Teaching for a future
we cannot imagine
Essential to the Oxbow experience is the presence of compassionate adults—as artists, teachers, mentors, and advisors—in every aspect of the life of the students and the School. Oxbow faculty members are passionate about sharing the excitement of inquiry-based learning and personal growth with students. Their firm commitment to developmental concepts such as self-reliance, individual responsibility, resourcefulness, and self-reflection, leads students to the development of those skills and habits of mind that build to life-long learning.
Lenora Ditzler
Environmental Science
lditzler@oxbowschool.org
Lenora graduated from Bowdoin College with a combined degree in Environmental Studies and Visual Arts; Lenora was a member of the very first Oxbow class and returned after college to become the first alumni intern at Oxbow. Upon finishing her internship, Lenora travelled the world working on fishing boats, taught in the Chicago public schools, and trained in restaurant cooking before returning home to the Bay Area to focus on sustainable agriculture.
Mo Elgazzar
American History
melgazzar@oxbowschool.org
Mo spent many years of his life in various locations stateside and abroad. He received his Bachelor's of Arts Degree in Philosophy from the University of Cincinnati with a focus on Continental perspectives that emphasize positive social growth and justice, active realization of individual freedom, and personal accountability. Mo later served a long stint with Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center in Estes Park, Colorado. Mo maintains active interest in music, football (soccer), philosophy, and the culinary arts to name a few. He comes to Oxbow with his wife, Anna, a former outdoor educator, and his 19-month old daughter, Laila.
Patrick Foy
Visiting Artists Liaison, Sculpture
pfoy@oxbowschool.org
Patrick has spent many years collaborating with artists. Patrick developed innovative processes including: fresco transfer process used in Robert Rauschenberg's Arcadian Retreats project, a suspended relief screen process used in Roy Lichtenstein's Suspended Mobile, and an encaustic wax/screen imaging technique used by James Turrell. From 1985 to 1990, Patrick was a lecturer and head of the etching studio at Graphicstudio at the University of South Florida. Patrick received an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and lived in the Bay Area for many years working first at Crown Point Press and then, as a practicing artist, carpenter, and cabinetmaker.
Jennifer Jordan
Dean of Faculty, English
jjordan@oxbowschool.org
Jennifer Jordan grew up in eastern Tennessee, her mother (a librarian) and her father (a physicist) were the inspiration for much of her “free time,” which included perfectly shelved books and fun with liquid nitrogen. Jennifer entered Mount Holyoke College as a pre-med student. But upon realizing the mistake of pre-med (!) and after a fevered journey through literature, Jennifer graduated with a BA in English and a minor in studio art/printmaking. From there, at UMASS Amherst, Jennifer earned a Masters in Education with a concentration in teaching secondary school English which she did for ten years, first at the Bromfield School, and then at Souhegan High School in New Hampshire. Her interests in the communicative powers connecting images and words perfectly suit her here at Oxbow; her classes largely focus on the craft of writing as art.
Pattiann Koury
New Media
pkoury@oxbowschool.org
Pattiann studied photography at Rhode Island School of Design and the California Institute of the Arts along with design, art history and film, graduating from Cal Arts with a degree in photography. Her photographs and writings about photography have been published in Darkroom Photography Magazine, Camera and Darkroom Magazine, Outdoor Photographer and Clerestory, a literary magazine published by Brown University.
Stephen Thomas
Head Of School, Printmaking
sthomas@oxbowschool.org
Stephen came to The Oxbow School as the Founding Director from his position as the chair of the art department at The Urban School of San Francisco, where he taught from 1984-1998. In 1990, Stephen was instrumental in developing the Aim High summer program at the Urban School site. In 1994-95, he was awarded a Klingenstein Fellowship to study at Columbia University's Teacher's College. In the late 1970's Stephen worked at Crown Point Press, printing intaglio editions for artists. He ran his own printmaking business from 1980 to 1992.
Chris Thorson
Painting
cthorson@oxbowschool.org
Chris earned an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2004, after a BFA in Painting and Art History from Washington University in St. Louis in 2001; she also attended the Yale Summer School of Art and Music in Norfolk, CT. Chris has exhibited works nationally at commercial galleries and alternative spaces. Recent exhibitions include a solo show at Karl Hutter Fine Art in Beverly Hills and group shows at Rosamund Felsen Gallery in Los Angeles, and Mission 17, WORKS, San Jose, and the Oakland Art Gallery in the Bay Area. Prior to joining the Oxbow faculty, Chris taught painting in the San Francisco Art Institute’s Continuing Education Program and worked as a Career Counselor/Artist Resource Specialist at California College of the Arts.