Fashion as Intuition

Hansell shares about their gift for reading the style palm of others and tuning the gender dial.

Gurtie Hansell’s love for fashion and connection to altered clothing stems far into their past. At a young age their grandmother taught them to sew and from there it seemed, in Hansell’s words, “I always made clothes or augmented clothes to fit my weirdo personality.” However, Hansell started to make a more communal and consistent practice of it in 2015. For the retirement party of Chicago’s Chances Dances, Hansell was approached about facilitating a fashion show. The project materialized into something substantial. Hansell reminisced on the crowd’s positive reactions. “And I had a lot of fun and the models really liked it,” they added. That Hansell would receive such positive reviews from all around didn’t surprise me. It’s in their nature to honor and connect with others, something I’ve experienced first hand in all my encounters with them. 

After the fashion show, Mary Eleanor invited Hansell to display in the window of the boutique and gallery space Tusk. From there Hansell thought, “Okay, I guess this is what I do now.” They credit the encouragement from their community as the spark to transition to an entrepreneurial artist. At the time they’d been working for six years doing corporate level branding and graphic design for Whole Foods. “I lived in front of a computer,” Hansell said, “And I’m a very tactile person,” making their transition to the material world of fashion and alterations a natural one. Though that’s not to say their practice is without challenge. Mostly recently, they’ve been struggling to decipher how to maintain the political heart that fuels their work without capitalizing off of tragedy. Much of their altered fashion consists of upcycling t-shirts by screen printing on them. They do not shy away from imbuing political statements with humor, referring to such t-shirts as “an analog meme.” With hefty doses of intention and goofiness, Hansell’s work hits with a heartfelt relevance and their humor buoys grave subjects with a zany spirit of hope.

Ox-Bow, its traditions and culture, have largely influenced Hansell’s practice. They first visited in 2020 to volunteer at a Halloween event, which has since become one of their annual reasons to come to campus. “Halloween has become [a] part of my practice because of those visits,” Hansell said. These experiences have encouraged Hansell to more deeply explore drag, which they say is “directly linked to the freedom [they have] experienced at Ox-Bow” during Halloween each year. This sense of liberation is one they hope to facilitate in their workshops and one they’ve clearly achieved in years past. In particular, Hansell loves to twist what they refer to as the gender dial. “If I wear a dress, and I love to wear dresses,” Hansell explained they’ll tune in the dial by “then [throwing] on a ballcap” to add a dash of masc to the fem look of a dress.

Hansell rocking the dress and ballcap combo.

Interpretations of gender and willingness to play with them comes naturally to Hansell. They even enjoy twisting this dial when they stylize for others. When I asked Hansell how they go about creating looks for another person, they said, “I think it’s always been a facet of who I am.” They described it as a form of listening to others. When one lends their ear to how others present themselves, it becomes easy enough (for Hansell at least) to offer that individual a look that honors them. Hansell refers to this act as “reading the style palm” of others.

One of Hansell’s favorite parts of Art on the Meadow Workshops is watching folks settle into the space. At the start of the class, participants learn to shed their fears and grow comfortable with the sense of whimsy and spontaneity in Hansell’s workshop. Hansell describes that the four day workshop has a kindred feeling to getting ready for a party as they sift through clothes and help each other find and modify objects to achieve a desired look. The intergenerational aspect, hosting students from 16 to 60+ has also fueled Hansell’s time on campus. “It’s always such a wild mix,” Hansell said. The exchange of creativity between all ages in the workshop and the friendships that form over just four days is truly remarkable.

Those looking to revamp their wardrobe and encounter the enthusiasm and inspiration that Gurtie Hansell always provides, should consider enrolling in their upcoming workshop Renewed Ready-to-Wear.

Gurtie Hansell is a multimedia artist, teacher, and entrepreneur working out of their home studio and backyard in Chicago. They draw on fashion, printmaking (and print-breaking), as well as graphic design to outfit their community for pageantry, protest, and pleasure. Their wearables are deeply inspired by decades in queer nightlife, camp craft, and generally being loud in public. Gurtie owns a gender-expansive streetwear brand called Kangmankey which they've run since 2015, and they also co-operate a production and costume design company called MotherTwin. This is their fourth year teaching "Renewed Ready to Wear" at Ox-Bow.

All images are courtesy of the artist.

Research and interviews were conducted by the article’s author, Shanley Poole, Engagement Liaison & Storyteller. The article was originally published in Experience Ox-Bow 2024.

Partner Profile: zakti tea

Janeil Engelstad and Pamela Miller share their passion for tea and all its varieties, communities, and rituals.

In 2004 Janeil Engelstad and Pamela Miller took a trip to Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Little did they know how much the trip would transform their future. By the close of their experience, they were dreaming of an entirely new business venture that intersected with the couple’s newfound passion: tea. This passion would eventually grow into the formation of zakti, a speciality, loose-leaf tea company. Engelstad had incorporated tea into her life decades prior, though her partner Miller never held much interest. While in Kuala Lampur, Miller ordered a cup of Shu Puer tea that changed everything.

“I smelled it and it just took me right away to my grandparents' farm in Germany. It was so earthy and musky,” as Miller described the memory, I could see her crawling back into the comfort of that moment. “It’s still my go to drink.” Throughout the rest of the trip, Engelstad and Miller enjoyed a variety of quality loose leaf teas. “The experience there led us to really think about starting a business, a tea company,” shared Engelstad.

In time, Miller’s newfound passion for tea took an academic twist. “ I spent a few years studying and learning all I could and buying tea from all over Asia,” she shared. Enrolling at the Speciality Tea Institute and the American Tea Association, Miller began to pursue more formal training. This desire to learn has also progressed in a desire to share that knowledge with others. “Education for me and talking about tea… that's my happy place,” Miller said. It’s clear she thrives in these educational contexts. She compares the complexities of teas to that which people often associate with wine. “All wine comes from grapes, right? And all tea comes from camellia sinensis,” explained Miller. “Those varieties excited me.”

