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Inside Oxbow

A Little Bit of Everything

03/24/18

Thanks to Katarina A. for this week's write up:

Last week at Oxbow really kicked off Tuesday night when visiting photographer Linda Connor came to lecture at the CIA. I was personally very intrigued by her work and presentation of it, as its most beautiful colors come out, into striking, dramatic contemporary art with such depth and beauty. All of her photos truly told a story.

The week continued to surprise on Wednesday when during co-curriculars, our group made an exceptional amount of progress on the mural we are working on at the Baldacci Family Winery, then right as we finished it started pouring rain! As beautiful as it was some of our paint started to wash off, and all we could think of the whole way back to Oxbow was, "what if it’s all gone next week!?" being dramatic and laughing as much as possible. Our leader and teacher Chris Thorson took us for hot cocoa and coffee after, I found that to be extremely caring and fun of her. It was the perfect end to a long morning of art.

That afternoon, my advisor Patrick Foy took my suite and I to the di Rosa, filled with fascinating contemporary political art and more… everything was very enlightening and beautiful. The landscape and location was almost just as mesmerizing as what was inside, it was so peaceful and colorful… It had the most beautiful lake setting, with large sculptures in the garden and glass walls that complimented the light and openness around the buildings. I especially liked how they take you along this narrow dirt road in the shuttle surrounded by vineyards, water and sculptures, to the second gallery building. Which was just as fascinating as the first. Chris had so thoughtfully put the outing together for us, and Patrick took the time and energy to take us and participate in it with us splendidly, we really are blessed to have such a wonderful thoughtful faculty here.

Throughout the entire week - as interesting and quite exciting the academic classes were - the most exciting and time consuming part was the Fortune Cookie Project, everyone has just finished their pieces and I must say not one of them I’ve seen failed to inspire and amaze me. It was very challenging at times for not only the artist in me, but also in the experimental side of myself. It really made me be patient and let go of myself into it, also to experiment with many new techniques and materials, while learning how to use them. I feel I have come a long way through this Fortune Cookie project in my creative research skills and my Art, it has been quite a journey that I find to be a very personally valuable one.

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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

At Oxbow, I got to try inquiry-based learning for the first time. This allowed me to control the amount of rigor and the depth of research in my topic, as well as picking a topic that I found most interesting. From going through this new process of learning, I feel excited to go back to the rigor of my sending school to apply the inquiry-based perspective to my classes.

— Meave Cunningham, Fall, 2015

I want to thank you all for being so supportive and wonderful, thank you for running this incredible program. And half of my acceptance to RISD is because of Oxbow. (Especially thanks to Chris who wrote my letter of rec, to Jennifer who revised my essays, to the admissions team who helped me with my portfolio.

— Jeff Shen, Fall 2014