WHAT: ArtEsteem^sm 15^th Annual Art Exhibition, “Reflections of Me and My World 2013”

THEME: “Self as Super Hero: THE POWER TO TRANSFORM”

WHEN: Saturday, June 8, 2013 from 3pm to 6pm

WHERE: Oasis Gallery @ American Steel Studios, 1960 Mandela Parkway, Oakland, CA (enter on 20^th Street)

The public is invited to attend ArtEsteem’s 15^th Annual Art Exhibit “Reflections of Me and My World”, a free community event on Saturday June 8, 2013 from 3pm to 6pm, showcasing artwork from twelve schools and community centers, mainly located in Oakland. A Super Hero Award will be given out, honoring an individual for the extraordinary work he/she has done to uplift the lives of the most vulnerable in our culture.

The Attitudinal Healing Connection offers transformative intervention strategies for schools through ArtEsteem, an art and social justice program. “Reflections of Me and My World 2013” is an annual exhibition that offers young people opportunities to display their work to the public.  The exhibition highlights thought provoking visual and performance art created by ArtEsteem students.  Giving voice to dreams, desires and concerns, these young artists are creatively engaged in a year long learning process, developing skills and techniques in visual arts, fashion design and cultural expression. Under the theme and curriculum of Self as Super Hero, students create super heroes with powers to solve problems in the world and transform communities. This year’s theme, “Self as Super Hero: The Power to Transform” focuses on using the power of creativity to bring about transformation in our children and communities.

This year, ArtEsteem is partnering with both The Art of Living Black and American Steel Studios. ArtEsteem is partnering with The Art of Living Black to bring arts enrichment and professional artists into schools, introducing students to new mediums and styles of art. Professional artists were selected to work with students to produce several projects, which will be displayed at the exhibition. Graciously housing this years’ exhibition is American Steel Studios.

The event will spotlight art that expresses the critical thinking, realities, and dreams of self and society, created by children and youth ages 6 to 18. Most of the art will be for sale. There will be a fashion show presenting the work of fashion design students, along with performances from the cultural arts classes.  Based on past years, the exhibit is expected to draw more than 500 patrons and significant media presence.

ArtEsteem focuses on, but is not limited to, serving children and youth who are at risk for violence and other dangerous behaviors. It aims to increase students’ capacity for leadership and enhance artistic skills in schools where art classes have been cancelled due to budget cuts. ArtEsteem provides on-site art instruction, workshops and assemblies that impact over 2500 public-school children annually. Each year, the program culminates in this professionally produced art exhibition that promotes young talent, provides a vehicle for public acknowledgement of their efforts, supports creative expression, and celebrates the importance of the arts.

Join AHC for our Annual Unleashing the Human Spirit Retreat!

Friday, June 21 to Sunday, June 23, 2013

Ben Lomond, Quaker Center

Located in the Beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains

Registration: $395 per person

Join us at our 13th annual “Unleashing The Human Spirit Weekend Retreat”, surrounded by a majestic redwood forest in the Santa Cruz mountains. This three-day experience is devoted to happiness. You will learn the art of being a happy learner. Explore the majesty of the earth and cultivate “mishe” happiness through mindful drumming, ancient Eastern wisdom, the spirit of Attitudinal Healing, Native American spirituality and community building. The Give Away Blanket Ceremony is one of joy, gratitude, and generosity. We celebrate all good in the world by giving the best that we have. Bring something that is important to you to give to others as a gift. The retreat offers deep inquiry into happiness, compassionate listening, creative processes, tools for diversity work, traditional stories and songs to help you connect to the heart. By doing these ceremonies we begin to live once again in balance, gratitude and health.

Offerings for the weekend include:

• Attitudinal Healing and healing circles
• Compassionate listening skills
• Creative processes grounded in indigenous traditions
• Drumming, dancing & sharing wholesome food
• Storytelling and creative expressions
• Traditional Lakota Give Away

Special Guests:

Mukund Subramanian trained from a renowned healer, Omuro Toyo, ‘ in Aomori, Japan, from 1993 to 1999, in a distinct Garlic Moxibusti (Ninniku Okyu ) technique. Holding a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Stanford University, having lived in Japan for over 13 years, Mukund comes from a family of Carnatic musicians in Chennai, India, whose belief in the power of resonance and healing greatly inspires his practice. Mukund has been treating patients in San Francisco since 2004.

