Artist Profile: Sarah Ann Banks

Sarah Ann Banks talks digital art, surfing eBay, and telling the story of a baby mammoth.

Like many artists, Banks shares time between her studio practice and contracted gigs. In her case, such gigs include design work for esteemed brands such as Harper's Bazaar, Urban Outfitters, and Coach. Banks channeled her ever present spark while discussing these opportunities, but there was no comparison for the enthusiasm that emerged when she started discussing her studio practice. Here she allows her imagination and current obsessions to carry her to the furthest reaches. Inspirations include deep dives into Ebay where she enjoys hunting for vintage toys made in the USSR. “They have an amazing talent for [making] the most haunted squeak toys,” she explained with a laugh. During my studio visit in July, Banks was working with an antiques seller to secure a vintage Edward Mobley elephant-shaped toy box. Banks follows these obsessions and threadlines with dogged dedication. This focus has proved a major asset to the narrative component of her work. “I get fixated on something I see and then I try to develop a backstory,” Banks explains.

WolfDog by Sarah Banks. Image courtesy of the artist.

This dedication and attention results in rich characters at the forefront of her designs and complex landscapes composing the backdrop. Also present is the whimsical inspirations sourced from Banks’s childhood. Those familiar with Littlest Pet Shop and My Little Pony will see the resemblance in the luxurious eyelashes and bobble-sized heads of Banks’s creations. Don’t let this whimsy be mistaken for simplicity. Fueling her worlds are inspirations from science-minded podcasts. In her hydra series she explores anti-aging properties and the eternal nature of these mysterious (and very real) species of the Cnidaria phylum. And as one might expect from someone hunting Ebay for USSR-era children’s toys, some of Banks’s characters house a distinctly haunted look inside their sweet, doe eyes.

Most recently, the character that has been knocking on the door of Banks’s imagination is a mammoth. Specifically, a baby mammoth, once frozen in the ice, who has unfrozen in a heat wave. The narrative takes inspiration from biotech company Colossal BioScience, which is working to bring extinct species (such as the mammoth) back to life through genetic engineering. She is particularly fascinated by the paradox of such an ancient creature in infant form. “I'm interested in making some sort of body of work that's all about one story,” Banks says, which contrasts her more recent works that focus on small, unrelated stories. Her hunch is that this baby mammoth might be the perfect lead. This isn’t the only shift Banks is contemplating, she’s also interested in converting her digital renderings to paintings and drawings.

Mammoth Caterpillar by Sarah Ann Banks. Image Courtesy of the artist.

When Banks first came to Ox-Bow during the summer of 2018, she wasn’t strictly a digital artist. At the time she was an undergraduate student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. While pursuing her degree, she shared her focus between ceramics and digital art. Since graduating, Banks stepped away from ceramics and focused on deepening her digital practice. But now she’s itching to expand that practice through different forms. All this coincides with Banks's return to Ox-Bow. Six years after her first visit, Banks was invited to campus for a three week stay as one of two 2024 Alumni Artists-in-Residence. In preparation for her time at Ox-Bow, where she believed the environment would be most conducive to manifesting these more physical works, she took a class from an artist who specializes in turning 3d artwork to oil paintings.

Mammoth Risograph by Sarah Ann Banks. Image courtesy of the artist.

Once on campus, Banks wasted no time unearthing the mammoth from her subconscious. After setting up her computer, she began rendering the baby mammoth. Through various iterations, Banks established the dynamic range of this ancient, infant creature. In one depiction, two mammoths frolic through a field of flowers in a carefree yet deeply feverish dream. Another showcases the mammoth’s capacity for loneliness as tears well in their eyes. In yet another, the creature, abstracted to only its head, calls to mind a talisman or deity. Banks translated two of these portraits into oil paintings, using the methods of the tutorial she took before arriving at Ox-Bow. The translation from digital to physical, felt poetically reminiscent of the mammoth's own journey from DNA to physical. While the oil paintings can’t capture the same literalism of digital work, the layers of paint and depth of color created their own sort of realness.

Mammoth Spiral by Sarah Ann Banks. Image courtesy of the artist.

