Holidaze

The Ox-Blog is on vacation! We'll see you back here in January to welcome OS30.

OS29 /// OUT

BON VOYAGE

we'll miss you

you'll always be part of the Oxbow family

FINAL SHOW

...thanks you for your support throughout the semester. We are very much looking forward to seeing you all at the 

Final Show and Open House:

Saturday December 14 and Sunday December 15, 1-3pm at The Oxbow School, 530 Third Street

People Who Change the World

Yesterday marked the passing of Nelson Mandela, one of the great leaders of our time. When the world loses such a leader, the effect is palpable. While the sixteen year-olds of OS29 may not fully understand the context and impact of this loss, they intuit that someone important is gone. I find that when I reflect on the passing of a person I admire, someone who has inspired me to be a better, kinder, and more compassionate person, I start to look to the people around me to fill the void. Fortunately, I am surrounded by inspiration. 

One of the reasons I choose to work with teenagers is that they are unabashed in expressing their passions, desires, and fears. There is a raw honesty to the way teens tackle the obstacles in their lives. The population we work with at Oxbow is particularly inspiring, given that these teens have made the deliberate choice to express their ideas and experiences through art. OS29 has a lot of spirit, and many of our students are budding activists. Recall one of our first blog posts this semester--in the first week, a student said, "I make art because I have things to say." I was struck by the simultaneous simplicity and profundity of this statement.

When I walk around the studios and look at OS29's Final Projects in progress, I am hit with intense awe and gratitude--awe at the unbridled potential these teenagers are learning to harness, and gratitude for the positive work I know they will do throughout their lives. Mr. Mandela's death reminds me that I am surrounded by activists here at Oxbow; these students give me the assurance that we're headed in the right direction. On behalf of the whole Oxbow community, I am thrilled to invite you to share in a celebration of the accomplishments of this class--looking forward to seeing you at the Final Show next weekend! (Check out the Oxbow website for info on the Final Show Open House.)                                                                                     
- Lenora

BODIES

There's something about being a teenager that makes body casting especially appealing. If you've ever been to a Final Show here you know how amazing it can be -- we've seen students use the medium to turn themselves into mermaids, skeletons, glowing ghostly shells, multi-armed mythical creatures, and so much more. Once, a student made a zip-up latex replica of herself, and called it her "Impostor Suit." This semester there are several Final Projects that involve elements of body casting.

Dani's artwork is about the feeling of being trapped. She cast a full-body plaster mold of her peer Katie as a way to explore the feeling of confinement. For Dani, the artwork is as much about the process of making the cast as it is about the final sculpture. Dani hopes that using a literal human form will better portray the human emotions she wants to evoke in her viewers. Part of her art-making process was to interview Katie about the experience of having her body cast. 

Katie described the casting process as enjoyable but also quite strange. While at first it felt a bit suffocating, Katie eventually found herself entering a tranquil and meditative state where she pictured herself as a beetle, the plaster her exoskeleton. The sensation of having the cast removed was particularly interesting, not unlike what she imagines a crustacean might feel like as it molts, shedding an outgrown shell. 

For both Katie and Dani, body casting is a new and exciting medium full of possibility, providing an opportunity to manipulate the human form in any way imaginable while also maintaining relatable realism. 

Controlled Chaos

Slade's workspace

We're back from Thanksgiving break rested and ready for the final push. Final Projects are due in 6 days, and the studios have reached an expected state of disarray. One of the most exciting aspects of Final Projects is watching each student create a workspace for themselves; some are intentional about it, and for others it happens in a haphazard way. Each workspace is a microcosm, offering a sneak peek into the artist's mind and providing hints at what the final artwork will look like. There is an ebb and flow of chaos and organization. Some people need a spotless workspace, each brush and pen arranged in an exact order. Others get lost in what looks to an outsider like a pile of junk, and somehow, art is born out of the chaos. For others, the chaos is the artwork. Stay tuned for more posts this week as we continue to document the mess artwork in progress. 

