This course for beginning to advanced students will include extensive
experimentation with materials and techniques through individual painting
problems. Students with pursue various interests in figure, abstract, imaginary,
and still-life paintings.

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Paper as an art medium is exciting and elusive. Paper pulp can be transformed into sculptural works,  drawings with pulp and unusual surface textures. It can allude to skin, metal, rock or something quite  totally different. Explore all of these possibilities. Stretch your conceptual and technical skills to create  unusual works of art.

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This course uses the cooperative act of firing a wood kiln as a starting point
for working with ceramics. Technical instruction focuses on basic sculptural
construction techniques for ceramics including coil, slab, and throwing on
the potters wheel. Discussion examines the trans-cultural and trans-temporal
nature of clay as a social medium. By examining the social position of ceramics,
students investigate the ubiquity, utility, and universality of the material.
Students are introduced to historical and contemporary uses of ceramics as a
starting point, but projects emphasize individual goals and projects. Individual
as well as cooperative projects comprise this course. While students focus
primarily on individual projects, students also cooperate to fire the wood kiln,
and construct their own raku kiln based in instruction on the basic technical
necessities of making and firing ceramics.

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Through an embrace of printmaking's inevitable mishaps and slips, this
class explores the power of the happy accident. Creating a spring-board for
serendipitous mark making; a range of experimental techniques including
paper lithography, open screen printing, and ghost imaging, are demonstrated.
Recognition of traditional techniques open the door to nontraditional works in
an effort to understand the role of printmaking's analog pace in comparison to
today's digital reality. Exploring the detachment between the hand and the press,
students are encouraged to invent their own print-based processes. Discussion of
relevant artists' practices take place daily in tandem with technical lessons, studio
time, short readings, and individual critiques.

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This course focuses on creating and using “Relational Objects,” a phrase
coined in the 1960's by Brazilian artist Lygia Clark. Students learn and refine
several basic sculptural techniques including sewing, hand-built ceramics,
basic garment construction, and stenciling. A relational object is used by
participants in service of an experience beyond the immediate materiality of
the object—this can be a solo, collaborative or communal experience. They
can manifest as psychoanalytic tools, performative props, critical garments,
prosthetics, sculpture for bodies, participatory jewelry, conversation pieces,
and/or collaborative constraints. We explore these various options through a
series of structured individual and collective experiments designed to pave
the way towards individual final projects. In lectures and conversations the
class examines the work of Clark and her contemporaries, as well as present day
artists and designers with reference to sculpture-based social practices. The
class is an opportunity for students of sculpture and social practice to play with
materialized engagement with a specific emphasis on the immediate Ox-Bow
landscape and community.

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This course introduces the properties of hot glass and investigates this material
in conjunction with projections and optics. Students learn basic glass blowing
techniques as well as some non-traditional approaches to hot casting, blowing
and solid working. Possible projects could include creating lenses, periscopes,
kaleidoscopes and other optical devices. Student use these objects to create
videos and other kind of projections. Course content surveys the optics of the
lens and place glass within the larger context of contemporary art.

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This course offers hands-on glassblowing experience to the beginner. Participants
learn a variety of techniques for manipulating molten “hot glass” into vessel or
sculptural forms. Lectures, videos, demonstrations, and critiques will augment
studio instruction.

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This course offers hands-on glassblowing experience to the beginner. Participants
learn a variety of techniques for manipulating molten “hot glass” into vessel or
sculptural forms. Lectures, videos, demonstrations, and critiques will augment
studio instruction.

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In this class, students develop and further their own art ideas. The primary focus
is clay, but students have the freedom to incorporate other materials into their
projects, and to use clay in non-traditional ways. Experimentation is encouraged.
This class goes over basic building techniques and mold-making. We also
discuss clay’s unique properties--its sags, cracks, how it burnishes when leather
hard, and cuts cleanly when soft--exploiting these properties to further our
own projects. Glaze, raku and other finishes such as paint, and dirt are also
proposed as options. Along with the presentation of basic technique, we include
slide lectures on ceramics in history and in contemporary art. The course includes
individual meetings to discuss students’ ideas, and group critique. The course is
open to beginning as well as advanced students.

