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Sounds of reggae, Anderson Paak and Portishead pump through the speakers of Keith “K-Dub” Williams’ laptop, via YouTube, as he paints in his Oakland art studio. The 55-year-old artist, educator, mentor and former skateboarder often sports a baseball cap, a long dark gray T-shirt, black pants and brown leather boots, but at the end of the day he slips on a pair of high-top checkerboard Vans sneakers.

With musical notes and catchy lyrics filling the air, the 6-foot-5-inch artist grabs a paintbrush and applies cyan, pink, black and green paint colors to an array of caps that depict African American faces, along with his distinctive “K-Dub” signature, as he works from his desk. As he waits for the paint to dry, he turns on a small portable fan and adds special touches to several paintings on his wall.

“I tend to paint from what I know and what I draw upon for inspiration, and some of the pieces here have messages about what’s going on in our community or what young people are going through or for a cause,” Williams says. “I try to have images … out in the public that young people can relate to. I want them to be able to see a little bit of themselves or feel that this piece speaks to them as it could to other folks.”

Back to Gallery Oakland artist harnesses power of young people to build... 10 1 of 10 Photo: Photos by Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle 2 of 10 Photo: Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle 3 of 10 Photo: Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle 4 of 10 Photo: Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle 5 of 10 Photo: Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle 6 of 10 Photo: Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle 7 of 10 Photo: Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle 8 of 10 Photo: Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle 9 of 10 Photo: Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle 2018 10 of 10 Photo: Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle



















Originally from Los Angeles, Williams arrived in Oakland in 1998. He taught art at Oakland High School for five years starting in 2002, and he was co-director of the Visual Art Academy during his last three years there.

“While I was teaching at Oakland High School, we started a newsletter called Hot Grits, and it was basically a newsletter from my advanced art students,” he says.

The monthly publication included discussions and articles focused on local events on campus. Williams noticed a lot of students of color who brought their skateboards to his classroom.

“Some of those youth were coming to school with skateboards: African American, Latino, Filipino, Asian, you know, just a beautiful mix, and it reminded me of when I was younger and skating around L.A.,” he says.

“I didn’t feel myself just wanting to be here and just not contribute back some kind of way. It was part of being in the classroom with young people that I saw a platform.”

Williams’ advanced art group became a skateboard club.

“There were no skate parks in Oakland,” he says. “And when I had the skateboard club at the school I would take the kids (to) different skate parks like San Leandro, Berkeley, Alameda, but there was nothing in the town.”

Williams and his students began organizing community events, including the Hood Games, a skateboarding event, at East Oakland Development Center in 2005.

“Basically, that grew out of conversation that I had with Karl Watson at the X Games that summer prior and then talked to my mom; she always appreciated the skate culture and all the aspects of it,” Williams says. “When you’re young, you just go out and skate all day and you’re gone all day. Parents have no idea what you’re doing or how hard you worked to land a trick. So, what I wanted to do … instead of the skaters going out, I wanted to have it in their own community. So that their aunties and uncles and little brothers or baby sisters get a chance to see how hard they worked to land one trick.”

Williams wanted more for the youth and community. He wanted the city of Oakland to see his ambitious vision for a skate park.

“My goal was to build our skate community and show them the numbers, the youth that were recreating, that were participating in the skateboard culture,” he says.

“It became one of those things where the city was like, ‘All right, well, we actually do have a community of young people really into this, and every other city around us has a skate park. Oakland should not be last in that one.’”

Once Oakland was on board with the plan, it was time to find a location. For two weeks, Williams and representatives from the city’s parks department drove around looking at areas that were close to bus stops and schools.

“There were a couple of sites on my radar, but I knew the historical significance (of) DeFremery Park in West Oakland, where the Black Panther Party use to rally and do their thing,” Williams says.

“So, once we decided on taking over an empty lot at the park, then it became a challenge to acquire ramps, build ramps and have it set up in a timely matter so that it didn’t look like an eyesore to the community.”

Through his persistence, Williams received ramps for the skate park. In 2014, after seven years of keeping ramps colorfully painted and maintained, Levi’s Skateboarding wanted to help Williams’ vision.

“They were looking to do something domestic in the States. We were able to accept their gift and be able to start the journey for a permanent concrete, state-of-the-art park, which I always felt our kids deserve top-notch, high-class facilities, and it’s uniquely Oakland,” Williams says.

The skate park, officially named Town Park, is at 1651 Adeline St. in West Oakland. The Hood Games has produced more than 49 events and will host the Life Is Living Festival at DeFremery Park on Saturday, Oct. 13.

“I think my role in it in being that liaison and being that Pied Piper on that piece has really cemented what an artist can give back to a community. I think the fact that we were able as young people participating in elements in helping shape Town Park and the culture is another act of what the power of young people can do.”

The Regulars is a photo and video column that offers a glimpse into the lives of ordinary people in the Bay Area, caught in routine activities of modern urban life.