present C4D at Mac World as a demonstration artist.

I ended up studying Film & Digital media. Worked for a while as an animator and creative technologist, and these days I've come full circle: teaching Cinema 4D at Cal Arts.

Thanks Joe!

Joe, Your lecturers were outrageous, frank and often misunderstood. You stirred up your students with your passion for technique, art history, and political infighting in the art world. I hope whereever you are this cold rainy night you are speaking you truth before an audience who appreciates you. This student misses you. Sail on sailor!

I met Joe in 1973, at a neighbor's house in north Oakland. At the time Joe was living in his loft on 13th Street in downtown Oakland; he was a photo realist painter, some of it political, the more successful paintings (6'x6') were erotic. We became close friends; Joe had a wonderful cackle & was a voracious reader. It was Joe who taught me about Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama... He'd say: You're studying Tibetan Buddhism, NOT becoming Tibetan! ;-) this was a typical Joe Doylism. We stayed in touch when I moved to UC Davis & then L.A. I loved to visit Joe (and his former wife Jane - a therapist) in their home (covered with Joe's large paintings) in the Oakland Hills, it was in the woods & the garage was Joe's studio. When I saw the Oakland Hills fire on TV, I called Joe, crying hysterically, worried for his safety. But, Joe answered the phone & assured me "all my paintings have been rolled up & are in the car, don't worry." The fire was stopped before it reached them. I did not know Joe's next wife, although he'd met her around the same time that I met Joe. I do know that she made him very happy bc Joe told me: "She brought me back to life & gave me a reason to live bc I was all ready to die..." It was during this period that Joe started doing abstract illusionist work; mostly prints and he began teaching at Vista. I learned a lot from Joe, he will always have a special place in my heart.

I was a student of Joe's for 15 years. I went to some of the best art schools in the United States but the greatest influence in my artwork was Joe Doyle. Joe had an incredible memory of art and his insight was amazing. Some students said he was difficult or hard on them. 1000's of people have told me my artwork was good, or great but Joe would critique my art and told me what sucked, or what didnt work and I learned from that and my art grew as a result. The critiques in Joe's classes were amazing because it is the only time in my art that I was hearing from people that were professional artists with years of experience..students like myself that had been taking Joe's classes for years. Joe will live in my heart and mind and my artwork for as long as I am alive.

Thank you Joe. I love you. 

I’ll never forget the bunny and hand grenade. To me, it symbolizes what you get with Joe: tough love, which is what you need to get and give as an artist. Wherever you are, give ‘em hell, Joe.

Joe was an inspiration and a kindred spirit. I'm sure we bumped minds some Sundays at Provo Park, a block from BCC, in the 1960s. I'm grateful to have witnessed his art, his mind, his rants, and his mentoring. And his attitude. His passion and his passing inspired me to return to songwriting after about 25 fallow years. "Eye Opener (Blues for Joe)." Some lyrics:

EYEOPENER (BLUES FOR JOE)

You timed it cosmic; you know just when to sign your name
Your exit was cosmic; you knew just when to call the game
Canvas sailing space and time, way away on another plane 

Chromatic extension: another aspect of the show
Cinematic dimension: another aspect ratio.
Lookin’ high and wide…….we don’t know where we go.

The signifyin’ monkey’s got nothin’ on you
Decryin’ what’s funky and pumpin’ what’s true
Rough around the edges, educated too
You did the do…you eyeopener you

Eyes to hear, See it by ear
Visual voice  sharp and clear
a window
a seer
an eyeopener

Your trip and your ripple; they fly right off the wall
You trip and you ripple; you fly right off the wall
Bounces off our bodies as we walk on down the hall

Corona’s showin’, the sun’s comin’ out too far
The corona is glowin’, growin’ way too far
People trampin’ and trompin’. We don’t know where we are

Eyes to hear, See it by ear
Visual voice sharp and clear
A Window…
A Seer…
An Eye Opener


(“The image is everything”)
(“Your art won’t let you down”)

A couple of years after graduating from Cal, I decided to go in a different direction and follow my creative interests as a career path so I enrolled at a video editing course at BCC since it was down the street. I had no idea that would connect me to so many places in my life. It meant meeting people who led me to aerial cinematography which led me to my partner of the past 13 years. I also was given the opportunity to teach at BCC which has been incredible. I have met so many students that love to learn and have become part of my community.

All these major parts of my life stem from Joe because he started the department. We all hear that one person can make a difference. Thank you, Joe, for your life and what you've given to mine.

I will miss summer coffee breaks with you.

I still miss my days at Berkeley City College, largely because of Joe. I will miss thinking of him there, and imagine him engaged in debate with whatever beings are on the other side, surely pointing out how they could run things much better when it comes to the transformation from earth existence to another lol. Rest In Peace, Joe. You’ll always reside somewhere in my heart, along with so many memories of BCC.

I decided to excerpt this part of my longer tribute so people would be more like to see this quote from Joe himself. 