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Suspense and fear create some of the most palpable, visceral responses to time-based
media and have the potential to become powerful tools in the hands of
artists. In this course we consider how to generate, manipulate and use fear and
discuss at length why such a response can be desirable. Students are challenged
to translate the tropes of conventional cinema in a fine arts context. Through a
series of screenings, readings, discussions and exercises we examine differing
strategies and purposes behind generating fear. Focusing mainly on techniques
of video and audio production, the course welcomes artists with a multi-faceted
practice. The course provides technical information through a series of exercises
conducted over the first week. Students may elect to work alone or collaboratively.
In the second week, students create a single-channel video piece, audio piece or
installation for a public screening open to the Ox-Bow community.

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Students enrolled in Image and Word explore several woodcut, hand printing,
typesetting and letterpress techniques. The class emphasizes the sequential and
narrative properties of the relief printing process. Through presentations and
critiques, the course of study examine how the physical qualities of the paper,
image, text and binding can influence narration, pacing, rhythm, and meaning.
The class also investigates the role of traditional printing in contemporary image
making. Studio projects may include the creation and editioning of broadsides,
sets of prints, or pamphlets.

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Students enrolled in Image and Word explore several woodcut, hand printing,
typesetting and letterpress techniques. The class emphasizes the sequential and
narrative properties of the relief printing process. Through presentations and
critiques, the course of study examine how the physical qualities of the paper,
image, text and binding can influence narration, pacing, rhythm, and meaning.
The class also investigates the role of traditional printing in contemporary image
making. Studio projects may include the creation and editioning of broadsides,
sets of prints, or pamphlets.

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Acrylic affords the greatest flexibility of any paint media, giving the artist the
absolute control over optics, surface, texture, and application when formulated
directly. From extreme gloss to dead matte, pasty thick to watery transparent
with the potential for full color saturation in any mode, acrylic can allow for a new
way of thinking about the physical structure and process of painting. Utilizing
pigment dispersions and various binders students will formulate acrylic paint
from scratch, experiment with thickeners, water-based urethanes, additives and
various methods of application in order to extend and develop a visual vocabulary
of painting in acrylic.

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This multi-disciplinary workshop explores the mysteries of the summer night.
The class is designed around the idea of generating ideas and projects out of
evening walks, campfires, and readings. What is familiar by day can become eerie
cloaked in the shadows of the night. Students develop interdisciplinary projects
that respond to the nature around them ranging from performances, storytelling,
and various sculptural forms. Individual and group projects are generated out of
group critiques, material introductions, and rehearsals.

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This course offers hands-on glassblowing experience to the beginner. Participants
learn a variety of techniques for manipulating molten “hot glass” into vessel or
sculptural forms. Lectures, videos, demonstrations, and critiques will augment
studio instruction.

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In this course students learn the basics of copper enameling (fusing glass to
copper) and explore the potential of enamel decals. We cover basic enameling
techniques such as sifting and explore sophisticated decal techniques. Students
create their own decals on campus using laser printed images as well as
experiment with decals that are commercially available. Lectures on the histories
and applications of this technique augment work in the studio. Group and
individual discussions address technical issues of this process and troubleshoot
how to incorporate these elements into a completed artwork. This course is for
all levels of students. No prior metals or enamel experience is necessary.

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“Party as Form” takes the history of celebration as its point of departure for a
class that blends cultural theory with current experiments in curating, social
practice and performance. Through a combination of readings, discussions
and deployment, students study the history, aesthetics, labor and conventions
for parties from the intimate to the public, religious to the secular. The class
emphasizes 3 areas of study: the etiquette of hosts and guests and other
conventions of behavior; the theory and practice of spectacle; and the craft of
experience (decor, attire, food etc.). Projects anchor discussion with students
interpreting traditional forms for the full design and hosting of their own
parties, large and small, throughout the campus over the course of the class.
Students write critical and/or scholarly papers that locate their party, or
event, within the context of contemporary art and art history. Topics include:
weddings, raves, galas, Cinco de Mayo, parades, tea parties, debutante balls,
masquerade balls, bar mitzvahs, Mardi Gras, New Years Eve, Chinese New Year,
4th of July, Bastille Day, Burning Man, sleepovers and more.

