Going to Walden

Last week OS28 finished the Connections unit, the four-week course during which the students read Walden. As part of this unit, students keep a field journal--for taking notes in class, completing homework assignments, and as a platform for exploring big ideas. Flipping through a student's journal is like peeking into his or her brain--it's a real privilege, and at times, quite funny (caricatures of Thoreau occupy many a journal page). I've extracted some choice doodles from a few journals, so you too can get a peek. Enjoy.      - Lenora
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Going to Walden

by Mary Oliver

It isn’t very far as highways lie.

I might be back by nightfall, having seen

The rough pines, and the stones, and the clear water.

Friends argue that I might be wiser for it.

They do not hear that far-off Yankee whisper:

How dull we grow from hurrying here and there!

Many have gone, and think me half a fool

To miss a day away in the cool country.

Maybe. But in a book I read and cherish,

Going to Walden is not so easy a thing

As a green visit. It is the slow and difficult

Trick of living, and finding it where you are.

                                                      

Thoughts on Hiking

An integral part of the Oxbow curriculum is what we call "co-curriculars." Twice a week, students spend two to three hours outdoors engaging in physical activities, led by Oxbow faculty. This semester the offerings include Boot Camp, Biking, Gardening, and more. Student Ali reflects on her time in the Extreme Hiking group:

Ryan, Anna, Angie, and Ali

Every Tuesday and Thursday morning our group of four ventures off into the woodsy outskirts of Napa guided by our fearless leader, Jennifer, in the co-curricular known as Extreme Hiking. On our first hike together she took us to what I consider to be my favorite spot in Napa, Westwood Hills. It’s a place I’ve made an effort to visit twice since, and plan to visit many more times in the future. To all those unsure of whether to take the trip over, let me just say it is certainly worth the two-mile walk from campus. True, the littered sidewalk trip down Second Street is not the most scenic, however the view from the plateau makes even the worst travel experience forgettable. This view, which to me can only be described as infinite, overlooks all of Napa. My favorite part is being able to see the hustle and bustle of cars moving through the city in a place that feels so removed from it, creating the feeling of a true escape. 

Here's Ali, looking an awful lot like she is inside of a Thomas Cole painting

It becomes a harmonious joining of the man-made aspects of life, and nature in its rawest form. The hike we took this past Tuesday had a similar feeling. As we trudged up Skyline, we overlooked, as Anna noted to me, “not only the industrial parts of Napa but the rolling hills as well.” It only seems fitting that we are talking about Sublime American Landscape in Connections this week. We hear of the Hudson River School Painters who were entranced by Niagara Falls and the Hudson River, but I find myself wanting to interject about the sublime landscapes that are just a matter of minutes away.  

Observation, Place, Narrative

The first four weeks of the Oxbow curriculum revolve around the exploration of three major themes -- OBSERVATION, PLACE, and NARRATIVE. In art classes, each theme drives a 10-day project. In Connections (the interdisciplinary humanities course), Henry David Thoreau's Walden serves as the core text and inspiration for this exploration. This week we'd like to give you a peek at the work students have been doing around these themes, both in humanities and art. 

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ART: 

During the Place unit, students in the Sculpture class experimented with materials to design site-specific installations, responding to their chosen site's unique elements of space, form, and human interaction. Piper from Minnesota worked with balloons. Here's what she says about her piece:

Venturing through Napa with approximately 50 balloons was quite the expedition. These balloons and I were prepared to redefine space. After scoping out the local Transit Station, these colorful balls of air had found their new home. Packing them into the glass cage gave this space a new sense of depth. Assigned to create a sculpture in town, I was able to portray not only a visually appealing assortment of balloons, but a new sense of space in a real world place.

In the Painting studio's Place project, students worked with memory. Emily B.'s subject was the house she grew up in. She began by making color studies of the place, then honed those studies to create an abstract painting embodying her emotional experience of the house, and then created a companion work that employed both abstraction and representation.

Emily's easel shows an exciting glimpse into her process throughout this project.

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CONNECTIONS: 

Last weekend, inspired by Thoreau's time at Walden Pond, students were invited to spend several hours in solitude, carefully observing their surroundings and recording their notes in a field journal. The following is an excerpt from Alex K.'s journal. 

As the sun slowly dropped beneath the trees, I sat in a narrow field in an alleyway across the street from Oxbow. I stepped through leaves piled high enough to swallow my body whole and plopped down on a rusty white bucket. In my earbuds, Bob Dylan and other calming musicians played as I sat and took in my surroundings.

Looking around, the first thing I noticed was the unkempt grassy field. It was not some manicured suburban lawn. Each blade was a different length. It was patchy, probably the result of someone sitting and picking out the grass. Some blades have a dried up brownish tip. There are weeds interspersed throughout. One weed is a skinny green plant with small clusters of white flowers. The grass is soft to the touch.

The ground is covered with dead leaves that have fallen from the surrounding trees. The trees form a canopy over me while the dead leaves form a crinkly carpet below me.  The trees have green leaves though it is winter. They are tall and imposing above me. The branches of some hang down, bending the trees over. Some branches dip low enough that I can touch them with my hand if I jump.

The sun is setting, washing everything in orange. The sky fades from orange to white to blue, from bottom to top. At the horizon, the sun is fiery. It grows calmer and calmer as my eyes wander upwards towards the heavens. Slowly the sky turns black and the white stars come out. I can understand how cultures across the world once sought out shapes in these stars. Human nature is to seek pattern in randomness. 