As the two tea connoisseurs shared about the history of zakti, Engelstad painted a crisp picture of what drives them, “The three P’s are central to our business: people, planet, and profit.” The latter being rather self explanatory, Engelstad expounded on the philosophy of sustainability that drives their company’s relationships and environmental investments. “It’s everything from packaging to the people we work with.” A quick glance at the zakti website showcases paper packaging and partnerships with small, family-owned farms, but their commitment extends far beyond these choices. Zakti returns a portion of its profits to the communities with which it partners. Engelstad, an artist herself, emphasized the importance of supporting the arts in communities from which they source their tea. In 2023 this meant supporting a play in South Africa—where zakti’s rooibos is sourced—directed by renowned theatre artist Selloane (Lalu) Mokuku.

Of course, Engelstad and Miller also believe the tea itself has something to offer. It has the power to connect individuals to themselves and others. As a coach for executives, Miller often starts meetings with clients by offering them tea. Similarly in her role as a professor, Engelstad enjoys bringing tea into the classroom to share with students. “I try to encourage people to build rituals that are infused in their daily life,” Miller said. She lauds these rituals not just because of the benefits of polyphenols, alkaloids, and other compounds found within tea, but because these rituals can encourage individuals to slow down and reflect. If you can create a ritual, then it becomes part of your life,” explained Miller.

In April, zakti will bring their knowledge, passion, and of course, tea to Ox-Bow’s campus. As one of the partners for the upcoming Tea & Trails event, they will conduct a tea ceremony as the Tallamdge Woods celebrates its induction into the Old Growth Forest Network. Learn more at ox-bow.org/tea-trails.

Miller and Engelstad have traveled throughout the tea growing regions of Asia, learning about and tasting teas along the way. Participating in the culture of tea around the world has led to continual research and study, learning how people around the world grow, process, prepare and enjoy tea, which are as diverse as the types of tea. From Chinese Kung Fu, to the Japanese Tea Ceremony (also called The Way of Tea), to Moroccan Mint tea, and more. With joy and enthusiasm, Pamela and Janeil create opportunities to share tea and their learning and passion connected to “The Culture of Tea®,” with clients, friends and family. Learn more at zakti.com.

This article was written by Shanley Poole, Engagement Liaison & Storyteller, and was based off of an interview conducted by the author in April 2024.

LeRoy Neiman Fellow: Jack Holly

Jack Holly (Summer Fellow, 2023) discusses their path to photography and the portrait series they developed during their summer at Ox-Bow.

At age 18, Jack Holly bought their first camera and has ever since been entranced by what appears in the view lens. Through photography, Holly has captured everything from the landscapes of rural America to intimate glimpses of BDSM culture, at times even intertwining the two as seen in How to Steal a Plane. Their ongoing portrait series sits in thoughtful juxtaposition to their past career as a model. Ultimately, they were unsatisfied with their experiences in front of the camera. “It made me feel like a hat rack for other people,” Holly shared. This perspective deeply informs how they aim to render images of others. Their untitled project, which documents genderqueer and gender-nonconforming individuals through portraiture, prizes the autonomy and power of individuals. Through interviews with the subject and collaboration during the shoots, Holly hopes to capture their subjects in a way that honors and elevates.

(left) A portrait of EXYL.

(right) A portrait of John Rossi. Photos by Jack Holly.

During the summer of 2023, after completing their BFA at the Kansas City Art Institute, Holly started their portrait series on campus where they spent 13 weeks as a Summer Fellow at Ox-Bow School of Art & Artists’ Residency. In each photo, an individual identifying as queer or gender nonconforming faces away from the camera and holds an object of meaning to them. “It's one of those projects that I kind of consider a sketchbook practice because it's not really a main tenet of my practice, but it's a way for me to continue photographing and getting to know people and understanding the weird part of people's lives,” explained Holly. During each portrait session, Holly incorporates an interview to better understand the individual. Oftentimes, the stories they reveal are deeply personal. “It's an honor that people feel so open,” Holly said.

Throughout their 13 weeks on campus, they continued taking photos and also ventured into another new project, a performance piece that would eventually become the short film “Big Yellow Horse.” The film’s inspiration took root in Holly’s long standing fascination with Dante’s “Inferno” and Holly describes their work as a “surrealist adaptation” of the text. Having first read the work at age 14, Holly said, “it was a pretty formative text growing up and… [I] always had it checked out at the public library.” Perhaps it is partially this childlike fondness that charges Dante’s themes with new relevance. “The dead have collected and keep my memories now. The world will go on without them,” serves as the film’s opening words. These two lines baptize viewers with the sense of existential modesty that guides them through the rest of the film.  

Still from Jack Holly’s short film “Big Yellow Horse.” Image courtesy of the artist.

Big Yellow Horse builds its own language and logic, creating a world for its audience. Though the piece only runs for six minutes and twenty-some seconds, Holly creates a universe that tugs at the threads of death and memory, weaving them into a visual oasis. The word inferno doesn’t easily come to mind amidst the shots in which Cole Bespalko floats on an air mattress on Lake Michigan's water, but Holly isn’t aiming for simple, as is evident through the psychedelic editing style and sound design that wavers between transcendent and terrifying, like the film’s many symbolic coin flips and flickering lights. While others may have been tempted to manifest inferno with more depictions of brimstones and damnation, in Holly’s hands “Big Yellow Horse” presents downfalls as an opportunity for inferno to function as rebirth, akin to a phoenix gifted with the liberty of a tabula rasa. 

In creating the film, Holly was eager to involve other artists on Ox-Bow’s campus. A number of other summer fellows joined the film as actors. Artist and LeRoy Neiman Fellow EXYL consulted on sound design and staff member Michael Stone wrote the poem that opens the film. The process of filming held its own adventures including late night shoots and on one occasion, Holly fell into the lagoon while trying to capture the perfect shot. At each moment, Holly emphasized the warmth the community offered, whether that included volunteering to help during the witching hours of campus or laughing alongside them when they took their unintended dip. The film’s private debut was also communal; it first aired on the meadow during a 10 p.m. screening in which staff, students, faculty, and other artists gathered together. After its private showing at Ox-Bow, “Big Yellow Horse” made its public debut at the Glenwood Arts Theatre in Kansas City.

(left) A Portrait of Aidan Mudge.

(right) A Portrait of Cole Bespalko. Photos by Jack Holly.

