Did you ever wonder how the walls of Zachary’s became home to so many fun, pizza-inspired pieces of art? All of the art at each of our four locations is a winner from one of our past art contests!

Now is your chance to contribute your original Zachary’s Pizza Art!

The deadline for this year’s art contest is Saturday, May 16th, 2015. Each Zachary’s location will have paper canvas and entry forms. You must submit your artwork on the paper canvas provided and we cannot accept any artwork without the entry form. It is very important that you read all of the rules carefully before beginning work on your art.

In the past, Zachary’s artists have used a myriad of sources for inspiration. Please visit our online art gallery to see some of the past winners. Of course, the best source of inspiration is probably eating some of your favorite pizza while surrounded by lots of amazing pizza art!

The walls of our restaurants are filled with one-of-a-kind Zachary’s Pizza Art. We held our first art contest in the late 1980′s and the tradition has continued every couple of years to this day. We love our art and the artists! 

Now 90 years fantastic, Marvin Ehrlich knows great pizza and he knows great art. We adore Marvin’s winning piece “The Joy of Eating Zachary’s is Why We Come Back Again and Again”! When we reached out to Marvin, he responded with a heart-warming, handwritten letter.

Thank YOU, Marvin! You are the best!

The walls of our restaurants are filled with one-of-a-kind Zachary’s Pizza Art. We held our first art contest in the late 1980′s and the tradition has continued every couple of years to this day. We love our art and the artists! Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Zak Wilson.

“I’m a big fan of pop art and wanted to create something in that style. The Roy Lichtenstein look fit the vibe of the idea. That and I wanted to win some free pizza. (The first time I ate Zachary’s) had to be in the mid 80’s sometime. A good friend worked at the Solano store so I was turned on to Zachary’s Pizza early in the game. That same friend is now one of the owners.

I’m a native of Berkeley and have been in the Bay Area my whole life. Aside from the cost of living, what’s not to like about the Bay Area? All my immediate family is here. Good weather, culture, sports, food (hint, hint…). It’s one of many amazing places in the country…but this one happens to be home.”

See more of Zak’s talents here: http://www.zakwilson.com/ and http://rocknrollposter.com/

The walls of our restaurants are filled with one-of-a-kind Zachary’s Pizza Art. We held our first art contest in the late 1980′s and the tradition has continued every couple of years to this day. We love our art and the artists. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Katia Novak.

“I grew up at Zachary’s Pizza. It was the first solid food I ever had as a baby, and it is an unspoken tradition in my family to go at least once a month. Since Zachary’s had always had a special place in my heart, I thought I’d endear myself in return by contributing some of what I’m best at—art. I drew inspiration for my poster from my love of the sea and my childhood obsession with mermaids and magical things. I still respect my painting for what it taught me in terms of shadow and scale, but since its creation I’ve evolved. I’d like to showcase my new skills in another painting for Zach’s sometime in the near future.” 

Katia’s art entry to the Zachary’s Art Contest in 2011 also placed her as one of three winners of the highly competitive Zachary’s Young Artist Award. Zachary’s donated $1500 to College Park High School’s art department, where she attended and grew as an artist.

See Katia’s talents here: http://katianovak.tumblr.com/

The walls of our restaurants are filled with one-of-a-kind Zachary’s Pizza Art. We held our first art contest in the late 1980’s and the tradition has continued every couple of years to this day. We love our art and the artists. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Eva Jaeger.

“When I created this piece my family had moved from Berkeley to Manhattan for a year. When I look at this piece now it conjures up all the emotions of those moments: a longing for home and familiar things like Zachary’s, the excitement and adventure of being somewhere unknown and the joy of knowing that I’d be back to have some pizza soon. And of course, I was 4 and loved Princesses!

My inspiration for this piece was all the things I loved.  Princesses, pink, big art and pizza. I actually didn’t really like Pepperoni (truth be known) but the alliteration was too good to pass up!  The process I used for this piece was to draw it on a smaller piece of paper and then spread out on the floor, with all my markers tossed around, and the paper taped down.  Shoes off and spread across the whole thing I sketched by pencil and then dried out just about every marker pen filling in the spaces.  My brother, who was in 1st grade at the time, was also drawing next to me.  His poster actually was awarded an Honorable Mention and I was happy to be creating our pieces together.

This may be the peak of my artistic recognition.  Since that time the pieces I’ve created are much smaller and much more private, rarely venturing into public space.  I like to express my creativity in crafts, writing, on the stage and on the soccer field.  And my love for Princesses and pizza have also become a bit more subdued as I pursue higher ambitions than just being royalty. The thing I haven’t changed since then is a love for Zachary’s pizza.  Just finished one a minute ago!” – Eva

The walls of our restaurants are filled with one-of-a-kind Zachary’s Pizza Art. We held our first art contest in the late 1980’s and the tradition has continued every couple of years to this day. We love our art and the artists. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Ian Ransley.

Ian Ransley is a single father of two Zachary’s-loving boys. Ian is a Berkeley native and a professional graphic designer. He splits his time designing Zachary’s posters and designing for professional sports teams and events including the NHL Winter Classic and the NFL Super Bowl among many other events. He is a dual-citizen of the U.S. and Great Britain. Growing up in a British home he never had pizza so Ian can’t get enough of it now. Ian annoys his two sons using them time and again in many of his art projects. In Ian’s past life he has swam from Alcatraz twice, finished an Ironman triathlon and parachuted out of an airplane thinking it would cure his fear of heights (it didn’t). Ian’s first job was a gas station attendant. Ian’s 15-year old son can’t believe a gas station attendant was ever a real job. You can check out some of Ian’s work and more of Zachary’s posters at http://www.berkeleygraphicdesign.com/ .

Ian is a multiple winner of Zachary’s Pizza Art Contests. Pictured here are three of his many winning pieces. Ian also designed a special celebratory logo for our 30th Anniversary. More about that here: http://www.berkeleyside.com/2013/03/13/zacharys-taps-local-talent-for-30th-anniversary/