In Memoriam E.W. ROSS

Last week, a very close friend shared a dream he had about Ross:

“It was spring and he was outside looking fit and curious about the world around him….”

From this beautiful image, I imagined Ross at Ox-Bow, a place where he was very much at home.

To say that Ox-Bow is an immersive experience would be an understatement. It finds a way into your soul, and so it was with Ross. I learned to love it as he did; every quirky cabin, every studio, every homemade feature of the place, and especially the natural landscape.

As much as he embraced all the special places he lived and traveled—Ireland, SW France, and his home in Rogers Park—Ox-Bow was truly exceptional for Ross. And it was so because of how much he loved to share it. For Ross, Ox-Bow was meant to be a shared experience. He wanted everyone he knew to be a part of it and to have their own relationship with the place.

I first knew him when he was the Program Director, but Ross served many roles over the course of his 35 years with Ox-Bow. As a teacher, director, board member, and particularly as a landscape artist, Ross brought his democratic approach. He believed that everyone should have access to art, regardless of one’s background, ability, or age. I am grateful that he connected me and so many others to Ox-Bow, so that we can continue his legacy of joy in sharing its inspiration and magnetism with friends, family, and students. At Ox-Bow, Ross and I shared artmaking in the studios, hiking to the Crow’s Nest, canoe trips on the lagoon, and fishing with our boys.

To speak further of legacy, Ross founded Ox-Bow’s Pre-College program for high school students. He was always thinking of ways to creatively expand programming by engaging alumni and finding partnership opportunities with other arts organizations. How fitting it was that we celebrated Ross for his contributions to Ox-Bow as our 2018 honoree just this past July, coming at the end of his week co-teaching the very course he founded.

For me personally, Ross’ legacy is that of an artist, friend, and teacher, as I saw all of those identities present within him. He taught me and many others about how to observe and understand the natural world as an artist. He carried the traditions of Ox-Bow in his own way and is now forever linked to the continuum of artists who form the foundation of this artist community.

I came to understand Ox-Bow as he did; as special, magical places that form a natural sanctuary. And I learned from Ross the sacredness of the place, how rare it is, the history of the artists who were there, and our place in that history. I learned about the legends of Ox-Bow and the pantheon of founders and artists who made it possible: the Shrivers, Fursmann and Clute, Tallmadge, Mary Kay, Alice Bogart, Edgar Rupprecht and Isobel MacKinnon, Olendorf, Lanyon, Tillstrom, Betsy Rupprecht and so many others.

And now to those legends, I commend my dear friend E.W. Ross.