Since the conclusion of Holly’s fellowship, they have settled into their post-graduate life in Kansas City. While working full time at a frame shop and gallery alongside keeping up a studio practice has not been without challenges, they still manage to get into the studio most days and have continued the portrait series they started at Ox-Bow. Nowadays, Holly photographs people in their own homes. “It can be intimidating because I'm a tiny person, and you never know what someone's gonna do when you meet them on the internet,” Holly acknowledged. “It's a really weird exchange of trust and intimacy,” they added, an exchange that has cultivated a captivating series of images.

For the foreseeable future, Holly hopes to continue developing short films, rendering photographs, and spending time with their family and new niece.

This article was written by Shanley Poole based off interviews conducted with Jack Holly in August 2023 and February 2024.

Partner Profile: John Brown

John Brown shares the spirit that fuels all his work behind the bar: hospitality.

The driving force behind John Brown’s career is a philosophy of hospitality. One encounters this spirit almost immediately upon meeting Brown, who lends winning smiles, gentle jokes, and a spark of curiosity to even the briefest of conversations. As bartender and mixologist, Brown explains it's his job to “throw a party for everyone,” and this is not a role he takes lightly. His primary goal of extending hospitality and putting guests at ease is extended through the one-on-one interactions he shares with those ordering drinks as well as the general atmosphere that his drinks build throughout the night. Drinks are often rituals, Brown acknowledges, and like any good ritual, it should be done with intention. Brown insists that drinks should be consumed carefully and created thoughtfully.

John Brown serves Ashley Freeby (Communications Director) a cocktail during the 2022 Field of Vision Benefit. Photo by Jamie Kelter Davis.

When designing a menu, Brown considers the driving forces of aesthetic, taste, and homage. At a club, he focuses less on complex flavor profiles and instead utilizes mixers, such as tonics, that will set drinks glowing under black lights. While dolling out drinks at a wedding, he plays on themes of nostalgia by catering to the couple’s preferences. In the case of Ox-Bow’s recent Winter Break, the menu flirted with the evening’s theme—“Fall in Love with Ox-Bow”— with lavender-hued liquors and a hot buttered rum playfully titled the “Warm Welcome.”

Regardless of the cocktail Brown is making, they follow the same premise as other culinary endeavors. A balanced drink requires sugar, fat, acid, and heat. So long as these complexities are held in balance, there’s much room for play. While Brown’s creations now span wide in their variety, the exploration began with an Old Fashioned. “And being stubborn,” he added. Rather than playing by the recipe book, he wanted to branch out. He started swapping the main components of the classic drink—whiskey, simple syrup, and bitters—with offbeat equivalents. Simple syrup was exchanged for honey, maple syrup, or molasses. From here he started asking more questions and curiosity led to creativity. If syrup was just sugary liquid, then couldn’t he use teas, coffee, or juice as a substitute? The same became true of bitters, which Brown explained are simply flavors extracted from dried fruits and herbs with 100 proof ethanol. These explorations he described as a “colorful playground of flavor profiles.”

John Brown and Yashu Reddy (Faculty 2023, 2024 and Former Glass Studio Manager) at work inside Ox-Bow’s Tuck Shop during the 2023 Field of Vision Benefit. Photo by Jamie Kelter Davis.

Within this playground, Brown has a burgeoning interest in spirit-free cocktails. “My intention is to expose people to a standard. So when they walk into another place, they feel empowered to expect more from their bartender than just lemonade in a cup,” Brown says in regard to non-alcoholic beverages. The same complex flavor profiles in Brown’s spirited drinks are found in his mocktails. Rather than seeing the Gen-Z driven movement of Dry Januarys and soft sobriety as a trend, he hopes it’s here to stay. Brown credits his fluid transition to embracing the sober movement to his passion for hospitality. “It’s easy for me to see the forest for the trees,” he explained, circling back to the idea of ritual. If a spirit free drink helps someone unwind or feel more at ease in a space, Brown wants to equip them with that asset.

While Brown applauds those pursuing the sober movement, he himself is still fond of his spirits. When asked if he had any go-to’s, he said he prefers whatever the “chef” recommends. “You wouldn’t go to Gordon Ramsay and ask him for sushi,” he explained, adding that “at a sports bar,” he’s not above “a cheap glass of rosé.”

This article was written by Shanley Poole based off an interview conducted with John Brown in February 2024.

For the Love of Landscapes

For the Love of Landscapes: An Interview with David Baker

“There’s a magical place when painting the surface of the water,” David Baker says, “where [the surface] switches from mirror to window.” This magic trick was something he spent hours trying to capture during his early years at Ox-Bow. He’d venture out with a canoe on the lagoon, Baker donning a wide brimmed hat to shield himself from the sun and toting a set of paints. While the process might sound romantic, Baker emphasized it was pretty grueling work. 

Baker first came to Ox-Bow in the 90’s and reminisced that in those days you could get a cold beer from the campus vending machine. At the time, he mostly rendered abstract oil paintings, the kinds of work that might draw Rothko to mind. All that began to change at Ox-Bow. As if inspired by the school’s founders, he suddenly found himself driven to landscapes, a style he’d previously written off as a “tired genre.”

Rivulet, David Baker, 2020, charcoal, 11 x 14 inches. Image courtesy of the artist.

In the years beyond his first summer at Ox-Bow, Baker continued to expand his practice. He ventured into watercolor, motivated by a class he was to teach at South West Michigan College. Baker eventually brought his professorial skills to campus. He taught his first core course Watercolor in 2000 and continued to do so through 2008. In 2010, he switched gears and crafted his first Art on the Meadow Workshop. Since then, he’s taught community members everything from watercolor to charcoal.  

This year, Baker looks forward to introducing students to some of his favorite subject material: the landscape of Ox-Bow, of course. Those taking Ox-Bow in Black and White can anticipate field studies of dunes and lagoons, while those in Painting with Oil Pastel can look forward to studying the arboreal ghosts and muses of Ox-Bow in the form of felled and still standing trees across campus. And all can count on spending time with an instructor who not only knows all the prime views, but will also teach you to capture them on canvas. 

David Baker holds a painting under a tent in an Art on the Meadow workshop. Two students sit at a folding table behind him. Photo by Ian Solomon (Summer Fellow, 2023).