Justin's dungeon

Final Project Family Portrait

This week has been dedicated to getting the Final Project ball rolling. One half of this endeavor involved conducting A LOT OF RESEARCH and then thinking and mind-mapping and MORE RESEARCH and more thinking, and then writing. The other half involved sketching and consulting and testing materials, and more sketching and more consulting, and maybe stretching a canvas or building a room or ordering paper or strapping on a camera. At the heart of it all is a topic, a question, or a theme that drives the critical inquiry and creative practice. Each student's Final Project is born from and revolves around this...well, let's call it a nugget. So this week's blog post is extra special: we asked each member of OS29 to describe their Final Project "nugget" in one word, and then every advisory group took a family portrait. What you see here is a combo word/photo portrait of the entire class. Special, right?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

WEST A: PSYCHOLOGY / DESIRE / PROCESS / HUMANITY / PERCEPTION / RITUAL

Amanda, Tumani, Valerie, Willa, Slade, Karen

WEST B: SACRIFICE / ALIENATE / PERCEPTION / EMOTION

Zeke, Justin, Ser, Izaiah

WEST C: SPACES / LIFE / LUMINOUS / ELEPHANTS / CONSCIOUSNESS / IDENTITY

Isabel G., Isabel A., McKenzie, Lucie, Katie, Margeaux

WEST D: COLOR / DARK / STORIES / CONFORMITY / HAPPINESS / SUPPRESSION

Maya, Piper, Maddy B., Jennifer, Tara, Dani

EAST A: IDEAVIRUS / CONNECTION / INITIATION / MEMORY / SUPERPOSITION

Alex, JJ, Nigel, Emmett, Sam

EAST C: CONTROL / EQUALITY / BIRTH / MEMORY / INSOMNIA / INTERNET

Annalise, Annie, Veronica, Akea, Courtney, Grace

EAST D: WONDERLAND / AMERICANDREAM / PERCEPTION / BIPOLAR / REALITY / INDIVIDUALISM

Darien, Maddie G., Taylor, Elsa, Jessica, Shannon

Head in the Trees, Toes in the Ocean

Oops! We forgot to post last week. So sorry. But we have a pretty good excuse...we were here:

Final Project officially began on November 1st, and then after a week of intense brainstorming and proposal writing, the whole school went for a day-long hike in Pt. Reyes. It was crisp and clear on the coast, a perfect day for a walk in the woods. We navigated the Arched Rock trail to the beach, and ate lunch in the sand. For some, it was a first meeting with the Pacific Ocean. What a treat! Photos courtesy of Isabel A. (above) and Nigel (below).

Collaboration

This week OS29 bid farewell to their second visiting artist, Dan Havel. Dan hails from Houston, Texas, where he teaches art at St. John's School and works as a partner in the artist collaborative Havel Ruck Projects. Throughout Dan's Oxbow residency, students explored structure, architecture, and interactions between space and place. Using basic supplies--maps, blueprints, foam core, and other architectural model-making materials--each student created a small artwork. The individual works were then installed in a common space, and elements were added--paint, tape, string--to visually weave the pieces together. Through an extended process of collaborative revision, the installation was added to and subtracted from, each student making modifications to support the cohesive whole. The entire Oxbow community celebrated and admired the final installation at OS29's first official 'gallery opening' -- oooohs and ahhhhs abounded as guests sipped on sparkling cider and munched on popcorn. Thank you, Dan, for leading OS29 through such an exciting collaborative project!

JJ surveys the revision process

Grace adds finishing touches

Installation detail

OS29 in front of the final installation

English, Science, and History

After completing the Walden "Connections" unit, the humanities disciplines split up and students rotate through intensive "Focus" courses in English, Science, and History. These courses continue to build on the big questions posed during our exploration of Walden: Who am I? Who do I want to be? How do my life experiences and memories define me? What informs my unique moral code? What is my personal relationship with the natural world?  How do my actions and decisions affect the natural world? Throughout each unit, students are invited to engage in projects that intersect their creative, artistic skills with their academic and intellectual capabilities. 

In the English course, students focus intently on writing, using personal memoir and various book forms as tools to delve inward. The culminating project is to create a personal narrative rooted in memory, and to construct a book that acts as a vehicle for housing that evolving, living, personal history. Above is a spread from Justin's final book. 

The Science course begins with each student “adopting” a plot of Oxbow soil, which they steward for the rest of the semester. Using their plot as a microcosm for global agricultural systems, students explore the soil ecosystem—through a series of tests and observations, students examine the way environmental conditions, nutrient cycles, and microscopic soil life-forms affect plant life in their plot. Students then create a comprehensive soil profile, which they use to determine their soil’s fate, eventually deciding how to amend the soil and what to plant in it. By engaging in a “plant it forward” mentality, students literally sow the seeds that will become food for their Oxbow successors. 

Each section rotating through Science also gets a special focus—this semester the themes were worms, chickens, and bees. The first section studied vermicomposting, explored the worm bin, and dissected lumbricus terrestris. The second section spent a lot of quality time with the new baby Ox-Chicks, studied chicken anatomy, and engaged in lively debate around the moral, ethical, and agroecological implications of eating animals. The final section has been learning about Colony Collapse Disorder and hive anatomy, and will soon try their hand at beekeeping as we peek into the Oxbow bee colony.  

