Why I Built Oak Grove

Discovering the Joy of Technique

As an artist, people often ask me when I first realized I wanted to pursue this path. The truth is, it wasn't a sudden epiphany. It was a slow, steady building of confidence that started when I was a kid. But growing up, finding real art instruction was incredibly difficult. Most programs for youth focused entirely on keeping kids busy or entertained with quick, one-off crafts.

Years later, when I became an Alameda public school teacher, I saw that the exact same problem still existed. Traditional school art programs were being underfunded, and after-school options still treated art like a casual distraction.

I watched creative kids get frustrated because their hands couldn't replicate what they saw in their imaginations. They didn't want to just do the activity of the week; they wanted to know how light catches a human face, or how to make a charcoal drawing pop off the page. They were craving real technique, but they were only being given a surface level taste.

Building the Studio I Wished I Had

I founded Oak Grove Art Academy right here in Alameda to be the studio I desperately wished had existed when I was growing up.

I wanted to prove that children and teens are capable of incredible focus and mastery if you treat them like real artists. That’s why we don't do drop-in crafts. We built a true academy model focused on long-term growth, small group mentoring, and classical foundations.

When my co-director, Thanh Ma, and I opened our doors at 1314 High Street, our goal was simple: to create a calm, structured, and genuinely inspiring environment. We brought in professional-grade materials, structured a curriculum that builds sequentially week-over-week, and committed to teaching the actual mechanics of drawing and painting.

More Than Masterpieces

What I’ve learned over a decade of teaching in after school programs and local public schools is that when you respect a young person's intellect and teach them real skills, their entire disposition changes. They develop a deep sense of patience. They learn how to look at a mistake not as a failure, but as a problem to be solved with technique.

When your child joins us at Oak Grove, my promise to you is that they will never just be passing the time. They will be finding their voice, mastering their hands, and building an unshakeable confidence that they will carry with them long after they leave our studio.

— Kevin Blagrave, Founder & Chief Instructor

Kevin Blagrave Self Portrait. Pastel on paper.

Meet the Founder

Kevin Blagrave is an award-winning portrait and figurative artist, Alameda Unified public school teacher and the founder of Oak Grove Art Academy, with over a decade of experience in education.

“My journey into art started in Philadelphia, surrounded by my grandfather’s massive library of art books and drawings. He was an avid painter, and he was the one who first taught me how to look closely at the world. Regular weekend trips to the Philadelphia Museum of Art cemented my love for craftsmanship, patience, and artistic tradition.

But as I grew up, everyone pushed me toward a more traditional path. I was actually awarded a full scholarship to an Ivy League university for Computer Science. I tried the STEM route, but my heart never left the studio. I eventually turned down that path and relocated to San Francisco to commit fully to drawing and painting, seeking out rigorous, advanced training under Chinese, Japanese, and Korean master artists.

That journey taught me that artistic ability isn't a magical, random gift you are born with—it is a discipline. It can be taught, broken down, and mastered.

For the past ten years, I’ve dedicated my life to education. On top of running Oak Grove, I teach in the Alameda Unified public school system. Every single day, I see how hungry kids and teens are for real, structured skills. They don’t want to just pass the time with casual crafts; they want to know how to draw, how to mix color, and how to create with purpose.

I founded Oak Grove Art Academy to give local families the exact studio environment I wished I had growing up: a place where clarity, technique, and long-term skill development come together to build unshakeable creative confidence.”