David Baker (he/him) is a visual artist who specializes in poetic landscape painting, much of it done en plein air. Baker is a lifelong artist and teacher who has taught at Ox-Bow School of Art since 2000. He is represented by Rising Phoenix Gallery in Michigan City. 

This article was written by Shanley Poole and was initially published in the 2022 Experience Ox-Bow Catalog.

Then & Now: Intergenerational Art-Making Through the Years

Ox-Bow has played host to a variety of imaginations, the most receptive of them? Kids. Over the years, the children of professors, staff, guests, and neighbors of Ox-Bow have delighted in the wonders of the meadow, lagoon, studios, and trails. More than anyone else, these kids understand the magic of Ox.

Then:

Family Camp began as a place where artists and their families could gather together at Ox-Bow and make art. Created by Patricia Pelletier and Phil Hanson (the Academic Director at the time), the tradition lasted for over 10 years from the late 80’s to the early 2000’s. The one week class usually took place at the start or end of the summer season. In the morning, adults would attend class, while James Brandess led a session for the kiddos. Afternoons were reserved for family time: hiking, canoeing, or trips to the beach. Each day ended with an evening of intergenerational artmaking. Often hosted in the paint studio, group work usually focused on the creation of masks and costumes. Culminating annually into a Friday performance and parade, everyone would don their work on the meadow at the week’s end. 

Artists and families included Karl and Lori Wirsum, Bobbi and Steve Meier, Richard and Cathy Pearlman, Rodney and Renee Carswell, Paul Solomon, Nancy and Tom Melvin, E.W. Ross, Gretchen Brown and Peter Kuttner, Carol Neiger, Ginny Sykes, George Liebert, and Blair Thomas. A variety of disciplines were represented amongst the artists present including muralists, performance artists, photographers, ceramicists, painters, and filmmakers. President of Ox-Bow’s Board and former Family Camp attendee, Steve Meier reflected, “Many of our children ended up in creative fields, I would credit [this] somewhat to this experience – seeing artists work with their children among such a diverse group of creative people was a truly unique experience.”

Two participants, a child and adult, don homemade masks at Family Camp. Photo courtesy of Board President Steve Meier.

Now: 

For many Michiganders, summertime means beach days or trips Up North, but for artist and educator Kim Meyers Baas it means the annual Ox-Bow getaway. Baas first came to Ox-Bow as a graduate student from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she received her Masters of Art in Art Education. After graduating, she returned to Ox-Bow several times to take more courses. In the mid 2000’s the student became the teacher with a proposal to bring youth workshops to Ox-Bow.

A child and adult work on paintings at the edge of the woods on campus. Photo courtesy of Kim Meyers Baas.

Baas didn’t view the idea as revolutionary; in fact, it seemed all too natural. Kim noted, “There’s always been kids [at Ox-Bow]... it’s a kid’s dream!” The concept for youth workshops took inspiration from her mentor, the late E.W. Ross, a loyal member of the legendary Family Camps.

Over the years, Baas has created spaces for young artists throughout West Michigan, most recently creating a canvas quilt portrait of Patrick Lyoya in collaboration with students of East Kentwood High School. Lyoya was a Congolese refugee who was killed by a police officer in 2022; his death deeply grieved the community, especially impacting a number of Baas’s students who, like Lyoya, are also Congolese. Baas, alongside a number of students and a few other teachers, painted “Through the Veil,” which was then featured at the 2022 Art Prize Festival. “I feel like I’m part artist, part community organizer,” Baas said when reflecting on her work. “Amplifying voices is my true practice.”

A child sits in a tire swing with pencil and paper. Photo courtesy of Kim Meyers Baas.

After taking a pandemic-pause from Art on the Meadow workshops, Baas returned to Ox-Bow with a new plan of action in 2022: family workshops. The intergenerational aspect of Family Camp had long enticed Baas. In this new format, Baas facilitates various “ah-ha” moments with kids, while simultaneously encouraging parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles to work collaboratively with their young artists.

Over the course of the four workshops, participants explore ceramics, cyanotypes, and watercolor. Each workshop coincides with a natural theme: earth, sun, and water. The workshops’ environmental lens is very much intentional. Baas describes nature as a key part of “the Ox-Bow factor.” 
In 2023, Baas looks forward to bringing back family workshops. She plans to continue exploring art and the elements and is eager to introduce more families to the meadow. Returners might also notice a new addition to this year’s family series, entitled Seek, which Baas hinted will include a campus-wide treasure hunt. By popular demand, the Water workshop will be held twice this summer.

Headshot of Kim Meyers Baas, courtesy of the artist.

Kim Meyers Baas (she/her) is an arts educator who has worked in public and private settings in Michigan, Chicago, and on the Mexican/Texas border cultivating youth artists and community workers since 1992. Her teaching and art making practice focuses on exploring family identity, inequality, migration, cultural recognition, art and technology literacy, and media representation in marginalized communities.

Research and interviews were conducted by the article’s author, Shanley Poole, Engagement Liaison & Storyteller. The article was originally published in Experience Ox-Bow 2023.

Artist Profile: Chidinma Nnoli

Chidinma Nnoli creates a place to belong in her holy, haunting paintings.

Artist and Ox-Bow Alumni Chidinma Nnoli resists those that put her in boxes, and I understand why. She describes herself as a homebody who rarely leaves her home studio in Lagos, Nigeria, but in 2023 she spent two months in London, three weeks in Florida, and another three at Ox-Bow School of Art & Artists’ Residency. It all began with a desire to explore new places and create without the pressure of deadlines. “I needed to pause… and put out work that I was curious about,” Nnoli specified. To spur this shift, she decided to get out of her home studio, and the country while she was at it. “I wanted to go out and see new things,” Nnoli said. And so she did.

Nnoli didn’t find herself navigating any major shifts in her work while she was abroad. Instead, she spent time resolving paintings and, particularly at Ox-Bow, enjoying quiet time for contemplation. “I needed time to be in a space that was different,” Nnoli said. She used those three weeks to follow intuition and pick up whatever materials she felt inclined towards. Instead of exploring new territory, she dove further into the subjects and narratives that she has paid diligent tribute to over the years. 