Continuing with more physical translations, Banks also utilized Ox-Bow’s print studio during her residency. In particular, she experimented with the Risograph. “In 3D [work] you can be endlessly tweaking,” Banks explained, but many of these details fade amidst the granular nature of Risos. In the instance of the flowery fever dream, the faded quality works in favor of the piece. It’s as if we're viewing the young mammoth through a coming-of-age camcorder shot. Through experimentation of form, Banks is able to capture soulful portraits with oil painting, nostalgia with Riso prints, and the hyperreal with digital. Over the course of three weeks, Banks lived into the quintessential Artist Residency experience. She dug deep into her practice, experimented with new forms, and invested in the resources on campus. At the intersection of Bank’s passion and Ox-Bow’s offerings, she brought plans and visions to life and the story she produced was one so characteristic of her work: wholly whimsical and deeply soulful. 

Sarah Ann Banks is a digital artist based in Brooklyn, New York, working primarily with 3D animation software. She uses the virtual space to build an expansive world full of fantastical objects and creatures. These creations are born from vintage objects, nature, and her own personal narratives. Banks develops stories and personalities that overlap between her works, updating with her own interests and daily life. These artworks often act as a diary, tracking her daily interests and fixations. The content ranges from distressed carnival prizes to moody gargoyles. Banks received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2019. Some of her recent clients include Instagram, Urban Decay, Coach, and Harper’s Bazaar.

This article was written by Shanley Poole, Engagement Liaison & Storyteller and was based on interviews conducted in April and July of 2024.

Ox-News: Summer Reading

Highlights from Jon Brown, Chidinma Nnoli, kg, and more!

Dear Readers,

Since long before my appointment as Storyteller at Ox-Bow, storytelling has been a part of the fabric of this treasured, 114 year-old institution. It’s how traditions, culture, and lore pass from one generation of Ox-Bowians to the next. In my role, I’m able to talk to the torch bearers of these traditions: faculty who have taught for decades, fellows who are spending their first summer on campus, and everyone in between. In 2023, we launched Ox-Bow News on our website. As we round out over a year of sharing stories online, we wanted to share some of our favorites. In this batch of highlights we share the story of our favorite bartender Jon Brown, former fellow Jack Holly, Artist-in-Residence Chidinma Nnoli, and many beloved others! Thanks for journeying with me and these artists by engaging with their stories. I look forward to sharing more story highlights with you in the months to come.

With admiration and gratitude,

Shanley Poole, Engagement Liaison & Storyteller

John Brown serves Ashley M. Freeby a drink. Photo by Jamie Kelter Davis.

Partner Profile: John Brown

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.

A still from Jack Holly’s film Big Yellow Horse. Image courtesy of the artist.

Summer Fellow: 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.

A headshot of kg and their dog. Image courtesy of the artist.

Artist Profile: kg

When I entered kg’s weaving class in January of 2022, I was drawn first to a mighty stack of books at the back of the studio. kg had arrived with an entire traveling library (though they clarified it was only a 12th of their collection). Over the years, these books have served as objects of sentiment and inspiration to kg’s practice and method of instruction. “I don’t actually assign readings,” they said. Instead, they talk about the possibilities with their students and allow them to mutually agree upon the texts they’ll engage together. After only a brief conversation with kg that January, I left with multiple book recommendations. The readings eventually selected for their courses are “the result of the conversations that are happening between students.” This in turn creates a course, a syllabus, a series of conversations custom fit to the community of learners. With this background in mind, I knew kg was an ideal facilitator for Longform, a residency built upon long talks, walks, conversation, and contemplation.

A headshot of Chidinma Nnoli in front of her work. Image courtesy of the artist.

Artist Profile: Chidinma Nnoli

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.

Recent News:

• Exploring the path less traveled with Christen Baker

• Summer Fellow Write-Up

• Visionary Awardee: John Rossi

• Visionary Awardee: Larry Gammons

Banner image: Portrait of John Rossi by Jack Holly. Image courtesy of the artist.

In Line

Exploring abundant joy in linework with Mark Thomas Gibson

“There's a certain type of drawer who's constantly looking for lines, who wants to see lines, who loves drawing,” Mark Thomas Gibson said, adding that that’s what initially attracted him to comics. He was in elementary school when he fell in love with his first comic, an issue of Wolverine by John Buscema.

