Flora and Fauna with Robert Kushner

Thanks to Emily Y for this week's write up on Robert Kushner's Visiting Artist Residency at Oxbow March 21 - 29:

This week, Robert Kushner has expanded Oxbow students’ knowledge on botanical art and art

itself during his ten day residency. Just finishing the two­ week research project, Project­X,

students were introduced to Kushner by a couple of sticks, jars of ink and flowers. They learned

how to sharpen sticks into fountain pens in order to observationally paint flowers on thin

Japanese paper. Kushner draws a lot of his inspiration from traditional Japanese art and his

interest in the natural world. His work is nationally acclaimed as the catalyst for the Pattern and

Decoration movement where his natural elements are placed in abstract and geometric

atmospheres which ultimately contributes to both a decorative and modernist style. His visit

ended with a large­scaled accumulation of the flowers on a big slab of wood to create the effect

of a dream garden. Preparing for Spring Break, Oxbow students are enjoying the sunny Napa

days and are finally finishing up big research papers and projects in their Humanities classes.

After Spring Break, the Oxbow School will readily enter its conquest into Final Projects!

Bob and CJ wish OS34 a happy Spring Break.

From the Studios, With Love

Enjoy this write up from Ev paired with some great shots by Ev and Phoebe!

This week at Oxbow, students have been working on Project X as well as wrapping up their Walden experiment and technical papers. While it has been a stressful week for the students at Oxbow, there has been a lot of learning experience and growth artistically and intellectually. For Project X, students have randomly picked their studio (New Media, Painting, Printmaking, or Sculpture) and have been creating their art works after extensive testing (information redacted...alumni know that Project X is a secret until its launch!). For most, they have stepped out of their comfort zone and explored a completely foreign medium. It has definitely been difficult, but nevertheless has been worth the work. Within the next few weeks, students will be wrapping up their art piece and getting ready for a new research project with Humanities! To relax and get their minds off of the loads of work, students have been screening movies in the library, going on advisory trips to museums, and playing in the rain. Hopefully, the incredible amount of rain will slow down within the next week and we can enjoy the aftermath with our well-fed plants. Cross your fingers for a warm and sunny last-half of March at Oxbow!

Chris teaches Emily, Kit, and Glyn how to stretch canvas // Kat L in her chair corner 

                                                                  Alex W. manipulates slide film // Phoebe poses for Kit's project

Glyn at work in the Painting studio // Phoebe's works in progress

Ella endures a moulage casting session // Emily at work on her painting

journaling & researching! 

students researching and sharing ideas // Hanah at work in the Printmaking studio while Juniper and Stephen meet 

Cam journaling and sketching ideas for her Project X.  // Each student's journal is a unique glimpse into their process: here are Abby and Cam's side by side.

DeYoung Day

OS34 experienced two Oxbow traditions on Thursday, visiting the DeYoung Museum and afterward strolling across the Golden Gate Bridge. The museum's permanent collection offered the usual discoveries and excitement as the students studied many beloved works in person for the first time. Oxbow shared the space with a group of elementary school art students as well, and enjoyed the correlations between themselves and the younger children, later reflecting how grateful they were to witness arts education fostered so early on.

photos by Will M, Gracie R, Ella S, Sabrina C, Kat L

Artist in Residence: Clare Rojas

Our two Visiting Artist Residencies are unique and vital parts of the Oxbow semester. OS34 is fortunate to have Clare Rojas as their first Artist in Residence, and her time here has been marked by spirited discussion on forging a career for yourself in the arts, gender inequality, taking care of oneself and harnessing one's agency, as well as opened up thought on how one may evolve as an artist over time. Read on for Trinity's reflections on Clare's time here:

This week at Oxbow, students were given the outstanding opportunity to create within the spirit of collaboration and community. This collaborative process was strengthened by Ms. Rojas's lecture, where we became familiar with her art and artistic process. During studio time, Ms. Rojas used poetry and the exquisite corpse activity to stimulate a growth of intellectual and inventive ideas. Using this momentum, we are creating two painting projects in the studios. 

As a group, students wrote poetry using the exquisite corpse model. Afterward, each student selected a poem from which to create abstract imagery that spoke to that poem's character. Siddhi has documented that process across the studios:

 check out our Instagram for more images of Clare's residency.

Early Days vs Early Break

OS34 is enjoying a well deserved long weekend off campus! They've completed the first month of classes and upon their return will meet their first Visiting Artist, Clare Rojas, who will be in residence for ten days. In honor of Early Break, this week's blogging team decided to mine OS34's early days for some throwback shots.  They have collected these suite self-portraits for you of each suite during the Orientation Scavenger Hunt through Napa.

West D in front of our neighbor The SLACK Collective

East D with one of the more important businesses in Napa

West A at home

West B's more dramatic spin at SLACK

West C at ACE Hardware aka Patrick's 2nd home

East C (+ a local) hits up our pals at the Napa Bookmine 

East A at a spot all our alums will recognize...the holy ground of Community Projects

Place(s)

Lauren B reflects on Oxbow's Place Project:

In our first few weeks at Oxbow, we have undergone rotations of three different art classes, with our time in each studio lasting about one week. Each rotation had an assignment based on three themes: “Observation,” “Place,” or “Narrative.”  I just finished my time in New Media (a combination of video and photography), where we chose a place to tell a story about in a film.