“As a participant, and  as a leader, I am grateful for the opportunity to share the wisdom of the Lakota people. Last year I led the ceremony of Wiping Of The Tears. It was a blessing to witness the healing that occurred during the ceremony. Participants called  their ancestors and themselves for the healing and forgiveness that needed to be done.  The power of traditional Lakota songs, the sacred pipe and the opening to our ancestors created a time for each of us to do powerful personal work to heal the wounds of the past ,as well as the present.  The Ceremony was palpable and powerful for all of us.“

-Keya Kessler

Adam Chapuis is a Geologist, Earth Scientist  and author of a bold new book, “Voices of the Earth: Life Lessons from a Blue Planet”.

Friday, June 21 to Sunday, June 23, 2013

Ben Lomond, Quaker Center

Located in the Beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains

Registration: $395 per person

www.oaklandmuralproject.com

The Oakland Super Heroes Mural Project is West Oakland and Emeryville’s first large scale mural revitalization and beautification project.

Our Mission:

To revitalize, beautify, uplift, positively transform and bring hope to the West Oakland/Emeryville area. Our focus is also to reduce blight.

Our Plan:

To complete six murals in three years.

Location:

Murals will be painted in West Oakland/Emeryville under the 580 freeway on San Pablo Ave., Market St., West St. and Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

Community Engagement:

As part of the planning process, AHC surveyed residents of the Hoover Corridor Neighborhood where the murals will be immediately located. Community members were asked to describe positive & negative aspects of the neighborhood as well, as their hopes and dreams for the community and future public art pieces. Responses determine the content of the murals. AHC will be hiring mainly Oakland based artists to paint the murals, as the whole process will promote and exemplify community collaboration from beginning to end.

Youth Involvement:

The murals will be designed and conceptualized by local middle and high school students.  The project is giving youth the rare opportunity to be critically engaged in a public forum and really allowing their voices to be heard.

Click here to see more photos!

The Story/Heroes:

Imagined and Created by McClymonds High School Students

Ja’Khi and Josiah

Ja’Khi – She is the princess of knowledge. She influences the people in her life to achieve the impossible. She’s a student at McClymonds High School and from her experiences she aspires to change others. Ja’Khi wears a shawl on her back that shows all the lives she positively impacted. Her Shawl helps her draw strength from the sun in order to change people’s lives. She wears a ring that persuades those around her to trust and not be so negative. Her gold tooth speaks golden words that touch the heart of those in need. Her wrist watch doubles as a time holder and a mirror. It shows the ones who may need her help and give her time to possibly change the person’s life. Ja’Khi, a West Oakland native works with Josiah in hopes of positively impacting the people of Oakland.

Josiah – He is the messenger of fate. He works together with Ja’Khi changing the lives of people. He is a McClymonds High alumnus who uses his success to help people take control of their lives. He carries a suitcase that symbolizes his success and holds opportunities that could make others successful. He gives people the chance to be great using the lessons they’ve learned from Ja’khi. He has a watch like Ja’Khi’s that shows the ones who need his help and gives him the time to do so. In his hand he holds books. These books teach and help people learn to be more caring, open minded and aware. His books can teach various valuable life lessons.  Josiah and Ja’Khi work toward influencing others to be more aware and active with the problems in our communities.

Ja’Khi and Josiah both work together with DJ Justice.

DJ Justice – He’s a DJ that spins and hosts block parties in West Oakland. These block parties are a way to unite all people and ignite fires of change. DJ Justice plays uplifting music that influences unity and change.

To be continued……….

Funding:

The only thing standing in the way of the project’s progress is funding. AHC has raised enough money to complete the first mural, but needs your help to get the next five underway. For more information visit www.oaklandmuralproject.com, email muralproject@ahc-oakland.org or call 510-652-5530. Your support is what makes the dream a reality.