The pains of growing, 2022, oil and acrylic on canvas, 62 x 54 inches

This habit of diving deeper is not new to Nnoli. When engaging with her practice, it’s clear she has sunk her teeth into something substantial. Her past three bodies of work share a kindred core, but each investigates new subtleties and depths. “When I think about my work, I think about it like a journey, like interconnected phases,” Nnoli explained. She has ventured through this journey at paradoxical speeds. On the one hand, she works through expansive and cohesive bodies of work simultaneously; on the other, each painting reveals the dedication and attunement of an artist that gives each piece the time it is due, never rushing to complete the next. 

Like the artist behind the paintings, Nnoli’s work defies neat boxes and definitions. She skirts away from words that might assign theories and abstractions. “I’m talking about belonging and the search for belonging” she says of her latest body of work. And as she shares more about her practice it becomes clear that she’d much rather engage in conversation about matters of the heart than words that might threaten to academize her paintings. 

“I feel grief, you know, and I hope that's something that is visible within the work,” Nnoli says. This grief she refers to is rooted in her empathy for women, an empathy which serves as her primary lens for the world. When she heard the news about Morocco’s earthquake, the first thought that passed her mind was, “What are the women going through? What is it like for them?”

None of these clocks work, 2020, oil on canvas, 40 x 48 inches

These questions and Nnoli’s deep well of empathy are often sources that exhaust her. To replenish her hope and wellbeing she credits three things: detoxing from the internet, spending time with friends, and listening to music. “I have amazing people around me,” Nnoli glowed as she mentioned them and reflected on the power of having a community with shared values. Similarly, she fills her studio with the music of powerful and heartfelt voices such as Florence & the Machine, Lorde, and Lana Del Rey.

Nnoli did not shy from the label feminist being attributed to herself, saying she identified as such “even before [she] knew what the word meant,” but she insists that her work is more than feminist. “I’m talking about things from a very personal point of view,” she elaborates, “it’s very feminist, but at the same time, I think the art world has this way of running with labels.” She fears that such labels will constrain and limit her work as well as misguide the emotions of viewers. Her ultimate desire is not that viewers will see a painting as feminist, but rather as soft, sad, and haunting. She hopes others will walk away with feelings rather than categorizations. 

Untitled, 2021, oil on arc shaped panel, 34 x 50 inches

Evident also in Nnoli’s practice is an insistent muse who rises from an unexpected source. “Religion is very much evident in my work,” Nnoli shared, “That’s something I've been trying to escape somehow, but it just keeps coming back,” as is seen in her depictions of arches, halos, and rosaries. Nnoli described her experience growing up in Lagos as one shaped by patriarchy and conservative Catholicism. Though Nnoli’s works contain an ethereal quality, I would describe the religious elements in them as haunting rather than heavenly. They hint towards familiar corruptions present in reality. However, they do manage small comforts with an implicit proposal of a differing potential, a holiness rooted in open meadows, an overgrowth of flowers, and women whose faces bleed wisdom and sorrow.

As she reflected on the cultural context’s effect on her work, she realized “that's probably why I create these dreamlike spaces that do not exist… because I don't currently know where I am or am headed. I just know I'm just finding that.” In her paintings she can carve out this space for herself, and others.

While Nnoli humbly protests that her works won’t change lives, I beg to differ. I see images and narratives that have already touched viewers at Ox-Bow and beyond. Arts writer Daniel Mackenzie sums it up well when he writes, “The wider effect of spending time with Chidinma's work is one of comfort, that the suppressed among us are being watched over; that the lonely can find comfort in universal forces that, though not always easy to detect, are always there.” Nnoli’s modest hope and belief is that her works “might be able to start a conversation.” And I would argue that such conversations are the seeds and eventual roots of life changing actions.

Banner Image: Various storms and saints, 2022, oil and acrylic on canvas, 72 x 62 inches

Headshot of Chidinma Nnoli courtesy of the artist.

Chidinma Nnoli (b. 1998 Enugu, Nigeria) is an artist working primarily with painting. Her practice contemplates the importance of a single subject ’s embodied experience(s), overlaying the past unto the present while insisting on the emotional link between body and space often in conflict with self and a background mostly saturated with religion and gendered obligations. Nnoli earned her BFA from the University of Benin and has gone on to participate in solo and group exhibitions internationally. Her works are a part of several notable collections and have been featured in Hyperallergic, The New York Times, Colossal, and Vogue. She currently lives and works in Lagos.

Ox-Bow’s Summer Residency Program offers 12 artists the time, space, and community to encourage growth and experimentation in their practice for three weeks on campus. The Summer Residencies are held while our core classes and community programs are in session. During this time, a small group of residents have access to Ox-Bow’s artist community of students, faculty, and visiting artists.

Our Summer Residencies are open to artists at any level. Currently enrolled students, MFA candidates, arts faculty, emerging, or established artists are encouraged to apply.

To learn more about the Summer Residency Program visit www.ox-bow.org/be-a-resident

This article was written by Engagement Liaison & Storyteller, Shanley Poole.

Artist Profile: Emilio Rojas

Former Ox-Bow Artist-in-Residence, Emilio Rojas (2017), responds to the last 15 years of his work. Even while looking back, he never stops the pursuits of forward and next. While on tour with his exhibition tracing a wound through my body, he has executed new performances at various museums and galleries. At his last stop at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Arts, he takes the time to reflect on the process.

The exhibition tracing a wound through my body was first conceptualized in 2020. As Rojas began to look back on his work he realized it stretched back 15 years. Multidisciplinary in scope, the work investigates colonialism through film, print, and photographic capturings of various performance pieces.

“I’m making work that is not always easy to digest,” Rojas says, nor does it appear easy to execute. His performance pieces often require undergoing intense physical duress. “I’m interested in these sorts of intense experiences, or catharsis, rather,” Rojas elaborated. This is obvious in the capturing of a performance piece in which the artists’ arms are wrapped around a cactus. He spent hours hugging it in heat of over 100º F, conditions so extreme that it solicited hallucinations. In another video, Rojas sits under a tree for six hours, drinking a slow drip of sap from the tapped tree. The performance ends when he has consumed liquid equal to the amount of water in the human body.