A week before he passed, I spoke with Joe and we shared our thoughts about our friendship. One of the things he said is just perfect to share with everyone who knows him and who knows the college. These were his words: “It was the privilege of my life to work as a teacher at BCC and Vista College, and to contribute to the education of students. I had no higher professional calling.” 

In Memory of Joe Doyle, a True Friend and Respected Colleague

I hired Joe Doyle first as a part time faculty member, then as a full time faculty member when I was the president at Vista Community College, now Berkeley City College. Joe was such a huge personality – outgoing, talkative, enthusiastic about education and students – that he inevitably drew people to him. He added immensely to our fine faculty.

Students loved Joe and his classes, and he was a wonderful teacher. One thing I loved about Joe was that he was always striving to do more, to do better, and he would describe for me the details of what he wanted to do and why. I always felt like he was pushing the boundaries of our nascent instructional program in multimedia, making it better and better. 

In order to do this, Joe developed great skill at arguing and cajoling to get more of the college’s limited money for his classes and program. One strategy was to approach me when I was on the staircase headed somewhere. He would walk with me, and talk the whole way about why he needed more resources for the students, for equipment and supplies. We tried to give him the resources he asked for knowing he’d put them to excellent use and be back to ask for more. I’ve never met someone so persistent! His commitment was always to the college and its students, not to selfish pursuits. 

Joe was a strong faculty leader who helped Vista College pursue its goals to gain adequate facilities and funding within the Peralta District. He was often sent as the knight into meetings that might turn uncomfortable or hostile, meetings at which the College’s interests had to be represented and fought for with passion and cleverness. He did not back down if others bullied him, and usually had something funny to say to calm down tense confrontations.  He could yell with the best of them, too. He was a hero to the college, and a trusted colleague and friend to many if not all who worked there. 

Joe became a friend of mine and of my husband, Peter. We could not resist his energy and enthusiasm. He was very intellectual and tuned to ideas as well as events in the world. Joe could always laugh and make us see the both the absurdities and the beauty of life. Once, as a surprise, he and his wife took us out to a lovely dinner at an inn in Marin, thanking us for supporting his work. We had such fun at that dinner and became fast friends. We repeated the dinner a few more times.

A week before he passed, I spoke with Joe and we shared our thoughts about our friendship. One of the things he said is just perfect to share with everyone who knows him and who knows the college. These were his words: “It was the privilege of my life to work as a teacher at BCC and Vista College, and to contribute to the education of students. I had no higher professional calling.” 

Well, we always forget that our friends won’t be here forever. Let’s appreciate them while we can.  I’ll certainly miss Joe Doyle. We all will.
   
Barbara Beno, former President, Vista Community College

                        Memories of Joe Doyle
Early Days
In the days before Internet and digital arts, I was indirectly introduced to Joe Doyle by Maureen Knightly, our then assistant dean at Vista College.  She was trying to find a substitute for his art history class. Joe, she said, was called away to fetch a human liver, shipped to the Oakland airport for immediate transplant at a local hospital. It was one of Joe’s “other” jobs that helped him support his family, allowed him to practice fine art and teach. Just as Joe walked on the cutting edge of life transformations through his art and teaching, he also, for a time, was on the medical precipice of saving people’s lives. He often said that while some people earned more money and had loftier titles, we were all, in the end, “working stiffs.” Joe made it to the hospital that day and Maureen was relieved. “Have you seen his truck?” she asked. It was a 15-year-old mustard colored, dented Datsun pickup that sorely needed cosmetics. But that never stopped Joe from these life-saving interludes.

Digital Experiments
At Vista, there were days when, working late at 2020 Milvia, he would struggle with a new digital program: Photoshop. Its elements were created by George Lucas’s ILM programmers to develop the special effects not then available for the first Star Wars movie. Joe’s office was next door to mine. And he would spend hours after everyone had gone home, learning Photoshop to create a pioneering community college class that otherwise would cost thousands to teach and learn. After many hours, twists and turns, Joe launched the class. Students traced lobsters, edited, and used special effects for photographs. Over time, he was equally stubborn and focused as he taught himself other emerging digital art programs. Illustrator, InDesign, 3-D modeling, animation, to name only a few, became foundations for Vista’s, then BCC’s Multimedia Arts Program. Only the best of the best in digital fine arts were scouted and recruited by Joe as instructors and teaching assistants. We learned from them and then from each other. Students became teachers. And everyone made learning fun! 

Stairwell Musician
While Joe could be curmudgeonly, he also possessed a unique sense of humor. One afternoon, we heard something in a nearby stairwell that sounded like a mournful, tripped-off alarm. We ran to the top of the 4th floor stairs at 2020 Milvia and there was Joe, experimenting with a Didgeridoo. A couple dozen people had appeared from all five floors to check out the sound. So, we asked him, “What the hell is that?” He said, “I’m playin’ a Didgeridoo . . . to relax, Foggy.” He had joined an Oakland Didgeridoo group to “take the edge off” and thought that the stairwell contained a perfect echo. From that point on, anytime we heard that sound, either in the stairwell or in Vista’s hallways, it was time to buy an Au Coquelet chocolate chip cookie for Joe. A chocolate chip cookie, a hug and perhaps a Patsy Cline song or two, were sure to bring back temporary tranquility.

