Growing up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Caroline Stern wanted to be an artist. Life initially took her in a different direction, and instead, she majored in English at Oberlin College in Ohio. After graduating, she moved to San Francisco’s Mission District where she found work in social services, helping foster youth.
Throughout, art remained a constant. She spent her evenings taking life drawing and other studio classes, nurturing the creative ambitions she had never abandoned. In 1990, she made a pivotal decision—she enrolled at the California College of the Arts (CCA) to begin her formal training as an artist.
To be near CCA, Caroline rented a studio apartment in Rockridge on the ground floor of the building that now houses Danspace on Hudson Street. Two years into her painting studies at CCA, she saw a notice on the school bulletin board seeking someone to help a woman with “the decorative arts.”
This led to an apprenticeship and five years of steady work in homes and restaurants —painting faux finishes in living rooms and dining rooms, doing gold leafing and stenciling, restoring and painting woodwork and furniture, tiling fireplaces, and creating murals. Caroline commuted across the Richmond Bridge to work with her employer, Shala, in a 2,000-square-foot studio in Larkspur. Most of their clients were in Marin County and San Francisco.
By the late 1990s, Caroline felt confident enough in her skills and level of expertise to rent a studio on Claremont Avenue where she set up her own business, Oakland Deco Art (since renamed OaklandArtWorks). She found clients, most of whom lived on the other side of the tunnel in Orinda and Contra Costa County, who wanted her help beautifying their homes. She even became a licensed contractor.
In addition, she found interesting work locally. A number of restaurants along College Avenue hired Caroline to do murals, including Filippo’s (which operated on the corner of College and Manila until 2021). Caroline later found work painting murals for the City of Oakland, including one near Piedmont Grocery and another for Rockridge’s own Frog Park.
Murals at Piedmont Grocery (left) and Frog Park (right).
In 1999, she bought a house on Miles Avenue, and a few years later adopted her son. When the 2008-2009 economic recession hit, Caroline found much of her work drying up. At the age of 50, she decided it was time to get a teaching credential and master’s degree, which she completed in 2015.
Today, Caroline works three days a week teaching art to fourth and fifth graders in Castro Valley. At the same time, she continues to produce her own artwork, including painting and collage. On the side, she continues to take on the occasional decorative arts job—most recently repairing a fireplace in an Oakland home.
As well as creating her own work, Caroline has always enjoyed getting artists together for group shows—some of them at her studio on Claremont—to share their passion. “Do art everyday, love yourself, and your community,” she espouses.
In 2019, she helped found the Temescal Artists Community (TACo), which has a core group of about 25 artists and exhibit space on the ground floor of MacArthur Commons at 540 40th Street. TACo is currently planning several shows to coincide with Art Week in the fall. Check their website for dates and locations.