Gibson still finds himself drawn to lines, but as he’s spent more time with comics his care for the genre has grown in its diversity. Beyond the linework and style, he believes comics are an essential way in which we can connect to others stories and offer our own. He sees voices, intention, and individual perspectives shining through his students’ work.

Mark Thomas Gibson delivers a lecture under the tent on the meadow. Photo by Dominique Muñoz (Summer Fellow, 2024).

Despite Gibson’s current adoration for comics, which started in his youth, he set them aside for a number of years. He described himself as a product of the 1950’s war on comics. Born in 1980, Gibson explained that war lasted well beyond the 50’s. Even in undergrad he resisted taking a drawing class “because drawing was the devil,” according to his upbringing. When he finally took the course, he fell in love fast, describing the experience as meeting an evil mistress.

When the dean of his department in graduate school visited Gibson’s studio, it was a drawing that the dean purchased. Gibson remembers questioning his decision, wishing he’d instead been more attracted to one of his paintings. The dean left the young artist with these parting words, “All this other shit doesn’t matter. These drawings, that’s it!” A tough pill to swallow, it took Gibson another two years before he accepted those words. Eventually he came around. Not only did his drawings attract viewers, Gibson also realized he found more joy in producing drawings.

This realization left a profound impact on Gibson and has transformed his relationship with both his creative practice and teaching. Gibson values the moments in the studio when he catches a student lighting up about their own idea. In those moments he asks them, “don’t you want more of that?” Over and over, he finds that when students are resistant to pursuing that spark, it’s because someone along the way told them “this isn’t right.” In Gibson’s space, he strives to get students back in touch with their own voice and grant them trust and access to the limitless joy that comes from using that voice.

Gibson insists that working from that place of enthusiasm is key to giving back to other artists. You can only give to others when you are feeling satisfied in your own practice. He admires the comic community for its commitment to this philosophy. Early in his career he sat down with a prolific comic writer at their house and the writer looked over his work. “He didn’t ask for anything in return, he just gave,” Gibson marveled. Evident in Gibson’s own life is this same generosity. Contrary to some other creatives, he doesn’t seem fatigued from teaching or mentorship. Instead, he delights in the opportunity to nurture their potential. He makes it clear that it’s not all encouragement, “I’ll question you, I’ll challenge you, but I always make it clear I’m on your side.”

This is the first year that Gibson’s course, “Considering Comics: Graphic Narratives in Ink,” will be offered at Ox-Bow. Students enrolled can expect to be guided by Gibson’s welcoming spirit, fervor for comics, and vast technique. His goal in every course is to equip students with a well stocked toolkit that will serve them well beyond their weeks on campus.

Headshot of Mark Thomas Gibson. Image courtesy of the artist.

Mark Thomas Gibson's (b. 1980, Miami, Florida) personal lens on American culture stems from his viewpoint as an artist, a professor, and an American history buff. These myriad and often colliding perspectives fuel his exploration of contemporary culture through the language of painting and drawing, revealing a vision of America where every viewer is implicated as a potential character within the story. Gibson has released two books: Some Monsters Loom Large, 2016, with funding from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts; and Early Retirement, 2017, with Edition Patrick Frey in Zurich. Gibson has been awarded: residencies at Yaddo; the Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency; a fellowship from the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, Philadelphia; a Hodder Fellowship from the Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University; a Guggenheim Fellowship from the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York; and was named a 2022 Grantee by The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, New York. In 2023 Gibson had solo exhibitions at Sikkema & Jenkins Co. in New York and MOCAD in Detroit, and was included in the exhibition Rising Sun: Artists in an Uncertain America at the African American Museum in Philadelphia. Gibson is represented by M+B, (Los Angeles) and Loyal, (Stockholm, Sweden). He is currently an Assistant Professor of Painting at Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University and lives and works in Philadelphia.

This article was written by Shanley Poole, Engagement Liaison & Storyteller. The article was originally published in our Experience Ox-Bow 2024 Catalog.

Banner: Mark Thomas Gibson, The Boys, 2023, ink on canvas. Image courtesy of the artist.

