Harvey: ‘Creativity is a human aspect’
By MIRIAM HERNANDEZ
The Tower
MANTECA- 8/20/25
Jeffery Harvey is a Manteca High Art teacher, former Disney artist and freelance artist.
Harvey returned to Manteca High School to become a teacher, wanting to help students explore art and see that it isn’t just about perfection. He wants to guide students to see what types of art they like and to have fun.
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Before becoming a teacher, he taught character design on Instagram Reels and then got offered to teach in an online art school in Southern California. Harvey gave it a shot and immediately loved it, answering questions he knew the answers to, seeing people’s skills grow under his guidance and relishing the feeling of adding something to someone’s life.
Art is something that has been around for years, and for many it is something that they saw and clung onto and made it their life journey. From scribbling cats on newspapers to drawing pigs dressed up as wizards, art is something many, including Harvey, are passionate about.
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So, with the rise of AI art in corporate companies, media and the internet. Art has been dumbed down to only needing “talent,” When art to be created is needing a human aspect and soul.
Art isn’t just a problem to solve because they think it’s a skill and talent thing. Art shows off the creator’s feelings, preferences, experiences and their passions. Creativity is a human aspect and has always been. Many artists think AI art as soulless and basically stomping on artists who have worked on their skills for years just to get replaced with a computer.
“Computers don’t have experiences y’know? Computers don’t know anything except for what they’re told and they’re just so not human.” Harvey said, “And art is one of the most human things that there is.”
To many, Harvey might look intimidating, often being compared to Kratos from “God of War.” Any type of intimidation will quickly fade the moment someone dares to utter D.N.D. (Dungeons and Dragons) around Harvey, exploding into details about his wizard character. His favorite food is ice cream. What’s there not to like!
Harvey, with all of the experience and skillset him choosing to come back to Manteca High to teach students, it’s truly amazing.
“I genuinely love Mr. Harvey. He has brought me so much joy since he has come here. Just both personally and professionally,” Jiana Boudreaux, another former MHS art teacher said. “Theres a silly side to him and you need that especially when you work with kids! I love working beside him. It’s been awesome.”
The Tower caught up with Jeffery Harvey to discuss his role as teacher on campus and his feelings of the direction of art with the rise of AI art.
The Tower: “How do you feel about AI art and it being normalized slowly?”
Jeffery Harvey: “Its… dumb. Like it’s just soulless and it’s heartless. People treat art like the creation, the idea, the process and the skill that it takes to get there is a problem and that’s what art is. It’s like everything that comes before the final product and the final product is evidence of the artistic process, and it just takes it all out. They’re treating creativity like it’s a problem to be solved, when it’s not. It’s a way we express. Ourselves and our experiences. Computers don’t have experiences y’know? Computers don’t know anything except for what they’re told. And they’re just so not human. And art is one of the human things that there is.”
TT: “Right now in your class, what do you want to focus on?”
JH: I’m just trying to help students see that it’s not about perfection. It's just about exploring things. I want to see my students try things, like I’ve had kids say, “I can’t do that.” And I’m like “Well try it!” and if in the end it’s bad at least you learned something from it. I want kids to feel the art, to try things, feel it and see if something kind of speaks to them.
TT: “How do you see art? Do you see it as therapeutic, an escape or something else?”
JH: “I think it can be all of those things, you know? It’s going to be different for different people. That’s why I like art because it is not like math where you have to solve for X. You can make whatever you want for your own reasons. I know for a lot of people us it as therapy, and that’s great! And sometimes it is for me but mostly it’s just the joy of creating something that wasn’t there before.”
TT: “Out of everything you draw, what’s your favorite thing to draw ever?”
JH: “WIZARDS! Yeah, it’s just so fun. Part of the art is creating something out of nothing, and that’s what wizards do. They have spells and they just PEW, PLEW, PLOW!!”