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OS38

Avalon Hester

06/22/18

Avalon Hester's Oxbow Final Project was featured in the New York Times article "She Painted Portraits of ‘Overlooked’ Women. Then She Made a Dress" by Karie Macdonald.

" With #MeToo in mind, 17-year-old Avalon Hester turned a Times obituary series into a pleated gown. Avalon Hester did just that — and more — for her final project at the Oxbow School, a single-semester arts school in Napa, Calif., for high school juniors and seniors, and gap-year students. Inspired by artists like Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, who each created an official Obama portrait, Ms. Hester wanted to explore storytelling through portraiture."

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)

Oxbow opened me up to what was out there in the world to go out and grab, and gave me so much that I take with me everywhere I go, with everything I do.

— Nina Palomba, Spring 2008

Hey guys! OS33 alumni here! I received a full ride to California College of the Arts and just wanted to tell you guys that if it wasn't for the Oxbow experience and the great faculty who saw the potential in me I wouldn't have gotten as far as I did. I am still waiting for other colleges at the moment but I think this might be the school I will attend this fall!

— Keily Maldonado , Fall 2015

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