Approaching the Home Stretch

OS31's Final Project Proposals were due today! This is a chance for students to propose their initial ideas for research and art production during their last month at Oxbow. It can be a nerve-wracking time for many as they present their personal work for review and support. As always, the faculty spent the entire day together reading each proposal and suggesting countless resources. Students will receive their proposals back soon and move forward into full production.

In the meantime, have a look at what's floating around in OS31's heads!

proposed topics: Sense of self; Capitalism/American guilt; The language of emotion; Cults and mental illness; Religion, Culture, and morals; Utopia; The Death Penalty, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Sexism, Quilting as Storytelling; Fear in the post 9/11 world; Historical and modern perceptions of beauty; Mythology: established ideas of good vs. evil; Science of emotions; Surveillance; Metacognition; Subvertising; Censorship and cultural isolation; Coming of age; Interior design; Graphic novels; Absence; Rituals; Social networks; Multiple Personality Disorder; Divination; Alter egos; Physical, mental, and social health; Mental illness.

Stay tuned for updates from the studios and be sure to mark your calendars for the weekend of our Final Show - December 13/14.

We'll Be Here All Week

A day at Oxbow is a wild ride, and a whole week is a roller coaster. There's always so much activity all over campus, whether it's a late night in the studios, a school-wide gardening effort, a lively gallery opening, or frenzied last minute cleaning before Room Checks. This week, Kai has summarized OS31's typical experience for you so you can get a sneak peek into how madcap and exciting our lives are around here.

I believe I can say that for all of us, Oxbow has been an interesting experience so far. Unlike any other school I have attended, Oxbow provides a variety of activities  - whether curricular or just things I can do around campus in my free time (there’s always the chickens we can mess around with). Let’s recap this week: On Monday, we started our Focus classes which have been very thought provoking so far. For the first month, English, History, and Science were part of one co-taught class called "Connections," but now they're separated and we get to delve further into each subject. On Tuesday, we helped the gardeners distribute 20 cubic yards (about 10 tons!) of compost around campus. That same day, we had our first Visiting Artist Lecture with Anna von Mertens who is also in residence here until next Tuesday.  On Thursday, we started our new co-curriculars, and we have an Ice Cream Social on Friday that we are all looking forward to.   

Here's to many more great weeks for OS31!

photos by Abbey, Megan, and Mo.

 In the dark for a slideshow.

"Ox-Chix" is a weekly campus crew. Students switch off each week, collecting eggs and caring for the ladies. 

Science instructor Alex installed a slackline and it is now a favorite past time (as with most semesters).

SO MUCH COMPOST. Many thanks to the gardeners for all their hard work and even more thanks to the students who joined us just for this morning of smelly schlepping. 

Megan and Bella cleared out the last of the marigolds. Painting instructor Chris will lead a dyeing workshop this weekend using indigo and marigolds from the gardens. 

Art School P.E.

As OS31 reaches the end of their first co-curriculars, students already have lots to share with each other and you! This past month, our co-curriculars were full of surprises and each had a great send-off before our Early Break weekend! Hiking and Yoga explored a local regional park and reached an awesome creek, Quad Games ventured far afield to play some serious disc golf, Gardening found a praying mantis while harvesting potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers for the kitchen, Walkabout discovered the area surrounding the school on foot, and the Oxbikers powered up several mountains. How cool! Students will rotate through two other co-curriculars in the coming months. Who knows what's next!

The hiking Yogis. 

It's hit and miss with "Sports Game Face" at art school.

Another beautiful morning spent tending and harvesting….

…and making little friends.

Walkabout's reflective outings take them on some hidden gems of trails around town.

We're hoping no phones were broken during the taking of this photo.

The fittest of us all - Patrick's biking crew. 

This post brought to you by Micah and Niki. Photos by Niki, Logan, Jennifer, Megan, and Patrick.

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

Fieldtrippin'

                                                                                                                                                           Today, we journeyed south to Paulson Bott Press and the Berkeley Art Museum. Starting at Paulson, students met Gallery Director Rhea Fontaine, printer and OS11 alumn Alexander "Z" Groshong, and intern Will as they poured over stacks of Gee's Bend quilt prints. Students learned about the tradition of fine art printing, Paulson Bott's model of 2-week artist residencies, and the many techniques its printers must master and sometimes invent. This place is stuffed to the brim with unbelievable prints, ink, sketches, and various ephemera from past projects. The genuine enthusiasm for printmaking was infectious; we were thrilled to get a sneak peek into such an intense process and spend some time in their beautiful studio and gallery.