Visitors of the exhibit inevitably might wonder about the why behind it all, and those that search for an answer discover Rojas’s work never lacks intent or poetics. “Performance, for me, it’s a way to process,” says Rojas. In “Instructions for Becoming (Waterfall)” the artist participated in what he described as a sort of rebirth. The photo was taken the day after Rojas moved to a new city and took a new job after a divorce. “It looks like I’m drowning,” he says of the photo, “but it actually felt like a purification.” This is not the only piece for which Rojas’s initial audience was mother-nature. In his similarly titled portrait photo “Instructions for Becoming,” Rojas disappears into the root system of a tree. He sought it out during a trip back to Mexico amidst frustrations and anxiety while awaiting his green card. “I tried to find a tree with the thickest roots to connect back to my roots,” he explained.

While reflecting on more political work, he shared the advice he once received from his mentor Tania Bruguera “Political art, it’s site specific, but it’s also time specific… you have to do it when it’s urgent.” Though he initially attached this lens to political art, the same can be said for the work that leans more heavily on what Rojas describes as “poetics.”

Far from completely abandoning the political nature of his work, Rojas has instead attempted to strike a balance between poetics and politics. Since 2021, he has created site specific performance pieces that engage with the history of the exhibition spaces. In the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Arts, he conducted a choreographed performance piece that centered around cleaning the Center’s Hanes House, whilst wearing Hanes clothing. His work is highly influenced by poets such as Gloria E. Anzaldua, Ocean Vuong, Nikki Giovanni, Clauda Rankine, Audre Lorde, and Pamela Sneed. Rojas views performance as “poetic movement… with your body you’re creating poetry.”

In his ongoing performance piece “A Manual to Be (to Kill) or To Forgive My Own Father,” Rojas literally dissects his father’s book Pequeño Hombre and reorients the words on self healing cutting matts. As if the materials themselves aren’t poetic enough, the poems he creates through the words elevate it all the more, as does the communal foundation of the process. Rojas refers to the process as “mining” for poems and invites others that have complex relationships with their fathers to participate in the process with him. During one-on-one sessions with Rojas, participants are encouraged to engage in conversation with him and construct a poem of their own on one of the self-healing matts.

Rojas started this exercise eight years ago in 2015. “My healing of that relationship has taken that long,” he expressed. Even as he continues to mine into this multi-year investigation, he keeps looking forward. The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art marks the last stop of the three-year exhibition tour of tracing a wound through my body. Next, Rojas heads to Georgia to participate in a residency where he looks forward to digging through footage of the various performance installations he’s created over the past two years.

More information on Emilio Rojas and his work is available at emiliorojas.studio.

Alumni Artist-in-Residence 2023: Paul Peng

Hell in the Summer, graphite on paper, 28 in. by 20 in.

Peng discusses breaking free from artistic blocks, moving beyond the studio, and finding freedom in the 9-5.

When I sit down to call Paul Peng, he first appears on screen beaming a smile. Peng confesses he’s just finished another virtual meeting; “If I seem a bit tired at the start of this call, it’s because I am.” I’m charmed by this candor, his willingness to disclose what’s going on in his world. This same earnestness carries us through the rest of the call, a two and a half hour conversation, which spans in focus from his studio practice to DDR competitions. It’s 1:30 p.m. on a Wednesday, the most notorious slog hour of the work week and I too am a bit tired, however, the energy soon takes off. It’s not long until the general spark of the conversation has us both alight.

It’s been six years since Peng last attended Ox-Bow. In that time his relationship with his studio space, artistic practice, and career have changed significantly. A longstanding element of Peng’s practice is cartoon work, but his associations and explorations of this work have proved adaptive over the years. From 2017 to 2022, Peng rooted his work in exploring similarities between cartoon and mark making. By exploring their shared nature, Peng produced a number of works. This investigation he pinpoints as a significant shift in his practice. He noted laughingly that others might not be able to notice the shift, but he viewed it as a driving force that propelled him forward. However, in 2022 that curiosity found its end. Peng initially tried to continue the exploration, but realized the effort was forced. The question had gone stale.

Ground, graphite on paper, 38 in. by 50 in.

Peng next began to focus on object oriented ontology, most typically associated with sculpture, and applied it to his drawing practice. The goal was to create drawings that were actual objects and not representations. Peng produced a number of works based on this investigation. He laughs as he recalls, “I made some very strange drawings,” and ultimately realized “cartoons are representational, no matter how much I don’t want them to be… they are.” In retrospect, he recognizes it as a strategy to break free of his block. While it successfully did that, it more importantly made Peng realize that this was just another fashion in which he was “radically changing how [he] made art to match how [he] thought about art.” Now “instead of trying to change my art to match the way I think,” Peng recognizes, “I need to change the way I think to match my art.” This is the philosophy that Peng leans into today, an attitude that produces work indisputably authentic to the artist.

In similar spirit, Peng enjoys investigating how space affects his practice. Some of his favorite drawings of late have been produced in coffee shops. Though he still keeps a studio space, he finds freedom in pursuing his work beyond those walls. To only produce work in the studio, he finds, limits the scope of what he can produce. Just as thoughts can restrict artistic expression, so too can spatial influences.

Like many artists, Peng has juggled a number of jobs to pay the bills. After graduating from his MFA program, he navigated a variety of part time teaching contracts. He resisted committing to a nine-to-five for fear of the toll it would take on his artistic practice, but Peng found the financial pressure of these part time contracts to be a burden that still siphoned energy from his creative goals. He came to the conclusion, “I can't continue living life in fear… under this assumption that having a full time day job would like completely drain… because I'm already experiencing that through this weird part time gig.” So in 2018 he picked up a job in coding.

In undergrad Peng had studied computer science alongside studio art. “And no I didn’t do it as a safety net,” he chided. He insisted that for the sake of his soul, he needed to study computer science. He truly loved the world of math and programming. When he returned to it in 2018, he experienced an incredible relief as a he realized, “my life is big enough for more than one passion.” 

