What are the opening hours?

Monday 11am - 5pm Tuesday 11am - 5pm Wednesday 11am - 5pm Thursday 11am - 5pm Friday 11am - 5pm

The Center for ArtEsteem, 3111 West Street, Oakland, CA (2026)

Social justice art org based on non-traditional approaches to healing

08/25/2026

The Center for ArtEsteem is happy to share that we're back at sites for the 2026-2027 school year!

21 sites and counting ♡

- Allendale Elementary
- Dover Elementary
- Elmhurst Middle
- EnCompass Academy Elementary
- Fairmont Elementary
- Greenleaf TK-8
- Hoover Elementary
- Legacy Project
- Lincoln Elementary
- Michelle Obama Elementary
- Montalvin Elementary
- Nystrom Elementary
- Olinda Elementary
- Riverside Elementary
- Shannon Elementary
- Stege Elementary
- Stewart Elementary
- Oakland Emiliano Zapata Street Academy
- Tara Hills Elementary
- West Oakland Middle

In July, our Teaching Artists came together to prepare for their classes with Teacher Development Week. Through two weeks of workshop-format engagement sessions led by our Artistic Development Manager and Program Manager, they learned best practices, developed curriculum with social-emotional and environmental focuses, and shared space and thought to strengthen team bonds.

We are so excited to empower this new and returning cohort of ArtEsteem students to be self-aware and inspired through art, creativity, and education! Onwards!

Interested in having ArtEsteem at your site?

Contact us at [email protected].

07/02/2026

The Center for ArtEsteem presents "Cultivating the Shero Within: MOTHER," a life-size painting workshop for women who have lost their mothers.

ArtEsteem Executive Director Amana Harris and Community Artist Ellen Morrison will co-facilitate, leading participants through a process of gathering, reflecting, sharing stories, imagining, and creating. The process culminates in the reinvention of the self as a super shero, drawing on the unique characteristics and objects of importance of the mother.

Open to all women—cis, trans, or otherwise—and nonbinary individuals who find alignment in women/fem-centric spaces.

LEARN MORE: https://www.artesteem.org/events/2026/7/24/cultivating-the-shero-within-workshop
REGISTER: https://forms.gle/mRmETJA7nfvQjB4k7

Friday, July 24th // 7:00pm – 9:30pm

Saturday, July 25th // 10:30am – 4:30pm

@ The Center for ArtEsteem // 3111 West Street, Oakland

05/15/2026

ArtEsteem has a panel at the 12th Annual Bay Area Book Festival!

We present "Unleashing the Super Hero Within," a panel exploring Executive Director Amana Harris's curriculum, Self As Super Hero: Handbook on Creating the Life-Size Self-Portrait. ArtEsteem students and teachers will engage in dialogue about today’s youth, their creative needs, and the Self As Super Hero curriculum as a critical catalyst of self-reflection, family and cultural research, societal assessment, and artistic development.

The Self As Super Hero curriculum is a foundational aspect of ArtEsteem’s work, centering the student artist as they reinvent themselves to be the Super Hero they want to see in their communities. Students identify issues, both personal and in the world, and develop super powers based on their talents, the five senses, and objects of importance that can directly solve the problems they have identified.

Details:
Saturday, May 30th
10:30 - 11:30am
Community Room, Berkeley Public Library

Let us know you're coming! Link here: https://forms.gle/hzYdBPYBkNKp6Cf97

04/17/2026

In this final 28th Annual ArtEsteem Exhibition exploration before the big day tomorrow, we're shining a spotlight on our Digital Media class at Oakland Emiliano Zapata Street Academy and their Unpacking Impact photography unit.

When crafting his curriculum for the school year, Teaching Artist JD wanted to use the medium of photography to help his students identify and process how they are impacted by their built environment and lived experiences, and how those aspects of life are impacted by them in return.

JD developed lessons where the primary goal was getting outside and taking in The Town. The learnings from these "photo walks" were enhanced by historical, technical, and cultural context taken in through field trips to physical spaces like the Oakland Public Library and the Oakland Museum of California archives, and digital spaces like the University of California's Calisphere, a primary source database.

“A lot of them have never held a physical picture of their own. We print photos in class,” JD explained during our class progress interview. With most students owning smartphones, the interest surrounding photography as an art form has dwindled. JD intends to bring intentionality back into photographic practice, and with it, a reflection of the self.

The students are moved by JD's call to look within themselves, focus on the present, and capture small yet significant moments.

Carol, a 10th grader, writes in an artist statement, "I enjoy the process of noticing small things and turning them into something important through my work. Through my art, I want people to feel a sense of connection, warmth, and appreciation for the little things in life. Most importantly, my work reflects how much I genuinely enjoy creating and sharing what I see."

Fellow 10th grader Jaydee feels similarly: "Taking these pictures shows how powerful a single moment can be when you pause long enough to notice it."

Linking the evolution and accessibility of technology to self-exploration and self-development within JD's Unpacking Impact unit makes for an effective, educational, and fundamentally, relatable art practice.

We are so excited for you all to view this photography project in person. Thank you for reading, and we hope to see you at the 28th Annual ArtEsteem Exhibition tomorrow!

Address

3111 West Street
Oakland, CA
94608

Opening Hours

Monday	11am - 5pm
Tuesday	11am - 5pm
Wednesday	11am - 5pm
Thursday	11am - 5pm
Friday	11am - 5pm

Telephone

+15106525530

Website

https://www.artesteem.org/

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