Carousel photos of students working in the studio by Dominique Muñoz (Summer Fellow, 2024).

Artist Profile: Paul Peng

Written by Natia Ser (Summer Fellow, 2023), this article dives into the contagious curiosity of Artist-in-Residence Paul Peng.

Before I recognized Paul Peng as one of Ox-Bow's Artist-in-Residence, I thought the face that had been showing up at every single campus event, always flashing a smile, belonged to a student who had a genuine and intense curiosity for other people's practice. He would show up to Faculty and Visiting Artist lectures, gripping his sketchbook and scribbling notes down as the presentation unfolded, before eagerly raising his hand to direct thoughtful inquiries to the speaker. It was on another night, while passing by him glued to his laptop in the Old Inn, where he engaged me in conversation filled with fervor despite the hour (math and art at 12 a.m.!), that I knew he was as avid of a speaker as he was a listener. This summer marks Paul's return to Ox-Bow since he first took a class here six years ago—which he fondly recalls as the time he wore a smile "all week long." With the same radiant beam, he sets foot on these grounds again, exerting an energy that illuminates through his countenance to warm everyone he meets. When I called it a night, he waved at me enthusiastically with a peace sign. Classic Paul. 

Paul points at his favorite work made during the residency.

The same energy permeates Paul’s art practice. In his Ox-Bow studio, his drawings overflow the walls and his sketchbooks—which he divides between "freak" sketchbooks and "actual" sketchbooks. "But the conditions of these books are the same in terms that there is no pressure in making them," he says as he flips through pages of old and new appearances of his rendition of Dipper from Gravity Falls. Weaving through his illustrations in the space are Risograph prints, collages, and ceramics—it seems that Paul has ventured beyond pencil sketches on paper during his time here.

Paul's favorite work he made during his residency—Dipper reimagined as a Chinese dragon over a magazine cut-out.

Paul has also been dabbling with a new way of mark-making. Covering one of his studio walls are dark, uniformed blobs and strokes that fill up sheets of paper. Bolstered by an interest in religion his whole life and inspired by the tranquil scenery of Ox-Bow that he has been waking up to recently, his latest endeavors involve using Sumi ink to make repetitive marks as a means to study Zen Buddhism. In describing the influences of this meditative practice, Paul recalls one of his favorite Pittsburgh-based artists whose work is informed by the same beliefs, as well as his sister who once commented on how Paul's intuitive, improvisatory approach to his works converges with the Zen Buddhist notion of a beginner's mind. "[Zen Buddhism] really specifically solidified and put language for me and gave me a really wonderful framework for how I wanted to approach my time at Oxbow, which is to just really listen to the surroundings and figure out what I can actually do here. And just reading through the Zen practices, the almost natural conclusion of that line of thought is this practice that's dedicated entirely to not making any discoveries. You're just trying to exist in the most basic sense of that, and the most purest sense of that, and the most expansive sense of that."

After his residency at Ox-Bow, Paul looks forward to returning to Pittsburgh where he will be moving to a new home and, hopefully, turning one of the rooms into a studio.

Influenced by Zen Buddhism, Paul has been experimenting with new ways of mark-making using Sumi ink.

With access to Ox-Bow’s Ceramics Studio, Paul ventured out of his comfort zone to explore other mediums like clay.

Paul attends a faculty lecture at Ox-Bow.

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.

Photos by Natia Ser (Summer Fellow, 2023).

All Fired Up

Henry J.H. Crissman and Virginia Torrence share about the importance of kindling community and their passion for wood-fired ceramics.

At the start of my call with artists Virginia Torrence and Henry Crissman, they introduced me to the coffee mugs from which they sipped. Torrence favored a brightly freckled mug that couldn’t have held more than eight ounces. Crissman showcased a more sizable and earth-toned mug with a rock sticking out of its handle. As they shared about each vessel and bantered together, I quickly came to understand the personal connection they share with such objects as well as each other. Given their background, such familiarity shouldn’t come as a surprise…

The artists sit on a potters wheel. Each holds a dog in their lap. Photo courtesy of the artists.