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The Ox-Bow Pre-College Program is designed for advanced high school juniors
and seniors who are considering pursuing a degree in the visual arts. Students are
given the opportunity to evaluate and strengthen their commitment to the study
of art and receive college-level instruction. Other Ox-Bow classes run concurrently
with these courses, providing Pre-College students with a sense of community as
they interact with other students taking classes that week.

Drawing upon the natural terrain of Ox-Bow, students explore drawing, design,
composition, and creativity. A wide variety of drawing materials are used. Slide
lectures, critiques, and meetings with visiting artists are included each evening.

Note to parents and Pre-College students: All Pre-College students are
required to reside on-campus during the course. Students are chaperoned and
rules and regulations are strictly enforced. An adult chaperone is housed with
Pre-College students throughout the week. Students must provide their own
transportation to and from Ox-Bow. Pre-College students are not allowed to
have a vehicle on campus.

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T-shirts, coasters, key chains, snow globes, and other ubiquitous memorabilia act
as potential carriers of meaning and new associations in this print-based course.
Demonstrations include but are not limited to screen printing on paper, fabric,
and heat transfers. Presentations and discussions about histories of the souvenir,
authenticity, and humor augment studio work.

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Students in this class learn the fundamentals of blown and solid hot-glass
processes. Traditional and unconventional methods are introduced in order to
develop a formal language for expressing sculptural ideas. Techniques include
experimental mold blowing, and hot working techniques, along with various color
applications. The intended outcome of this course is to engage the students
with the conceptual possibilities of craft media while maintaining a focus on
developing technique and skill in the studio. By concurrently developing technical
and intellectual prowess, students are introduced to the tools with which they can
navigate a material in the service of an idea or concept.

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Students will be introduced to various methods used in making intaglio prints.
Demonstrated techniques will include etching, dry point, and engraving, as well as
a variety of experimental approaches to plate making and printing. Discussion and
critique of work will be including with equal emphasis on technique and concept.

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This all level course concentrates on drawing and painting techniques. Specimens,
birds, mammals, and insects from the Chicago Field Museum are provided so
that students can draw from life and learn the layering watercolor technique.
Field studies are encouraged so students can juxtapose animal life with suitable
habitat. Modeling, measuring, building greys and browns, color theory is taught
and demonstrated. Watercolor is a versatile medium and explorations of its many
possibilities are encouraged.

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In this course we will investigate the meaning of found objects when contained
and displayed in contemporary jewelry. The course will provide an introduction
to traditional fabrication techniques, including soldering, riveting, basic stone
setting, and photo etching, to enable the students to transform and explore found
objects within the framework of contemporary jewelry. Working with everyday
objects, we will explore how these objects can be transformed into precious
mementos as well as cultural signifiers. Researching contemporary artists that rely
on using found objects in their work such as Robert Ebendort, Pierre Cavalan, and
Dave and Roberta Williamson, we will also examine how these objects contribute
to constructing narratives in jewelry pieces. This class is open to all levels.

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This fast paced, multi-level course plots a hands-on, action craft approach
to the planning and making of speculative objects, furniture projects, and
site environments. Students are introduced to a variety of making strategies,
material possibilities, and contemporary examples in which design is considered
an activity to cultivate built things able to transmit ideas as well as address
utility. We invite social interactions around our studio work by hosting call
and response events for the Ox-Bow community to help us critically reflect and
initiate further design. Using wood as our primary material we explore forming,
shaping, construction, and joining inspired by the formal and conceptual
approaches of Claire Barclay, Nacho Carbonell, Dunne and Raby, Droog, Tage
Frid, Martino Gamper, Enzo Mari, Gord Peteran and others.

