Spotlight: Amana Harris

As a high school student at Oakland Tech, Amana Harris spent much of her time painting and drawing. She even hung out a few times on the CCA campus up the street, so when it came time to apply to colleges, California College of the Arts seemed a logical choice.

After graduation she went to work for a wax and plastic prototyping company, but discovered it wasn't the right fit. A friend's advice led her to substitute teaching. Harris enjoyed working with young people in an urban environment, and soon she took over a first-grade class at Lockwood Elementary School. "That was the school that changed my life," she recalls. "Their teacher had abandoned the class, and I told myself, I'm going to finish this year out with the kids."

One little boy in particular inspired her to begin using art as a tool to build self-esteem. He often came to class hungry, wore the same clothes two or three days in a row, and was very angry. The one thing that helped him focus was art. Harris says, "This validated the thoughts I was starting to have that kids needed an alternative space to create, a safe environment, a caring consistent adult in their lives."

Amana began her program in 1995 by canvassing her West Oakland neighborhood and passing out flyers. Twelve children attended the first Saturday classes—and ArtEsteem was born.

The program grew even as Harris had two daughters and continued to substitute teach. Now ArtEsteem serves over 150 youth a year through programs and field trips in literacy, art, photography, fashion design, and science. ArtEsteem has a paid staff and partners with four schools and community programs, including the CCA Center for Art and Public Life. Harris may be proudest of her two youth assistants, Kamilah Crawford and Diana Alonzo, who participated in ArtEsteem as children and now get A's and B's as students at Oakland Tech. They help advocate for the program at city council meetings.

What's next for ArtEsteem? Harris says, "I have a lot of ideas, but right now my goal is to ground this program in such a way that it will impact young people. I want to see young people go to college, I want to see success stories."

From Glance, 2004

Born 1971, Berkeley, CA

CCA degree:
BFA 1993, Drawing

Other education:
MAEd 2003, University of San Francisco

Current occupation:
Founder and director, ArtEsteem; associate director, Attitudinal Healing Connection, Inc.

Influences at CCA:
Richard Gayton, Cobie Harris, Vincent Perez

Website:
ahc-oakland.org