Founder and proprietor of the Oakland, California art gallery that bears her name, Thelma Harris has built a distinguished reputation for presenting serious works of African American art to connoisseurs, collectors and enthusiasts who love fine art. Works by such painters as Claude Clark, James Porter, Jonathan Green, Marie Johnson Calloway and William Tolliver; such sculptors as Chukes, Artis Lane and Gene Pearson; and such mixed media artists as Kevin Cole, Alonzo Davis and Abiola populate the Thelma Harris Art Gallery and attract loyal patrons from across the globe.

After exploring a career in medicine and spending more than a decade as a corporate executive, Harris turned her growing passion for collecting art into the business of owning an art gallery. Her personal collection had begun with investment in African Tribal Art, and expanded as she searched for the kind of high-quality African American art that she wanted to own. It was the same standard for high quality and excellence that she brought to the collection she built for the gallery when it opened. Exhibitions of works by African, Caribbean and African American artists—both emerging and established—brought public recognition to Harris as having a keen instinct for new talent, aesthetic importance and the appreciable value of quality works.

A gallery owner for nearly two decades, Harris is one of the premier African American art gallery owners in the U.S. With an eye toward being a trusted resource for collectors of diverse tastes and interests, she also carries several WPA artists and sells secondary market artwork. Her full-service approach to cultivating clients begins with learning about the client’s sensibilities, educating them about the gallery’s artists, and making a connection between the client and the artwork. For her high-end acquisitions, Harris even helps clients to identify the place in their homes where the art can be displayed with the most flattering light.

The Thelma Harris Art Gallery, 5940 College Avenue, Oakland, CA 94618.
(510) 654-0443.