INTRODUCTION

The Tree of Life represents hope and forgiveness.  It is an 8’ X 28’ mural inspired by the youth, where the hope it represents stems from the love for our community.  The youth involved are long time residents in the Hoover corridor neighborhood and/or youth participants in AHC’s Youth Leadership Now program.  The youth envision their community as a place where peace, beauty, resolution and unity is consistently cultivated, nurtured and valued.

YOUTH ENGAGEMENT

As youth were engaged in a process to brainstorm ideas for the project, they continually expressed concern for their community and a deep desire to acknowledge the loss of young lives. They dedicated the project to four innocent West and East Oakland based children whose lives were senselessly and violently taken away from those that loved them.  These children were three toddlers and one youth, torn from a world of possibilities, torn from their futures and their legacy.

PURPOSE

The Tree of Life opens up the doors to forgiveness.  Forgiveness for a society that breeds such brutality and forgiveness for the souls that have become locked in its thorny weeds. With forgiveness comes health, with health comes freedom, with freedom comes love and peace.  The Tree of Life creates a pathway towards peace and enlightenment for our community for generations to come.

LOCATION

The Tree of Life will adorn the construction site of the West Oakland Youth Center until construction is complete in April of 2013.  The mural will bring beauty to the Hoover corridor while exuding a serenity and calmness that recognizes the value of and dreams for our youth. The mural will travel throughout the city of Oakland and beyond, carrying forward its message of hope and forgiveness.

THE STORY

The tree of life was forgotten.  After many horrific and daunting acts of violence causing death and destruction, the community came together. This is when the elders reminded them of a forgotten tree, deep in Oakland, that was known to have mystical powers.  A young man named Daniel, a grandson of one of the elders, was known as Big Brother to all of the young people in the community.  A sense of urgency took over Daniel as he came to believe that if he took care of the tree it would make the community better and help the community forgive and manifest peace. He began to diligently and meticulously care for the tree.  Every day he gathered the little ones around the roots and under the branches to share in giving care and love to the tree.  The process of sharing and caring for the tree brought to life an angelic woman of light and truth, who in turn looked over the community with a blanket of peace and serenity. Her overwhelming beauty and grace caused nature to spawn and grow with bountiful life and beauty.  The vines, which were under her power and represented the peoples’ desire to rid the city of violence, grew profusely and began to take over the city. Her spiral necklace felt the strength and vibration of the peoples’ will so powerfully that flowers began to grow abundantly with vivid beauty. A huge, magnificent flower appeared in her hand to feed the humming birds.  More humming birds came to lead the community to make better decisions and choices. A gigantic calla lily grew, bringing hope and renewal to the community.  Butterflies came from all over and helped spread the peace and transformation to other communities.

We would like to recognize our sponsors and host committee members for their contributions: East Bay College Fund, Alameda County Office of Education, Ralph A. Chapuis, Robert K. and Barbara Straus Foundation, Kingston 11, Numi Tea, Darian Rodriguez Heyman, Heart and Soul Center of Light, Jeanine and Guy Saperstein, Rachel Tolmachoff, Ritu Sharma, The Jampolsky Outreach Foundation, Virginia Jardim, Wendy Jordan, and William Guillermo Ortiz. Thank you for helping us to create communities that thrive!

Transformation is in the air as the Oakland Super Heroes Mural Project gets underway. This is an ArtEsteem project, sponsored by the Attitudinal Healing Connection (AHC), a community based non-profit whose vision is a world where everyone is whole, safe, valued, educated and loved. There is a core team of staff driving the project, confident that the mural will help revitalize and bring hope to a community plagued by a very long list of social problems.

This list is not just metaphorical. AHC has been working in the Hoover District to survey community members, asking citizens to think about their greatest concerns, as well as strengths, and dreams for this community. AHC intends to make the dream real, as art holds the power to bring to life what the mind can only envision. The method of surveying AHC is using is not the typical approach. Team members have been going door-to-door, diving into the heart and soul of the community and informing people of this project while gaining input. The community has been very receptive to these efforts and people have been more than willing to talk. AHC has also been working to involve progressive stakeholders in the community, helping to gain momentum and build support for the project.

