What Is the OCC?
A member of Oakland Art Murmur, the OCC (Oakopolis Creativity Center) is an artist run public benefit organization and gallery that promotes, honors, and enhances the use of the creative spirit to encourage positive growth and creative intermingling on a personal, community, and global level.
COUNCIL OF SEVEN “CREEDS”
No separation between art and living
Live to make art responsibly
Model responsibility in your art practice
Evoke better communication
Embrace sincerity
Invite and collaborate
WORDS TO EMBODY (BIBLE OF LIFE)
Freedom
Sacred
Spirituality
Imagination
Problem-Solving
Communication
Responsibility
Organic Growth
Authenticity
NetworkingThe OCC is a living breathing thing which will change
and grow with the energy that we all put into its life.
HISTORY
Oakopolis Creativity Center, formerly the Fort Creativity Center, grew out of the Big City art installation by Joell Jones.In the Big City twenty-six assemblage sculpture towers evisioned an utopian city that contained its own Creativity Center. The values of the art installation were made manifest in the Fort Creativity Center established by Jeanne Jabbour and Joell Jones in 2004.
In the Spring of 2007, Jeanne and Joell recruited other associates and renamed the center to embrace the greater Oakland area of the San Francisco East Bay. In October 2007 Oakopolis became a memeber of Oakland's Art Murmur and opened its first gallery exhibition to the public. In December of 2007, Oakopolis became a 501(c)(3) public benefit, non-profit organization.
The work of a creative artist is not a luxury but a necessity to society. Art is an instrument of communication and serves as a method for recording history. It has the energy to move people emotionally, intellectually, and socially. Throughout the history of the human race it is a society's art that has provided us with clues to its deepest thought and expression. Art reveals the essence of nature, time, and place.
"in all battles of the heart over the mind, go with your heart. Because, truly, it's a lot easier for your mind to catch up with your heart, than for your heart to catch up with your mind. A whole lot." —Mike Dooley
EMBRACE SINCERITY