The Early Years of the Artists

Virginia Torrence and Henry Crismass share an extensive history with both pottery and each other. In their early teenage years, Crissman and Torrence attended artist markets together around Michigan. Crissman would bring along his potter's wheel and perform live throwings (often in exchange for their booth fee to be waived) while Torrence managed the sales. Eventually they set up their first studio in Crissman’s family barn. They shared the space with a pony who was particularly winded in one direction and namesaked the studio Farting Pony Pottery in honor of their studio mate. This would only serve as the beginning of their endeavors in pottery.

Both artists attended the College for Creative Studies in undergrad, which led them to fellowships at Ox-Bow in 2010 and 2012. Ox-Bow was celebrating 100 years during Crissman’s summer. In one story he recounted the timely return of the bell, which had been allegedly stolen years before from campus and serendipitously returned for its centennial anniversary. Crissman also admitted to rocking a mullet all summer long. Torrence cited her summer in 2012 as “the best summer of [her] life.” Her work placement stationed her in maintenance alongside John Rossi, whom she showered with no shortage of praise. “I made such incredible friends that I still have today and it was so formative for me,” Torrence said. Crissman also reveled in the impact of his summer surrounded by artists such as Theaster Gates (Visiting Artist) and Sterling Ruby (Faculty), citing that “Ox-Bow gave [him] the tools to imagine how [his] practice could be.”

Woodfire & Community

Woodfired ceramics entered Torrence and Crissman’s lives in a less than typical fashion. In college they were assigned to build a kiln for woodfiring, a ceramics process they had never before tried. The assignment proved influential, inspiring Crissman to ask the department for the scrap parts of the retired kilns. After building his own kiln, Crissman fixed it to a trailer and toured the country in a community initiative seeking to bring access to pottery. Ceramics' potential for creating community was something Torrence and Crissman both prized. When they left Eastern Michigan to go to graduate school at Alfred University, they knew they’d eventually return to the Detroit area. “Our community was here already,” Torrence explained, adding, “We’re thankful to be here. We have such an incredible group of people that orbit around [Detroit].”

The project Torrence and Crissman returned to their home state to start is now the Ceramics School in Hamtramck. Part community arts school, part artist residency program, the school grew from what others had modeled to Crissman and Torrence in undergrad. “The artists that we admired when we were in undergrad were people that were making these broader community practices,” Crissman said.

Crissman and Torrence give an Artist Lecture in the tent on the meadow. Photo by Dominique Muñoz (Summer Fellow, 2024).

Returning to Ox-Bow

At Ox-Bow they saw a similar spirit at work. After each of their seasons there, they started dreaming of ways to return. During two of the summers following Crissman’s fellowship, he visited briefly to assist with a woodfire course taught by Israel Davis. But in 2023, their dream was realized more concretely. Crissman and Torrence officially returned to teach their first course at Ox-Bow during one of the seven summer sessions. The communal nature of the woodfiring course they led captured the attention of their students and those around campus. It wasn’t long before someone proposed the couple return for a community-based workshop that fall. “Something that feels really important and special to me is how little it's changed,,” Torrence said, adding that in particular she’s grateful for the communities that are nurtured on campus.

Their fall workshop in particular embraced and fostered the tight-knit community that so many Ox-Bow attendees experience. For ten days, participating artists shared hours upon hours in the studio together. The loading of the kiln has become a particularly important experience in their course and workshop. “We load the kiln and then we sing it songs… fire themed songs,” Crissman explained. “And transformation themed,” Torrence chimed in. The two have dubbed this night-long tradition Kiln-aoke. Between their festive traditions and enthusiasm for introducing newcomers to the art of woodfiring, it’s no wonder why participants have raved about their experiences with Torrence and Crissman. Those interested in learning about the art of woodfiring can sign up for their upcoming workshop, which will run October 22–November 2, 2024.

Self-portrait pots by Crissman and Torrence. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Virginia Rose Torrence (She/her) co-owns, operates and teaches at Ceramics School, a community ceramics studio and Artist Residency in Hamtramck, Michigan. Virginia’s art practice is sometimes making pottery, and sometimes making sculptures. She received her BFA in Craft/Ceramics from the College for Creative Studies (Detroit, Michigan) in 2013 and her MFA in Ceramics from Alfred University (Alfred, New York) in 2016. Virginia lives and makes art in Hamtramck, MI with her partner and co-teacher Henry Crissman, two dogs, two cats and a parakeet.

