CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 4/20/2026

Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore presents Jane Fulton Alt, Susan Page Tillett and James Baraz on 'Still Life'

Monday, April 20, from 7–8:30 PM, Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore presents the Berkeley, California, launch of Jane Fulton Alt's new book, Still Life: A Photographer’s Journey Through Grief and Gardening, published by MW Editions. In conversation with Susan Page Tillett and James Baraz, the author will discuss how her late husband’s unfinished native garden was central to discovering the interconnectedness with all life. A signing will follow the conversation.

Celebrated American photographer Jane Fulton Alt (born 1951) was never a gardener. That changed overnight when her husband Howard unexpectedly died, leaving behind a partially realized native garden—his response to a deepening concern about climate change. With the help and encouragement of her husband's mentors, she picked up a spade and began to dig, assuming full stewardship of the native garden while finding a new source of creativity and sustenance amid the grieving process.

Still Life is a story of resilience. Alt's keen eye and deep insights instruct us on how personal loss can be a catalyst for transformation. With texts by teacher and founding member of Spirit Rock Meditation Center James Baraz, native plant evangelist Doug Tallamy and photography impresario W.M. Hunt, Still Life is a quiet and moving reflection on loss and renewal.

JANE FULTON ALT was born in Chicago in 1951 and began exploring the visual arts while pursuing a career as a clinical social worker. Her award-winning photography explores the universality of the human condition and the non-material world. Alt received a BA from the University of Michigan and an MA from the University of Chicago. She studied at the Evanston Art Center, as well as at Columbia College and the Art Institute of Chicago. Alt is the author of Look and Leave: Photographs and Stories from New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward (2009) and The Burn (2013). Her portfolio “Crude Awakening” appeared in publications worldwide.

SUSAN PAGE TILLETT has been a teacher of workshops in writing and creativity for more than 30 years. Susan recently retired from a 50-year career in the arts, having worked at the National Portrait Gallery, the Chicago History Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Ragdale Foundation. Most recently she was the Executive Director of the Mesa Refuge, a writers’ retreat in Point Reyes Station, California.

JAMES BARAZ is a founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has led the online course “Awakening Joy” since 2003. He serves as a guiding teacher to One Earth Sangha, a virtual “EcoDharma” center devoted to Buddhist responses to climate change. He is the co-author of Awakening Joy (2012) and Awakening Joy for Kids (2016).

Mrs. Dalloway's Literary & Garden Arts
Jane Fulton Alt, Susan Page Tillett and James Baraz on 'Still Life'
Monday, April 20, from 7–8:30 PM
2904 College Ave
Berkeley, CA 94705
RSVP here