Over the past few years Peng has been creating more and more space for his variety of interests. He first felt this sense of permission at Ox-Bow as a student. “Ox-Bow was the first time where I experienced this environment where art didn't feel like it was in a zero sum game with the rest of my life,” Peng said. As it turns out, Peng lives a life filled with an abundance of pursuits, two of the more recent ones being DDR competitions and trips to amusement parks. He disclosed, only half joking, he might organize a trip to the local coaster park in Michigan this summer. As he anticipates his return to Ox-Bow, Peng hopes for equal parts work and play. Just as much as time in the studio, Peng looks forward to time to “frolic on the meadow” and venture out on the lagoon with canoes, to let art and life sit in an unencumbered exchange with one another, and to delight in whatever arrives. 

Birthday, graphite on paper, 38 in. by 50 in.

Photo of Paul Peng. Image courtesy of the artist.

Paul Peng (b. 1994, Allentown, PA; pronounced “Pung”) is a contemporary artist who makes non-representational and cartoon drawings based on what it feels like to be a real person. This feeling comes from his adolescent experience witnessing and participating in an internet-based folk art tradition of sad closeted teens drawing pictures of themselves as anthropomorphic fantasy creatures, anime monster boys, and other cartoons of things that they are not. Paul is currently interested in how his art practice directly extends this tradition: how his work, born from queer teen anguish, exists under conditions where that anguish used to exist but no longer does.

Paul graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 2017 with a BCSA in Computer Science and Art, and has also studied classical drawing at Barnstone Studios in Coplay, PA (2013) and experimental drawing right here at Ox-Bow (2017). Alongside his art practice, Paul is a roller coaster enthusiast, a programming language design hobbyist, and an aspiring long-distance runner and competitive DanceDanceRevolution player. He currently lives and works from Pittsburgh, PA.

If you have news or stories you’d like to share about your time at Ox-Bow or beyond, you can contact Engagement Liaison & Storyteller, Shanley Poole, at spoole@ox-bow.org.

Madeleine Aguilar’s Ox-Bow EP

Photo Caption: (left) Madeleine Aguilar on stage while playing the guitar. (right) Madeleine Aguilar, mobile music maker II, Found instruments, wood, rope, clamps, and chair legs. Images courtesy of the artist.

Madeleine Aguilar is an artist of many talents. Rather than limiting herself to a lane – visual art, writing, or music – Aguilar embraces variety and hybridity within her work. It is in the exchange between these forms where her practice comes to life in enchanting ways. 

Aguilar described her years in undergraduate school as a time where she kept her various practices separate, a time of “skillbuilding and trying to become a master of all trades.” Now, she recognizes the liminal spaces between these practices as essential learning environments. While formalizing her visual practice, music served as a creative outlet and escape where she could “play around and not worry about making perfect things.” Aguilar has realized over time that this improvisational attitude is a creative asset and strives to integrate it into her other creative practices. This approach, combined with her interest in collaborative work, dictates many of her current projects. 

From library carts to mobile music makers, Aguilar’s work invites folks to gather around and enter in. The same can be said for her Ox-Bow EP. Composed of four songs, each one strikes as both personal and collective, especially for listeners that have stepped foot on Ox-Bow’s campus. Her lyrics paint pictures of sunrises on the lagoon and the sand and grit that fixes itself to all who visit Ox-Bow. 

Now serving as the Print and New Media Studio Manager, Aguilar spent the summer of 2022 at Ox-Bow as a staff member, rather than a student. “The first week felt like a month, now ten days is nothing at all,” Aguilar sings in “Ox-Bow (summer 2022),” the EP’s closing song. “Time changes as someone who lives there,” she reflected in her interview, “Ox-Bow becomes your home.” The album overall feels deeply intimate in its relatability. Perhaps this is due to the nature by which Aguilar is drawn to songwriting. She describes music as a journaling practice of sorts. “I don’t keep a diary,” she said, but her songs function as a mode of processing. Her first visit to Ox-Bow during the winter of 2019 she described as “the most magical experience,” resulting in what Aguilar referred to as “Ox-Bow withdrawal” when she returned to Chicago. As a way of digesting her experience, she wrote the song that eventually became the opener to the EP.

As Aguilar prepares to return to Ox-Bow this spring, she anticipates more additions to the collection of songs. Those keen on listening to its current standings can tune in on Soundcloud. And definitely keep your ears perked for new music in the future. Aguilar revealed that a recent trip to Rose Raft included time in the recording studio, capturing what will eventually be Aguilar’s first full album.

If you have news or stories you’d like to share about your time at Ox-Bow or beyond, you can contact Engagement Liaison & Storyteller, Shanley Poole, at spoole@ox-bow.org.

In the Studio with Brandon Sward

Photo Caption: Below: Artist Brandown Sward and his exhibition How the West Was Lost. 

Artist Brandon Sward did not follow the “traditional” path of artists today. He does not have a BFA or MFA. In fact, he’s currently a Sociology Doctoral Candidate at the University of Chicago. And it's this space, between academia and art, where Sward’s latest work swims. During Sward’s time as a Longform Resident this past September, the artist invited me into the Lutz Studio for a conversation as well as a look at his work.

When I stepped into the studio it felt much more gallery-like under the curation of Sward. A barrel of hay sat in the far corner of the room and above that hung a saddle and stirrups as well as a variety of photos that Sward had taken at a rodeo. Not too far away, a belt buckle and horseshoe hung on the wall. A mannequin, posed on a distressed table, was dressed in an equally disheveled denim shirt under a canvas, quilted jacket. 

In his latest installation How the West Was Lost, Sward wrestles with images of western masculinity in a fashion equal parts playful and serious. His great-uncle Stanton (namesake of Sward’s middle name) was the owner of the artifacts posted around the room. A number of plaques accompanied the objects. They were printed on plastic in the hard-lined sans serif font of a museum. At first glance they were equal in voice to those at museums: crisp, academic, borderline clinical. But Sward let the writing carry itself and transform into something new, morphing the prosaic into poetic: “The word ‘chaps’ is a shortened version of the Spanish chaparreras,” one plaque begins and by the end of the paragraph the text has galloped into a fantastical scene of “Lana Del Rey, flying down an open highway, loose dark curls billowing gently in the wind.”

If you’re interested in exploring the exhibition for yourself, you can check out How the West Was Lost as well as its accompanying performance piece.