Henry James Haver Crissman earned a BFA in Craft from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI in 2012, and a MFA in Ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, New York in 2015. He now lives and works in Hamtramck, Michigan where he and his wife and fellow artist, Virginia Rose Torrence, founded and co-direct Ceramics School, a community ceramics studio and artist residency. He regards teaching as an integral aspect of his creative practice, and in addition to teaching at Ceramics School, he is currently an adjunct professor in the Studio Art and Craft Department at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan.

This article was written by Shanley Poole, Engagement Liaison & Storyteller. The article was originally published in our Experience Ox-Bow 2024 Catalog.

Carosel photos courtesy of the artists.

Visionary Awardee: John Rossi

John Rossi’s 30-Year Legacy of Luminosity at Ox-Bow

Looking back, my first memory of John Rossi is a fitting one. I initially met him during April of 2021 when I came to campus for a final round interview for what would become my first job at Ox-Bow. My encounter was brief. He stood atop a ladder in the old inn fixing an antique chandelier in place. He gave me a friendly hello, I returned it, and that was that. My first Rossi sighting.

Two years later, I’m walking around campus with John. It’s a cool sunny day in May. The sky shines blue, but only through a filtered haze of clouds. John wears, as he does most days, a plaid flannel. His hat, like most of his hats, is sun faded. I own the same one he does, a forest green in baseball style, but his has paled several shades from mine.

John Rossi, wearing a sun-faded baseball cap, tends to the canoe stand on campus alongside Nate Skiffington, Assistant Facilities Manager. Photo by Dominique Muñoz (Summer Fellow, 2024).

John has several titles here at Ox-Bow, from his official role as Facilities Manager to the cheeky title of Pricker Daddy. Today I’m here to learn why he’s earned one of his most infamous titles: The Light Wizard.

From the moment one walks onto campus there are lights to guide your way. If you arrive after dusk or before dawn, you’ll be greeted first by strings of pixie lights. In every room, you’ll find lamps intentionally selected and slightly altered to meet the aesthetics of our unique building environments. And of course, the tent under which Friday night dance parties take place has been adorned with the perfect mood lighting to fit the revolving party themes. 

John Rossi stands behind a work bench in The Rob (the campus’s maintenance building). Photo by Dominique Muñoz (Summer Fellow, 2024).

John isn’t alone in his adoration of lighting on campus. He notes that what originally drew impressionist painters was the natural light of the area. “It reminded them of France,” he said. For this reason, he’s partial to using warm lighting in the cabins and on exterior buildings. Daylight bulbs he finds too disruptive in how it attempts to imitate the sun. “For most of history, artificial light was warm,” he said, noting how its hue mimicked hearths and candles. Using these warmer bulbs rather than cool lighting helps John’s work imitate what it might’ve once been like to spend time on campus during the days when things were illuminated by gaslights and lanterns.

Of course, some of John’s work is much more bold, not so rooted in imitating nature. When he invites me into his studio space, many of the works in progress are lamps and lights. Just yesterday he spent the evening at the metals studio to work with the plasma cutter. Over the course of the night, he transformed various tin cans into lamp shades. This morning, one of the pieces hangs afresh over the entrance of the studio. The tin can lantern is complemented by a carnival chandelier, purple and orange, equal parts normcore and fabulous. Above that sits a string of blue and purple Christmas lights. Fitting, as that’s where John’s love of lights started.

John Rossi stands outside his studio and looks down at a pencil. Photo by Dominique Muñoz (Summer Fellow, 2024).

When I ask him about this passion’s origin story, John doesn’t hesitate: “Probably around age four or five,” aka the age that memory begins. For all we know, John’s love of lights could’ve been at first sight. He recalled playing with lights as a kid. He’d sneak into the closet where his parents stored the Christmas lights, stage them, then hide the lights away before his parents could find out. Eventually he took on the role of hanging the Christmas lights at both his parents’ and grandmother’s houses. Little did young John know, eventually he’d find a place where this passion would be prized and celebrated.

