The Oxbow School | Breakaway Weekend #1!

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Inside Oxbow

Breakaway Weekend #1!

10/14/19

This past Breakaway Weekend, the core of OS41 remained with Jennifer, Megan, and Celeste while a small group departed for a camping trip in Point Reyes with Alex and Patrick. The Home Team enjoyed a stunning double beach day on Friday in the Marin Headlands. Starting at Tennessee Valley Beach, a small group hiked over Hill 88 (an Oxbow tradition), to Rodeo Beach where we were met halfway down by Jennifer Jordan who had, in the meantime, taken the rest of the crew on the bus to Rodeo. As we descended the hills, we spotted the rest of OS41 sunning on the beach, chatting and drawing.

Saturday saw several workshops happen - paper marbling, bookbinding, Project X research at the bakery/library, and theater games - followed by a group dinner in the Oxbow garden with an Autumnal theme orchestrated by several members of OS41.

In wrapping the weekend up, OS41 spent Sunday with Natan Daskal who has worked with OS39 students at Salmon Creek Farm as well as OS40 as a Visiting Artist in residence. Natan led OS41 through some guided drawing exercises and meditation, setting them up for a very relaxed reentry come Monday!

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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

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

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

A School Like No Other