Back To School: Art Kits

AHC knows that it takes imagination to change the world, and that art is a powerful tool to help young people develop self-awareness and compassion. As schools are beginning to host classes in-person, Art Kits are an important part of the ‘Back To School’ season. Each kit contains everything a student needs to stay creative - art supplies, printed activity guides developed by educators and information about additional online resources. 

AHC provides arts education to some of the most underserved communities in Oakland, with 90% of students coming from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. The Art Kit program fills the gap, providing supplies and curriculum to students who would not ordinarily have access to arts education. Click here to support our Art Kit Program.

ArtEsteem Featured at FLAX art & design

We are excited to announce our current exhibition at FLAX art & design in Downtown Oakland. 

The paintings on display were created by students in our integrated arts program, ArtEsteem. This is the perfect opportunity to see the work of Oakland youth in-person and AHC Teaching Artist Laila Espinoza is enthusiastic, “It’s a great gift to be able to share art.” She mentions that the exhibition sparked interest even during the installation, “When I was putting the pieces up, customers were curious about the paintings...the powerful stories behind them and the students who created them.”

FLAX art & design have been the Bay Area’s most well-loved retail art business for over 30 years. The ArtEsteem Exhibition is available for viewing at its Oakland location during normal business hours: Monday-Saturday 10:00am-6:30pm and Sunday from 10:00am- 6:00pm. 
1501 Martin Luther King Jr Way, Oakland, CA 94612

Super Heroes in Progress

We are more than halfway through the Super Heroes project at AHC. Students have been studying social justice issues that are important to them, and designing life-sized self portraits that relate to their cause. Each painting exists not only as an art piece, but as a call for social change.

The finished pieces will be on display at our upcoming ArtEsteem Exhibition on May 18th. The annual ArtEsteem Exhibition is always one of our highlights of the year. You can see the full details on our event page.

ArtEsteem instructor Justin Mullon teaches some basic illustration techniques.

Identity, Strengths & Weaknesses

The ArtEsteem program is moving full steam ahead at Hoover Elementary School! The current project focuses on themes of identity. The youth are designing masks that reflect different aspect of their personality, and in essence, how they see themselves. This process has brought some thought provoking discussions to the classroom. Students were challenged by being asked critical questions such as, “What have you learned about your identity?” and “What are your strengths?”

This project will go on throughout the school year, and we’re excited to show you the completed pieces on May 18th at ArtEsteem’s 21st Annual Exhibition! The event is happening right here at AHC, catch the details on our event page.

Masks from different cultures, for inspiration.

From left: Mask inspiration, Mr. Eddie helps out, student writes down her strengths.

Students work on developing their narrative, and help each other along the way!

Student thinks about her identity.