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This course focuses on the development of technical knowledge and skills in
egg tempera painting. Egg tempera, which is an artist-made, water-based
medium, offers possibilities of translucent layering, loose or fine brushwork,
incising, scraping, and beautiful surface quality. The preparation of panels,
grounds, pigments, egg binder, and the application of paint, along with the
relationship of the particular qualities of egg tempera with imagery development
will be emphasized.

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A hands-on studio workshop for those with some glassblowing experience.
Students will learn a variety of techniques for manipulating molten “hot glass”
into vessel or sculptural forms. Lectures, demonstrations, videos, and critiques will
augment studio instruction.

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A hands-on studio workshop for those with some glassblowing experience.
Students will learn a variety of techniques for manipulating molten “hot glass”
into vessel or sculptural forms. Lectures, demonstrations, videos, and critiques will
augment studio instruction.

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Utilizing the surrounding natural landscape of Ox-Bow as a set, Survivalist
Shorts challenges participants to create their own short video over the course
of this 2-week workshop, drawing inspiration from the aesthetic of B-movies
and low-budget diaristic modes of filmmaking. We encourage a psychological
state of crisis by utilizing the limited time frame and means in production, so
that the form of the films will mimic the content. Students shoot, edit, craft a
soundtrack, and present their finished works for a final screening and critique.
In addition to hands-on movie making, course content includes curated
screenings of apocalyptic and survivalist films, including obscure and foreign
movies from the 1970s and 80s, Ric Burns Donner Party, Herzogʼs La Soufrière and
George Kuchar's Weather Diary series.

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Through a series of projects this course aims to open up a cerebral dialogue
with clay. Using clay with the option of a combined use with other materials
such as furniture and other found objects, sculptural ideas are explored.
Students also explore site and architecture in relationship to objects. The focus
is not primarily on learning new methods, or skills, but on investigating the
reach of each student’s personal ideas. Coursework is augmented by group
and individual meetings as well as critiques.

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This course uses screen printing and zine-making techniques to produce works
that examine authenticity and style. Students will produce a range of distributable
material which will investigate how an artwork speaks "authentically"
to its viewers and what it means to affect the position of "cool," or foreground
a personal "style." Course material will be pulled from as ranging sources as
"Quadrophenia," punk rock, Celine Dion, poster makers, swedish design,
antiphilosphy, and "the Sound of Young America."

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This drawing intensive for beginning and advanced students expands the
experience and definition of drawing. Drawing exercises emphasize figure/
ground, composition, color and scale while exploiting materials and technique
to push the perceptual conventions of the still life, the landscape and the figure.
The course includes daily demonstrations and discussions of historical and
contemporary masters use of ink, gouache, graphite, acrylic and pastel with
visual references from Rembrandt and Freud to Eve Hesse and Amy Sillman.

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A hands-on studio workshop for those with some glassblowing experience.
Students will learn a variety of techniques for manipulating molten “hot glass”
into vessel or sculptural forms. Lectures, demonstrations, videos, and critiques will
augment studio instruction.

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In this fast paced course, students are introduced to a variety of glass casting
techniques. Demonstrations include wax working and pattern generation, plaster
and rubber mold making, investment casting, hot casting, and cold working.
Projects build on each student’s individual artistic direction. Experimentation
is encouraged. Critiques and group discussion that focus on the historical and
contemporary uses of glass are essential to the development of ideas.

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Throughout history, the clay object has been a vehicle for storytelling, symbolism, and ritual. This interdisciplinary course explores those ideas through the combination of screen-printed imagery and hand-built objects. Using the narrative as a launching point, we will discuss and refine the context and association between object and image. By making conscious conceptual decisions about artist/viewer perception our goal will be to make work that tells a story, literal or abstract. Both single and multiple unit pieces will be produced with an emphasis on molded, installative, and wall works. Other imaging techniques will also be introduced such as projection, stenciling, and cyanotype.

