studio time: Stretching Our Boundaries

Each day at Oxbow is a venture into the unknown. We are experimenting, stepping out of our comfort zones, and stretching ourselves in both creation and social interaction. As we enter the final week before Early Break, we've gotten into the rhythm of a typical Ox-Day and friendships are continuing to deepen. Each day after class, the studios remain open for several hours before dinner and it's then that we really have a chance to engage with each other as working artists. Enjoy these couple of shots from afternoon studio life, a time where assignments and personal work are started and finished, trashed, and reinvented. 

 (Kendall, Isabella, and Abbey)

During the Place project last week, Sculpture students created a series of temporary street art installations that interacted with specific areas of the town of Napa. Made of contact paper, the stickers were installed guerrilla style then removed after documentation…for the most part  - there are still a few "hanging out." 

(From top left: Clare M., Alex, Sam, Logan)

For the Place project in Painting, students work on a series inspired by a place of significance. To get the ideas flowing, they first complete the following assignment:

"Think about a place that is special to you. Tap into the memories, emotions, and associations this place embodies. Mix 25 colors that evoke how this place looks and feels. Do not be limited by local color alone. Use color to describe your feelings about this location in addition to its physical attributes. Name each color. In your journal, address how your perceptions and associations regarding color are tied to cultural context, personal experience, and memory."

In the New Media Place project, students dive into the possibilities of movie-making as a complex visual/aural medium. Responding to various "challenges" -- in writing, still photography, sound collection and video -- students 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. 

Enjoy these videos from Maxine, Palmer, and Isabella:

This week's blog post brought to you with the assistance of Kevin