(left) A chandelier selected by John Rossi for the Talmadge cabin. Photo by Clare Britt. (right) Fairy lights in the trees. Photo by Jamie Kelter Davis.

John takes me to the tent on the meadow, underneath which he’s set up a variety of paper lanterns shaped as stars. He altered them himself to accommodate bigger sockets. While under the tent, John gives me a briefing on the physics of lights, explaining why LEDS produce a stronger spectrum than incandescents, which often fail to produce bright purples and blues. As he throws around jargon like diodes, prisms, and cones it becomes clear to me just how deep John’s knowledge of light goes. 

Across campus, other cleverly engineered solutions abound, all the work of Rossi. Some of these include collaborations with other studios: a hand blown glass vase that ensconces its light bulb and a full string of plasma-cut tin cans hanging behind The Rob (facilities headquarters). It can be said without exaggeration that in every building and even along pathways, John’s expertise and artistic touch literally light the way.

John Rossi stands in front of the floral, teal doors of his studio. Photo by Dominique Muñoz (Summer Fellow, 2024).

This article was written by Shanley Poole and was based on interviews conducted with John Rossi in 2023. Banner photo by Dominique Muñoz (Summer Fellow, 2024).

Visionary Awardee: Larry Gammons

A Lifelong Legacy of Community Impact in Saugatuck-Douglas

Born and raised in Big Rapids, Michigan, Larry Gammons spent many summers vacationing on Lake Michigan’s shoreline. He and his partner Carl Jennings especially enjoyed Saugatuck-Douglas and would take multiple trips with their boat to the quaint town during the sixties. In conversation, Gammons fondly recalled his visits to the Blue Tempo, a popular (and perhaps West Michigan’s first) gay bar, where his eventual partner worked as a bartender in the sixties. In 1976, the venue was destroyed by a fire. For several years after, its absence was felt by community members like Gammons and Jennings. Rather than sit idly by, the couple began scheming. The dream settled into an epic vision for a gay resort, which would feature lodging, a bar, restaurant, pool, and lots of parties.

Manifesting this ambitious dream proved no easy task. Though real estate options weren’t lacking in Saugatuck, local government support for a gay resort certainly was. Multiple times the city of Saugatuck denied the couple’s request to secure a liquor license. “​​They just kept turning us down and turning us down because they found out it was going to be gay,” Gammons confided. After yet another city meeting in which the majority voted against the resort, Gammons and Jennings went for a drive through Douglas to take their mind off the latest rejection. It was on that ride that the couple spotted the shuttered Amity Motel. The instant they set eyes on it they thought, “that could be a great resort!” From there, things finally began to fall into place. After Gammons and Jennings made an offer on the property, the Douglas council members approved its use at the next town meeting. In 1981, their resort finally opened.

Larry sits on a bench in the Pride Celebration Garden. Photo by Dominique Muñoz (Summer Fellow, 2024).

For nearly two decades, Gammons and Jennings oversaw what is still known as The Dunes Resort. Their vision was brought to life, including the restaurant at which Jennings served as the head chef. After buying the resort the couple became full-time residents in Saugatuck-Douglas. While the dream may have finally been realized, Gammons expressed that those first years held a number of challenges. In an article with the Holland Sentinel in 2019, Gammons told reporters, “We had bomb threats and Ku Klux Klan threats… just all kinds of things.” In striking contrast, the community today has come to embrace its reputation as one of Michigan’s queerest cities. 

Gammons hypothesizes that many young folks in the area might have trouble comprehending what the atmosphere was like forty years ago. It was for this reason that Gammons created the Pride Celebration Garden in downtown Douglas following Jennings’s passing in 2019. He wanted to build a memorial to commemorate community members as well as his partner. He also hopes the garden will serve as a reminder that the culture of Saugatuck-Douglas is not one to take for granted, nor has it always existed.