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The natural world, and particularly the world of birds has long been a wellspring of inspiration for artists. Oxbow is directly on the Lake Michigan flyway – one of the most important routes for migratory birds in North America. As many as 300 different species of birds have been seen at various points along this flyway during the spring migration. This course will focus on close observation of the natural environment surrounding Oxbow, and particularly on the migratory and resident bird populations which are found there. The course will include intensive daily field walks where students will keep field notes of their observations, with an emphasis on learning bird identification through observation. At the same time, we will explore pertinent ideas regarding ecology, bird behavior and physiology, taxonomy, and the nature of the relationship between birds and ecosystems they live in through readings, lectures, and discussions. Students will each realize a project that is directly related to their observations and study of the Oxbow ecosystem and birdlife.

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We are surrounded by powerful physical phenomena – gravity, wind currents,
electro-magnetic radiation, atmospheric pressure – and for the most part they
exist invisibly, until an object makes them tangible. This class focuses on observing
these phenomena at Ox-Bow, while using the sculpture studio to react and
intervene. We cover introductory metal fabrication and basic woodworking while
producing concrete objects that respond to some of these phenomena. Ultimately
our goal will be to make thoughtfully considered, well-made sculptures, inspired
by invisible occurrences.

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This course encourages students to explore the conventions of narrative through
a variety of media. Utilizing the Ox-Bow print shop, students are introduced
to techniques for making single images and multiples, such as mono printing,
silkscreen, bookmaking, and self-publication. We draw inspiration from across
artistic disciplines, including literature, comics, film, and games, with the goal of
experimenting with storytelling.

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This course will focus on the materials and techniques of transparent watercolor.
During the morning sessions we will work from a studio still life and explore a
variety of techniques and color schemes. This course will be individualized as
much as possible to accommodate less experienced students. Afternoons will be
devoted to a thematic suite of paintings developed over the course of the week.

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This class will focus on issues raised in painting, particularly portraits and self-portraits,
translating what is known and seen into the formal vocabulary of paint.
Sources will include direct observation of the subject and the imagination.
Students will investigate form and content as well as materials and techniques.
Students may choose to work with oil-based media with odorless solvents, or
water-based media. Slide lectures and critiques will be included.

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In this class, participants learn how to obtain eco-friendly color on a variety of
materials. We start by learning the foundations of natural dyeing—collecting
and experimenting with plant material from the prairie and using both vat and
contact dyeing methods. We then build on this knowledge by using dyes from
around the world, including the indigo process. Discussion topics, such as dye
history, gardens and techniques, are supplemented with detailed handouts. Open
to all levels.

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Participants will explore the basic techniques of hand lithography. Both stone and
metal plate lithography processes will be demonstrated. Critiques of individual
projects will be included with an emphasis on technique and concept.

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The beginning Metal Casting course will concentrate on casting bronze into
green sand and sodium silicate bonded sand molds. Students will learn to
create patterns and molds, the process of melting and pouring the metal, and
finishing and patination techniques for their castings. Class time will focus on
safety in the foundry, history of the metal casting process, and developing an
understanding between the foundry process, pattern generation, and personal
expression. Students will be encouraged to work in response to the natural
environment at Ox-Bow while simultaneously working in an open-air metal
sculpture studio/foundry.

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This multi-level painting course will investigate painting as a form of language,
where color, surface, and marks are considered as indicative of narrative.
Students will consider questions such as how do light, space, and color suggest
narrative? How do surface and mark-making direct the reading of a painting,
and how can meaning morph based on context? Using direct observation of
the landscape as a jumping off point, students will be encouraged to work from
other sources, such as memory and photographs. We will also examine painting
in both contemporary and historical contexts. Oil paint will be supported with
demonstrations on techniques and material properties of oil. However, other
media such as watercolor, gouache, and acrylic will also be supported for
multilevel students.

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This course starts with exploring hot sculpting with a goal of bringing ideas to
reality. We start with simple skill-building assignments and ultimately finish with
unique work by each student. Students learn to sculpt both blown and solid
glass, to use bits and combine components, and consider methods of displaying
finished work. There is an emphasis on teamwork, drawing and problem solving,
and students will take home a promising approach to designing and creating
work.

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