The History course is a journey into the philosophical and moral underpinnings of our society. Each student develops a lens through which they can study history in such a way as to not repeat the mistakes of the past while still honoring the achievements of our local and global communities. Each student also creates a zine, a self-published booklet of ideas, drawings, musings, poetry, and other original work aimed at addressing social or political issues important to each scholar.

The zines are fun and creative compilations of the deep thought and writing that each Oxbow student engages throughout the course. This semester's zines continue the tradition of creativity, fun, and civic engagement that are emphasized in our historical inquiries. The images you see here were made by Sam W. as part of his zine. 

 

GO OUTSIDE!

The hikers circumnavigate Lake Hennessey

Twice a week, for blocks of two hours or more, the whole Oxbow community goes outside. Because, as we know, OUTSIDE LIES MAGIC. Here in the Ox-Bubble we call P.E. classes "Co-curriculars," and each semester we offer a slightly different menu of choices. OS29 has been getting their kicks in outdoors doing invigorating activities like biking, hiking, ultimate disc-ing, yoga-ing, gardening, and adventuring on foot around Napa. Co-curriculars are a great time to re-energize the senses and wake up the brain cells, and students get to engage with faculty outside of the classroom. 

The NapaScapes co-curricular finds a rare Napa rhino

The biking crew takes a break on Las Amigas Road

The gardeners build a stellar compost lasagna

I really can't tell you what these folks are doing...

Cardboard and Tape

Maya's tape sculpture

After moving through the Observation, Place, and Narrative units, OS29 welcomed their first Visiting Artist, Ana Teresa Fernández. Ana is a Bay Area artist who has her toes in diverse array of exciting projects, many of them based in performance and social action. (Former Oxbow Visiting Artist Klea McKenna published an excellent interview with Ana on her wonderful website In The Make -- check it out!)

Ana's Oxbow residency focused on working with commonplace materials to create dynamic, content-rich sculptural works. In a quick warm-up exercise, students used colorful masking tape to make ephemeral sculptures that responded to the unique Oxbow landscape. In a longer, more focused project, students explored the idea of a "hybrid," using a single 4'x8' sheet of cardboard to create vibrant sculptures that combined two seemingly disparate themes or objects. Materials were limited to the one sheet of cardboard, paint, and other simple construction tools.

Nigel's tape sculpture

Darien's tape sculpture

Tumani presents her hybrid sculpture

Katie's hybrid sculpture

Narrative : Moving Images

In the New Media Narrative project, students are introduced to the possibilities of movie-making as a complex visual/aural medium. Throughout the course, they respond to various "challenges" -- in writing, still photography, sound collection and video -- in an effort to build their skills of awareness and composition. Students are also exposed to readings and films designed to grow their understanding of how time, rhythm, association and editing are powerful tools to achieve a particular meaning, effect or outcome for the audience. 

The course culminates with each student utilizing these tools to create a short moving image piece that conveys their introspective spirit and unique perception. Karen, Annie, Jennifer, and Sam have generously offered to share their wonderful work. Enjoy!

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Karen

 Annie

 Jennifer

 Sam

Leaving Walden, field journal in hand

OS29 has recently completed the Connections unit, and their intensive work with Walden. A key component of that course is the field journal--a notebook that students are encouraged to strap to their bodies and carry with them at all times. (Journaling is also a major part of the art curriculum here, but we'll talk about that another time.)  Field journals are used for taking notes in class, but also capture much of the thinking that happens outside the classroom. The pages are filled with mind-maps, lists, personal reflections, pre-writing of analytical essays, research notes, experiment data, and of course the requisite doodles. In short, they are full of life. At the close of Connections, we had the opportunity to peek in--here's a colorful smattering of what we found. (Top to bottom, from the field journals of: Annalise, Isabel G., Kenzie, Annie, Katie, Annie)

Place : Finding Moments

Installation detail, artwork by Elsa

In the Place unit, students in the Sculpture studio experimented with making site-specific installation artwork. They began by working locally around the Oxbow campus, altering small, easily-overlooked spaces, then broadened their scope by exploring downtown Napa.

Found/made moment by Maddie B.

Students were instructed to take slow walks around town and observe their surroundings with fresh eyes. By looking carefully and shifting perspective, they found and created moments of art in public places.

Found/made moment by Ser

Throughout the project, students tested materials, locations, and documentation techniques in order to grasp the depth of what place-based work can be about, and discovered that with deliberate looking, art is everywhere.

Found/made moment by Izzy A.