Education Advocate
Finally, Joe played a significant role in making possible Berkeley City College. He was a staunch pro-Vista union activist during the college’s deannexation period in the 1990s. He attended hearings, and was a vocal presence, advocating for Vista’s existence at union, city council, board of education and Sacramento meetings. Later, he worked with students and faculty to stop cuts to higher education, and with his students took part in numerous marches on the state capital. 

The many facets of his personality that at times made us want to, among other things, scream, or hug or grab his collar and drag him into the hallway for a good yell session, made him Joe Doyle. At times, his over the top, "kick-ass" approach, nonetheless often brought about positive results. He was a creative, compassionate, stubborn, dedicated presence who enhanced the lives of those who knew him. Farewell, Joe. We will miss and shall always remember you.

Shirley Fogarino, Friend, Colleague
and Retired Public Information Officer & Marketing Instructor
Vista Community College and Berkeley City Colleg

Joe Doyle was a good friend of mine, a colleague and a collaborator for over 20 years. We discussed and argued about politics, art, education in our weekly lunches and later during water walks in the YMCA pool. We shared a love of books, Netflix series and movies.
Joe fought hard for the creation of BCC. He was proud to be a union activist and defender of faculty rights and benefits at BCC and often a critic and opponent of the policies and practices of the Peralta District administration
He was a collaborator in our fight against the budget cuts in education in 2009. He contributed many posters, participated and helped to organize support for the many speakers and events that I organized at the college.
His creativity and determination created the Multi Media department and provided an ongoing process of innovation and educational opportunity for the many students who came to the Multi Media program at BCC. Many of those students continued their relationship with him after they left the college and benefited from his counsel and advice.
Joe was not a saint. He was a strong and determined advocate for what he believed in. He was very stubborn and it was hard to win any argument against him. This meant that some times he could try to bully you into accepting his point of view.
He cared deeply about social justice, and as a former veteran he was a strong opponent of war and militarism. He wanted a world of equality and collaboration where art flourished along with all forms of creativity and he did what he could throughout his life to bring such a world about.

I originally met Joe at Vista College as a student. I’ve taken many of his BCC MM classes over the years and saw the energy, and heard some of the battles he had in order to bring MM classes to the level they are now. That is a great accomplishment. Finally, he developed some non-credit classes, allowing students to continue developing. I’ve always appreciated his knowledge and art. Joe was figuring and creating to the last. I also liked his ‘venting’ on current political subjects at the start of some of our printing classes, as that got the energy flowing. Joe had a following of students and one of the recent comments he made to them was that they were becoming artists, and he was proud of that. Joe was a fighter for us, and I miss him.

Joe and I were usually the only BCC faculty in our offices on the fifth floor during the summer and winter breaks. He typically rolled in around 9 or 10am, spent an hour or so listening to "Democracy Now" at an earsplitting volume (I'm glad my office is down the hall) and then settle in to "make" art. Occasionally he'd call me into his office to show me what he was working on. I was always floored. What he worked on during the past few years, that I saw, melded a precision in composition and penetrating cultural critique. Lacking a more insightful or thoughtful response, I'd usually say something banal like "That's really good Joe. Interesting." Joe would say "Thank you." And I'd return to my office thinking how special it is to work at BCC were I have colleagues with such gifts to share.   

Joe was one of the first faculty members I met when I became president of BCC in 2016. He shared with me his love for the MMART department, the college, and his students. I remember feeling blessed to have faculty like Joe, faculty who always put students first. I will miss you Joe!

Whenever Joe and I would see each other (which was often) - in passing, we religiously would say the following to each other:

Me: "What's going on, Joe?"
Joe: "I don't know!"

And we would laugh. Every time. Every single time. We laughed.

Rest in peace, Joe. You are a gem!

I love Joe! He was the first teacher I met at Berkeley City College. I took all of his print making classes. He really encouraged me to explore art I was interested in and always told us that individual works of art make their own rules which is is defined by.

I always thought Joe was super grumpy and I was originally really scared of him. Later I realized what a hilarious character and nice guy he was. He was just so chilled out and no BS. The funniest story was in lab when I would always ask him for the attendance sheet thinking lab was for attendance and one day joe said “why the fuck you keep asking me for this?” He then explained that the lab was just a workspace and not graded. It was very funny. He helped me so much form my print making skills and critical eye of art and design. I’ll deeply miss not running into him on Milvia or Center street and yelling “Hey Joe” and him giving me the signature nod.

I miss his classes and how frustrated he would get with the file systems. All his boring movies he would show and our cool critiques where he would never hold back and roast people then chock up the good stuff to his one line quote on the wall.

RIP Joe you’re the best!

I’ll miss eating pizza with him!
“Pizza”