If you have news or stories you’d like to share about your time at Ox-Bow or beyond, you can contact Engagement Liaison & Storyteller, Shanley Poole, at spoole@ox-bow.org.

When Fashion and Inflatables Collide

We caught up with Claire Ashley and Vincent Tiley to see where their inspiration and excitement lies in this new course. Inflatables: Paint Skins comes to Ox-Bow this Summer for the first time!

OX: What are you most looking forward to in coming to Ox-Bow to teach next summer? 

Vincent Tiley: I’m very excited about the kind of artistic explorations that can happen at Ox-Bow. I think it’s very different than what is generated in a more typical classroom. At Ox-Bow you can really step outside of your focus and enrich yourself in a more self-directed way.

Claire Ashley: I'm always excited to be at Oxbow in person and bask in the landscape, pace, and camaraderie of the community!! There's nothing quite like it!  And I'm excited about this new class with Vincent as I've oddly enough never taught an inflatables-specific class before! 

OX: What was the inspiration behind joining forces for this new course, especially given that you both taught two popular courses separately? Vincent, will you be bringing any fashion elements to the table from your previous course?
VT: I was Claire’s TA in grad school and had a blast working with her. Claire is also a creative force. Her work is really incredible and fun. I’m very technical. I thought that this class would be possible at Ox-bow because of the success of the fashion class. Clothing and balloons are really similar. They both are essentially skins that are filled with something to give them volume. In the case of balloons that something is air instead of parts of the body.

CA: Vince is an incredibly inventive artist who works with a similar set of concerns as I do, namely inflatables as garments, performance, and the expanded field of painting, so I'm excited that we both will be working together again!! I'm also excited that I get to use the expanded field of painting content from my previous exploding paint class within the context of the inflatable membrane or skin, I'm hoping it will be a model that we can repeat :)

OX: Are there any exciting highlights you would like to share about your course that we can share? What can students look forward to in your course?
VT: I think that the most exciting thing is the possibility for installing outdoors. There’s forest, beach, lake, lagoon, and the campus of Ox-Bow to be explored for installation. The thing about inflatables is something that’s as tall as a house can roll up and fit inside a suitcase or back pack. You can really be playful in just where you install. 

CA: I think there will be an abundant amount of energy, play, and curiosity in this class. Both of us strive to build a supportive environment where everyone can take risks, test, play, cavort, and generally explore a more irreverent relationship to an artistic practice. 

Born in West Virginia, New York based artist Vincent Tiley (he/they) received an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Tiley's garment-based durational performances queer clothings’ myriad uses--often combining multiple performers into one sculptural and painted form; the garments no longer function as outward signifiers adorned by an interior self but fully disguise, restrain, and extend their wearers, irreverent of the corporeal boundaries of individual selves. His work has been featured and reviewed in Art in America, the Chicago Tribune, Performa, and the New York Times. The artist has been widely exhibited internationally including the Museum of Art and Design, the Leslie-Lohman Museum, AxeNeo7, CFHILL, and the International Museum of Surgical Science. His works have been collected by the Whitney Library, the Leather Archives and Museum, Yale University Library, and the Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Claire Ashley (she/her) uses her work to investigate inflatables as painting, sculpture, installation, and performance costume. These works have been exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries, museums,site-specific installations, performances, festivals, and collaborations. Her work has been featured on blogs such as VICE, Hyperallergic, and Artforum, and in magazines such as Sculpture Magazine, Art Papers, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Time Out Chicago, Yorkshire Post, and Condé Nast Traveller. Ashley received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her BFA from Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen, Scotland. Originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, Ashley is now Chicago based. Currently, she teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Department of Contemporary Practices, and the Department of Painting and Drawing. 

Interview with Cover Artist Ling Chun

Ling Chun is the cover artists for the 2022 Summer Course Catalog and is teaching the Clay Makerspace during CAMP: our 3-week Intensive.

What are you most looking forward to in coming to Ox-Bow to teach next summer? 
I am most looking forward is the face-to-face connection with students after teaching an online class for more than two years now. 

What was the inspiration behind the piece you have featured for our catalog cover?
Green Jar, 2018— my inspiration for this work is finding the most recognizable language of ceramics ( in this case, the vase ) that connects with the most audience. With the use of hair as the extension of glaze— I intend to break the old structure and shape and walk my audience to look at ceramics from a refreshing perspective — simple way to say: I am giving ceramics a make-over. 

Your course says you are taking inspiration from historical movements, can you elaborate a bit more on which movements you will be highlighting?
The course would emphasize the most recent contemporary movement in the ceramics discourse — how cross-discipline this medium has become. Also, what does it means when dominantly crafts-based ceramics become more used as an art medium. 

What about ceramics do you love and why did you want to lead this makerspace?
Nothing like clay capture movement intuitively— spoil alert: SO MUCH disappointment from the ceramics process makes you appreciate every little moment— that’s what I love about ceramics. It makes you look at the world differently. Part of the reason to lead this maker space is the excitement I have for a student interested in what sort of projects and wild ideas they will bring in. For most, I love giving a demo and showing the possibility you can do with ceramics.

Are there any exciting highlights you would like to share about your course that we can share? What can students look forward to in your course?

Do you like sparkle? I bring lots of sparkle and glitter to the course. I am not joking. I will teach you how to make your work likes it from outer space. 

About the artist…

Ling Chun (she/her) is a multimedia artist from Hong Kong. Her work represents the coexistence of multicultural identities within a single society. Chun’s practice focuses on creating artifacts which speak about history with a contemporary sensibility. In her execution and conceptualization of creative projects, Chun brings together her knowledge of Chinese culture and her contemporary artistic vision. Chun aspires to create public artifacts to bring relevance to historical storytelling in her future artistic pursuits. Chun is the recipient of numerous awards including the ArtBridge Fellowship 2020 sponsored by Chihuly Garden and Glass and The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts emerging artist award in 2020. In 2019, Chun was shortlisted for the Young Master Art Prize in London and recently she has been shortlisted for 2021 Korea International Ceramics Biennale. Chun is currently based in Seattle. She works as a ceramic educator at North Seattle College and also as an educational guide for the Wing Luke Museum.