The theme of the project stems from Associate Director of Attitudinal Healing Connection, Amana Harris’ book and ArtEsteem program curriculum, Self as Super Hero. Harris says “The ArtEsteem Self as Super Hero book was inspired by our current need for heroes for our children, youth and communities…and provides a platform for self development, cultural sensibility and an innovative approach to arts integration while exploring our voice and vision for solving our most critical problems in the community and the world.” In the program children are encouraged to reinvent themselves as social justice oriented super heroes who have the ability to solve problems in their own community. Harris’ concept is paired with a saying, “We are the ones we are waiting for, to save ourselves and others”– empowering youth to really invest in themselves, their community and their world.

Students from the McClymonds High School 4th period art class are coming together to do just that, tackling social problems and creating super heroes with powers to bring about real change in their neighborhood. Students are the ones designing the mural – developing concepts, heroes, and the stories behind them. Youth have been putting a tremendous amount of energy and thought into the scene and powers of the super heroes, elements of which will address individual problems within the community.

Students working on the project say their main goal is to unite the community – to unite sets, to unite elders with the youth, and to bring children together to build a better community. Ninth grader Daileesha McDonald said, “It should bring the community together, stop the violence, make the community a better, safer place, and make people think twice before they do stuff. It should change people’s lives.” Fellow ninth grader Quilliecha Robinson said “I hope it’ll give people the message that they should go to college and never give up, and let people know it’s never too late to do anything.” When the class was asked whether they wanted the super hero to be a man or a woman, they said both. Both genders have key roles. Students also proposed to have the figures painted with various skin tones…“to be multi-racial as a symbol of unity, as a whole, instead of just focusing on one thing,” said tenth grader Ibraheem Mohammad.

Muralist and historian with deep roots in the Oakland community, Calvin Grey spoke with the 4th period art class to help inform the project. Grey helped provide a history of West Oakland for the youth, telling tales of his own experiences as a youngster, and sharing stories of the heroes that really made a difference in his life. Many of these heroes were McClymonds graduates themselves who went on to become international superstars.

The project is giving youth the rare opportunity to be critically engaged in a public forum, really allowing their voices to be heard. As part of the project, students attended and presented the design to the Public Art Advisory Committee for the City of Oakland (PAAC), giving students the chance to talk about their ideas and receive feedback on the project. Students were nervous, but the crowd was supportive and reactions to the project were heartfelt. The room roared with applause as the committee unanimously approved the design.

The first of six murals was completed in July 2012 and serves as a gateway between Oakland and Emeryville, being located under the 580 freeway on San Pablo between 35th St. and 36th St. AHC plans to have all six murals complete within three years. Successive murals will be located along the 580 freeway from Martin Luther King Jr. Way to Market Street.

AHC will be hiring mainly Oakland based artists to paint the murals, as the whole process will promote and exemplify community collaboration from beginning to end.

The only thing standing in the way of the project’s progress is funding. AHC has raised enough money to complete the first mural, but needs your help to get the next five underway. To provide support please email muralproject@ahc-oakland.org, visit AHC’s website at www.oaklandmuralproject.com, or call 510-652-5530.

Click here to listen to an interview on Women’s Radio with AHC Founder, Aeeshah Clottey!

Announcing Spring 2012: LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

A partnership between the Oakland Housing Authority and the Attitudinal Healing Connection,  Inc.

Earn College Credit while you develop creativity, build community and bring change to your neighborhood!

A 12 week structured curriculum focused on:

•  Facilitation Skills
•  Restorative Justice/0Conflict Mediation
•  Public Speaking
•  Access Educational Opportunities
•  Attitudinal Healing & Healing Circles
•  Community Problem Solving
•  Understanding Volunteerism
•  Building Strengths
•  Identifying Personal Asset

Good Neighbor Leadership Institute

For information or application contact:

Aeeshah Clottey, Attitudinal Healing Connection, Inc.

P: (510) 652.5535 or E: aeeshah@ahc-oakland.org

Visit our website at http://selfassuperhero.com/