The assignment entailed recording sounds, both natural and self-generated, filming different aspects of our chosen ‘place,’ and assembling our final product using Adobe Premiere. The project was extremely open-ended in the sense that we could depict a feeling behind a significant memory, tell the story of us using place as a metaphor, the story of a place as we see it, or the story of something important and transformative occurring in said place. I decided to opt for the last topic, and I chose The Oxbow School as my place.

For my project, I wanted to showcase the changes that students undergo upon arriving at Oxbow, as I have already seen it clearly in both myself and my peers just within the past couple weeks we’ve been here. When we go somewhere new, we are completely unaware of what is to come. Along the way, we absorb everything we learn, much like a blank canvas being painted on. To get this message across in my film, I put together footage of the campus, the studios, students working on their projects, and gathered several people as my subjects to demonstrate the analogy of blank canvases being painted on.

New Media has been my favorite art class so far, because I feel like I have learned so much in such a small amount of time. I am an avid photographer, so I knew I would enjoy the course, but I am becoming increasingly interested in film after spending time putting together a video with a concept I am passionate about!

- Lauren B

Watch Lauren's video here

OS34: What I Live For

Many of you know that Oxbow students engage in a close reading of Walden in their first month here. In response to the chapter "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For," each Oxbowhemian is asked to write a short piece on what they themselves live for. This is accompanied by a particularly special and potent exercise, which Juniper and Max have recounted for you here. Of huge importance to our program is the cultivation of solitude and being alone with one's thoughts long enough for them to blossom and explore all the crazy and unprecedented ideas that might otherwise be dismissed. The hike that Juniper and Max are reflecting upon is an early keystone of that goal:

Section 2 went on a nature walk as the conclusion to our most recent Connections project. Our hearts and minds were expanded by the exploration of this beautiful natural setting. As a group, we delved into the study of what we live for as seen through the lens of Thoreau's ideas surrounding nature and the human spirit. As our second week at The Oxbow School comes to a close, we are growing closer as a group and learning to incorporate deep personal introspection with the creation of art. 

Juniper S.

On February 3rd and 4th, each of the three humanities classes went on a hike at Westwood Hills in Napa. The hike began with Alex, our Environmental Science teacher, familiarizing us with some of the flora and fauna in the reserve. After going for a short hike uphill, we all gathered around in a circle. At this point, we all did breathing exercises to relax our mind and bodies. In doing so, we were able to let go of our preoccupations and fully engage with nature. We then walked with about 15 feet between each of us in a single file along a trail through the reserve. During this time, each of us explored the area and took in our surroundings - ignoring all else. The experience was relaxing and gave us the opportunity to appreciate the natural environment. Once we had all reached the end of the trail, we gathered underneath a grove of large oak trees. Sitting under the foliage, we proceeded to share our manifestos that answered the question of why we live. There was a wide range of approaches we took to writing the assignment. The styles ranged from poetry to casual storytellings. Writing about what each of us lives for is a daunting task, let alone sharing such personal information amongst peers that we have known for less than a month. Each student was able to overcome these challenges. In doing the exercise, our understanding of one another deepened. We all got to know one another on a completely different level.

Max C.

photos: Juniper S.

Early Birds

                              Cam C.                                                                              Chanina K.

Chanina reflects on the first week of OS34 in light of an early morning orientation activity which sets the stage for our Observation Projects:

On the morning of January 24th, our 5th day at Oxbow, we were all woken up at around 7 in the morning, and were given 5 minutes (more or less) to meet near the New Media studio. After some rushing, and a little bit of confusion, journals and pens were distributed, and we were told that we would be doing some writing about external and internal observations. Some of us, still shivering, then went back to the dorms to get another layer before joining everyone on the walk to the place where we would be writing. Apparently, I was still not entirely awake, because in the process of getting my jacket, I left my journal in my dorm room and had to go back again to retrieve it. Dayna and I, the slowest to leave campus, ended up trailing the group from a distance. While walking on the trail to our point of observation, we made comments to each other about the shockingly green colour of the grass, or about the way that the early-morning frost left a thin coat over some of the plant life surrounding us. 

When we eventually reached our stopping point, we each found a place to sit and record our observations and thoughts until we heard the signal to meet back up with the group. Like the majority (probably) of OS34, I was still slightly missing my bed, but I also appreciated the experience in many ways. I’ve never been one to take morning walks, and I feel like this was a good opportunity to enjoy the period of time in the morning that I am not usually awake for. The amount of time that we spent writing in silence also allowed me to notice things that I might not have otherwise noticed. Certain sounds and movements that I observed became magnified and more noticeable, and I allowed myself to write more freely while trying to capture some of this, and to record what I was thinking at that moment. When the activity was over, we gathered ourselves back into a group, and waited for any stragglers. Two hot air balloons happened to be floating overhead as we stood there, and when a hand stuck out of one of them to wave down at us, we all waved back enthusiastically. After we walked back to campus, we were more awake and ready to meet the day ahead (which included our first math classes, and the exchanging of Oxtags (name signs for our dorm room doors) that we had all made for each other!

I don’t know how each person’s experience here has been so far, and I don’t know how everyone felt about this activity, or about any of the others that we’ve gone through in the past week. But, even if not everyone equally enjoyed this experience, or if some of us are still unsure about our new surroundings, I know that there is still so much more waiting for us in the months to come, and that each of us will find and make memories that we’ll want to keep for a long time.