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Inside Oxbow

Visiting Artist Residency: Tucker Nichols

10/03/16

Thanks to Meghan A for this week's write up!

This past week at Oxbow featured two quite interesting events - the famed Walden Experiment, and our semester's first visiting artist! These both proved to be even more interesting when juxtaposed, as the varying experiments had varying limitations.

This week we discussed conceptual and performance art, and began working to develop our own unique personal/social experiments in the spirit of Henry David Thoreau and his 2 year, 2 month, and 2 day-long stint in solitude. These vary between vows of silence, tech-free weeks, anger lists, solitude, spontaneity, and many more. The intent is to answer the question of what it means to live deliberately, and each targets a more specific question particular to its creator. Most were not enacted untilThursday or Friday, and will continue into this coming week, but already the experiments are triggering interesting observations and realizations! Upon asking any student about their Walden Experiment, one can most definitely expect an interesting conversation.

More interesting conversations were sparked by our visiting artist, Tucker Nichols. Tucker's artwork spans a variety of styles, including paintings, sculptures, book illustrations and wall-sized works, but his focus with us at Oxbow started with drawings - lots of them. He encouraged us to make lots of drawings, and much of what we did in his classes included generating ideas. We came up with lists of elaborate ways to destroy art that we don't like, and things to do with art that we do like. Every class we would come prepared with as well as produce drawings, and after sharing would sort them into one of 5 options - keep, share, destroy, donate, or throw away. We explored making illustrations with cut paper and he stressed the idea of exploring our ideas in different ways. Each day we had a plethora of drawing utensils as well as paper options.

This week at Oxbow definitely shook things up. We learned to be interpreters for those of us who can't speak for the week, cut noses and ducks out of paper, and channeled our inner Marina Abramovic. Whether or not we end up feeding our discarded art to sharks or mailing it to strangers remains to be determined, but stay tuned!

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photos: Megan Broughton and Jason Tucker

It's been a whirlwind week, but also a time when I sang the praises of Oxbow to my colleagues. I've been thinking much about how Oxbow is an exemplar of true education. That art centers the curriculum is hardly surprising, and for those of us who work within the traditional educational mold Oxbow offers a gold standard of focused project based learning. Beyond the school's approach to immersive experience are the intangibles which make Oxbow different. The sense of community and of working together, even as each student retained their strong individual presence is palpable. The feeling of warmth and trust between the adults and the nearly adults in the Oxbow community could be felt throughout the campus. The openness of the architecture and interconnectedness of the three studios in themselves speak of the Oxbow philosophy and identity. More than form follows function, the physical attributes of Oxbow have a distinct warmth and invite exploration.

I'm sure that the ongoing challenges of leading and reinventing your school might sometimes keep you from having the time to see Oxbow with the fresh eyes of a visitor, but your steady presence and vision are really visible in every detail. Thank you for inviting me to one of the most profound experiences in my career.

— Ken Rush, Visual Arts Department, Packer Collegiate Institute

In the year leading up to Oxbow, I became obsessed with the program, I was entranced with reading testimonials and researching interdisciplinary learning styles. When I arrived at Oxbow I was never disappointed, despite my endless expectations. I will forever cherish the time I spent at Oxbow and the connections I made there. Through Oxbow I was able to hone into the ideas I was thinking about, to refine my artistic process and to see the world in a new light every day of my life. I'm not going to say that without Oxbow I wouldn't be the person I am today, but I will say that without Oxbow it would have taken me at least four years to become who I am after one Oxbow semester.

— Phoebe Dubisch, Fall 2018

The art that goes on in most high schools is usually relatively skill-based. At Oxbow, there is more emphasis on looking and seeing and more critical thinking about what you are doing, the human connection, that personal element. Through art you can begin to understand yourself better. That may be the biggest eye-opener for students. It is almost a preview of college. Get out of the mechanical factory high school education and get into something open, new, and invigorating in a small environment.

— Bill Barrett, Former Oxbow Board Member, Former Executive Director of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art & Design (AICAD)

A School Like No Other