Rose Shipman is a Garden Intern for The Pioneer Project a new gap year program all about homesteading, craft, and wilderness education located in Brasstown in the Southern Appalachia of Western North Carolina. The schools guiding principals are: charity of purpose, empowerment and interdependence. She also wants to share with you the John C Campbell Folk School also in Brasstown, NC. The Folk School nurtures and preserves the folk arts of the Appalachian Mountains and was founded in 1925.
Artistically, I learned a lot of new techniques and mediums while here. I had access to much more than before and I made the most of it. I tried everything I could and always talked to my teachers and peers about new ways I could make art. Every so often, I completely stepped out of my comfort zone. Experimenting with technique and testing my artistic boundaries has helped me realize how many paths I have to choose from in the art world and that makes me excited for the future.
— Macy Manning, Fall 2023
Our daughter graduated summa cum laude from NYU with a double major in Studio Art and Art History. She is now working for Calvin Klein. She is contemplating getting a law degree and pursuing a career repatriating art objects. She still keeps in touch with several of her Oxbow classmates and they have regular reunions in Manhattan... I would say that Oxbow was the best semester that any of my four children spent in their cumulative 16 years of high school. Our daughter was the right kid, and for the right kid you do a wonderful job. You changed her life. Thank you.
— John Powley, Parent
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