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Introducing OS28

Greetings from OS28. The Oxbow School's spring semester began on January 23rd, with 45 students hailing from all over the country - Georgia, Maine, Texas, Washington, New Jersey, you name it! In today's post (the first official Ox-Blog post!), a few of the students would like to introduce themselves and tell you a little bit about what life at Oxbow has been like so far. Enjoy!

Hey! My name is Daisy. I am a junior from Albuquerque, New Mexico. I applied to Oxbow after hearing about the summer camp. I was really nervous about leaving home, but as soon as I arrived on campus I knew I’d made the right choice. We’ve only been here for a couple weeks, but it already feels like a month has passed! Everything we do here is so intriguing and engaging. There hasn’t been a project that I haven’t been excited to do! For example, last week in the painting studio we chose two items to depict in two different paintings, a representational piece and an abstract. I’d never really enjoyed doing still life paintings before, but Oxbow made it fun! Currently, I am working on an installation for the sculpture class. We took ideas from artists like Banksy and Brad Downey, and now we are putting up our own (totally legal, I promise!) sculptures all around Downtown Napa. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done before; it’s almost surreal. We’ve only been here for a short while, but I am already in love with every aspect of Oxbow School. 

Hello outside world,

We’ve made contact! My name is Isabella (Izzy) from West Palm Beach, Florida. I attend an art magnet school called Dreyfoos School of the Arts, but Oxbow is where I’ll call home the next 4 months. Coming here, I wasn’t sure what to expect at all. Now that we’re two weeks in, it’s hard to contemplate how much is done in a day. We’ve already begun exciting Co-curriculars (Oxbow's version of PE), one of which is Extreme Gardening. It’s not for the faint of heart, I assure you. With shovels, trowels, and electric tiller, we maintain gorgeous edible gardens around campus with iron will. This semester seems especially extreme, with a dedicated and hard-working crew (as well as the promise of bees on the horizon). I’m truly grateful every morning I wake up at Oxbow, and sometimes it doesn’t even seem real. I feel that there is incredible possibility here, once we all get past that stage of being afraid to leave our dorms. The dining hall is usually enough to coax us. Stay tuned for some fantastic projects that are already underway in the studios; I’m surprised every time I take a walk around the campus with all the new ideas already taking shape.

Hi! My name is Katie, I’m a junior and I live about 15 minutes outside Seattle. I decided to apply to Oxbow after I had an incredibly amazing experience at the Oxbow summer camp this past August. I knew if only two weeks at a summer program could impact my life so significantly, then the Semester Program would be indescribable! Though we’ve only been here for a little over two weeks, I already feel as though this is my home away from home, with friends I feel I’ve known for years. Sure, adjusting to a completely new way of life at a boarding school has had its challenges, but I can already feel myself growing and changing into the person I really am (as cliche as that may sound). The art classes have been so incredible and I’ve already been exposed to some really unique and innovative projects, from sculpting with dryer lint to making watercolor diagrams of dissected fruits and vegetables. Being surrounded by what I’m passionate about 24/7 is something I will never get used to – every day I’m constantly in awe to be in such an amazing little place. The humanities classes have also been really fascinating to me; they’re taught in a way that I think all classes in high school should be taught, with an emphasis on group discussion and big-concept thinking. There is no such thing as busy work here, which literally makes me so excited. This weekend, my homework is to sit for 2 to 3 hours in solitude outdoors and write about my one-on-one experience with nature – back home, that kind of assignment would be unheard of! Our in-depth discussions also make Walden interesting to read and discuss, whereas my other experiences with Thoreau have been pretty limited (and not nearly as enjoyable). I’ve loved every minute of being here at Oxbow so far, and I’m so excited to see how the semester unfolds!

Hey friends,

I’m Caroline, newly arrived Ox-resident from Dallas, Texas. Though I hail from an amazing school down South, I have long awaited a challenge that stretched beyond the realms of Academia. Whereas most schools focus on providing a college preparatory education, Oxbow is interested in cultivating deep-seated curiosity and an intense desire for self-betterment—Oxbow wants to impart an education for the world.

Here, I’ve been able to enrich my tastes in art, music, food, and culture. I’ve had the opportunity to meet fascinating people: my roommate whose wardrobe consists entirely of thrift store finds complete with her signature alterations, a sweet Southern belle who professionally spins fire, an amateur Dubstep artist who also has a passion for Ralph Waldo Emerson, and a tiny redhead, whose crusty, gutter punk exterior belies her empathy for the environment. I’ve been able to experience camaraderie and belonging while sketching on the suite’s floor, and downing Hershey kisses by the handful, and listening to Fleetwood Mac on our dorm’s beloved record player. I’ve had the honor of creating a home with six other fantastic girls by decorating our temporary nest with wire sculptures and two-dollar prints from Community Projects (Napa’s premier thrift store). We’ve forged wallpaper out of collaged Post-It doodles, and I’ve had the surreal experience of attentively discussing Thoreau into the early hours of morning. It’s crazy being able to suggest naming the school’s rooster Salvador Dali and instead of garnering the response of “Who?” receiving the compromise, “Okay, but only if we name one of the hens Georgia O’Keefe.”  It’s also refreshing to use complex vocabulary, pose theories, and have people ask questions, intent on understanding, rather than staring blankly. So far, Oxbow has been an incredible experience. In the coming weeks, I hope to enhance not only my art, but also my way of life.

In the coming weeks you will meet more of the amazing students of OS28 as their Oxbow adventure continues. We plan to post about once a week, so check back in soon for more stories. Thanks for reading!