Paul Harris was a CCAC faculty member from 1968 to 1992. 2025 marks the centenary of Paul Harris (1925–2018), a vanguard, multidisciplinary artist appreciated in his lifetime for his vibrant, floral patterned fabric and cloth sculptures, as well as bronzes and work on paper, and close, lifelong friendships with Phyllis and Richard Diebenkorn (1922–1993) as well as artist and writer Elaine de Kooning (1918–1989) after meeting her at Hans Hofmann’s summer school in Provincetown in 1949. Quintessentially postmodern, Harris championed the new and nascent in contemporary American art across his paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures that were included in some of the most significant shows of the cacophonous 1960s and 1970s, while blurring the lines between Pop Art and French Modernism and working at the apex of the avant-garde vis-à-vis alternative materials and situating him alongside artists such as Claes Oldenburg (1929–2022), John Chamberlain (1927–2011), Andy Warhol (1928–1987), Eve Hesse (1936–1970)…
Wendy Lehenssey at work on a weaving in front of Studio 7. CCAC Oakland campus, Spring 1976
Textile student at work in front of Studio 7. CCAC Oakland campus, Spring 1976
Textile faculty Carole Beadle, near the window, teaching the weaving class. Studio 4 (later B Building) CCAC Oakland campus, 1970s.
Weaving class with students at looms, CCAC Oakland campus, 1964
Hanging textile sculpture by CCAC alumna and faculty, Kay Sekimachi, 1971