OS11 alumn Z Groshong shows OS31 a copperplate and explains the printing process.

***

Afterward, we headed across town to the Berkeley Art Museum to admire the incredible building and enjoy a handful of fantastic shows including a collection of massive Hans Hoffman paintings, a more intimate presentation of Forrest Bess's work, and poignant mixed media and video work by Geta Brătescu.The museum proved to be a fantastic site for exploration, whether via zooming among the many ramps, extensive sketchbooking, or having some lighthearted arts and crafts fun in the children's section. Because hey, everyone's a kid when free crayons and clay are involved. 

Lunch on/in a sculpture at the BAM's sculpture garden. 

photography by Chris R. and Megan

"a different intention of the eye"

After the most eventful first weekend in recent memory, OS31 is settling nicely into the swing of things here at Oxbow starting with their first class, "Observation," which is team taught by an art faculty and a humanities faculty: Painting/Science, New Media/English, and Sculpture/History combine for a uniquely Oxbowhemian liberal arts experience.

Students in Painting/Science split their time between the studio and the gardens, familiarizing themselves with all Oxbow's systems of "at home" food production. While drawing and painting in the gardens and the studios, students considered the shared qualities of artistic and scientific observation. They study form and function through dissection, consider micro and macro scales, and channel these into field studies, mapping, and diagramming. 

photography: Megan, Sam, and Charley

***

Students in New Media/English employed visuals and text to record the world around them as actively participating artists and storytellers. Through engaging with photography, audio, and film, students formed nascent portraits of their new homes in Napa. Enjoy this piece by Hannah W:

"The Bird" by Hannah W.

I walked behind a small building

and listened to the leaves rustling in the wind,
quiet whispers that echoed against the concrete walls. 
A few small leave caught my eye,
their careful blades gently scraping the concrete
as the breeze swept under them.
I held my camera up, the viewfinder creating a tiny crease on my nose, and aimed it at the brown and red leaves.
                                                     With a click, I snapped a picture and moved farther down the line of leaves,
                                                      like I was following a trail of breadcrumbs.

But those leaves led me to something unexpected. 
A bird laid lifeless against the wall, its eyes closed halfway
and its talons clenched tightly.
It laid on its back so that its talons faced the sky
and its wings draped around it like a blanket.
The wings. 
The wings were like clusters of tree trunks made from satin,
one on top of the other.
To see such beauty and sadness is rare,

                                                      so I raised my camera.

                                                     With a click, its intricate wings appeared on the screen.
                                                     Fifty clicks rattled by, and the bird was captured in my camera. 

***

The Sculpture/History Observation project is Top Secret. 

***

This week's post title is excerpted from Henry David Thoreau's "Autumnal Tints"

OS31 Rocks the House!

Well OS31 is certainly off to a rollicking start! Within a week of meeting each other, we rode out a 6.0 earthquake together in the dead of night just 9 miles north of the epicenter. Though it was the region's strongest temblor in 25 years, no one on campus was injured, damage to school facilities (though they did occur) was sparse, and an "Earthquake Playlist" is in the works!* Damage to Napa at large, however, was quite extensive and we will attempt to aid our neighbors through the process of recovery as we are needed. Thanks to an all day dorm evacuation, OS31 has already spent many hours in the studios on assignments and personal work. With any luck, this is a sign of an exciting (though hopefully less life threatening) semester in store for us as we enter our 16th year of operation.

Check this blog throughout the semester for weekly posts and contributions from our students!

Meet OS31!




*track list coming soon

So Long, OS30

Today the Oxbow campus is eerily quiet and still...yesterday, OS30 departed. They finished off their semester with a tremendously successful Final Show (which we hope you had the pleasure of seeing) and a busy last week of cleaning, packing, letter writing, and closing ceremonies. The last days were full of both laughter and tears, fitting companions for a time when something so special is coming to an end. 

OS30, we are proud of you. We send you off with the best of luck, and the assurance that you will always be part of the Oxbow family. We'll miss you and your hula-hooping, caesar salad-loving, grilled cheese-devouring smiles. Bon voyage!

*A special thank you is due to all the parents out in blog-land: thank you for sharing your wonderful children with us!

FINAL SHOW

Please join us in celebrating Oxbow's 15th year: come see OS30 and their amazing work, Saturday and Sunday May 17-18, 1-3pm in the Oxbow School studios.