In 1999, Gammons and Jennings made the difficult decision to sell the Dunes Resort. “When you create something it’s hard to give it up,” Gammons explained, but he and Jennings knew it was the right time to pass it on. While the restaurant has since closed under new ownership, the Dunes still hosts a bar, pool, and an abundance of parties. After selling the Dunes, Gammons found new ways to engage with the Saugatuck-Douglas community. He and Jennings co-founded the organization West Shore Aware, which provides financial support to non-profits and awards scholarships to LGBTQ+ individuals and allies. Over two decades, the organization has given away over $1.4 million in scholarships and awards, all of which have gone to the benefit of the West Michigan community.

Larry amidst the flowers in the Pride Celebration Garden. Photo by Dominique Muñoz (Summer Fellow, 2024).

It was Arthur Frederick, former owner of the Button Gallery, that eventually invited Gammons to an Ox-Bow fundraiser. “That was 43 years ago… we had our heart in Ox-Bow from day one,” said Gammons. From the start, he and Jennings recognized the instrumental role that Ox-Bow played in the history of the area. Eventually, Gammons even served as a local board member.

At this year’s Field of Vision: Summer of Love benefit, Ox-Bow recognizes Larry Gamons with the Community Honoree Visionary Award. Gammon’s impact and legacy in Saugatuck-Douglas—from the Dunes Resort to the Pride Celebration Garden, from West Shore Aware to his service at Ox-Bow—spans decades and will surely continue to do so. We look forward to honoring Gammons at the event. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased through June 24, 2024.

Lead support for Field of Vision: Summer of Love is provided by the Holly Palmer Foundation.

Summer Fellow: Christen Baker

Exploring the path less traveled with Christen Baker (Summer Fellow, 2023).

During Christen Baker’s sophomore year of college, she enrolled in her first and only studio glass course of her undergraduate years. That semester would ultimately go on to shape the path Baker pursues today. After graduating from the Kansas City Art Institute with a BFA in Ceramics, she enrolled in an MFA program at Tyler School of Art & Architecture to study glass. With almost no hotshop experience, she was a unique candidate. “Most people don’t want to try to learn new, crazy skills when they’re entering grad school because you’re already doing a lot,” Baker said. But she was invigorated by the prospect of pursuing a new specialty.

Baker describes her transition to glasswork as “largely trial and error.” But don’t let her humble words fool you into overlooking her alluring and thoughtful work. While glass often serves as a focal point, she doesn’t let her new degree define her. Instead, she identifies as a multidisciplinary artist in which “[glass] grounds the work.” Alongside glass, she has brought photography and printmaking into her practice. During her time at Ox-Bow, Baker spent her spare hours in the Works on Paper Studio, where she learned how to use the risograph.

Christen Baker at work in the studio. Photo by Jamie Kelter Davis.

Baker also leaned into research after discovering the ongoing environmental challenges facing Saugatuck. During the summer of 2023, numerous articles, demonstrations, and yard signs were erected in opposition to a marina that would be built on the Lake Michigan shoreline. In a city that prides itself on its unmarred lakeshore, many Saugatuck citizens were determined to raise hell. Their efforts garnered the attention of Baker, and her interest inevitably began to influence her work. 

At the group exhibition “The Hole” in Ox-Bow’s Betsy Gallery, Baker contributed three distinct pieces to the exhibition. The first of the pieces, a stack of risographs, revealed two-tone images of the dunes. Next to the pile was a note to viewers: “Take one image to transform this landscape.” Elevated less than two feet off the ground was a trail of glass vessels, filled with sand, and embedded with stake flags that a surveyor might use to map a property. The last piece featured an anchor tethered to a rope. Far from subtle and paying tactful homage to the Saugatuck community’s voices, Baker’s works portrayed the imminent danger the environment faced. In February 2024, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy denied a permit to the developers seeking to build a marina. To the relief of many Saugatuck citizens, this decision has ensured the protection of the lakeshore

Another of the most fruitfall aspects of Baker’s time on campus was the friendship that blossomed between Baker and Glass Studio Assistant, Pricilla Lo. “We both just hit it off immediately,” Baker said, adding that the common threads between their work allowed them to learn a great deal from each other.

As summer drew to a close, Baker was open about her hopes to return to campus. True to her ambitious tendencies, she wasted no time in making that dream a reality. Alongside friend and fellow glass artist, Pricilla Lo, Baker will return to Ox-Bow to teach Glass Multiples. Baker’s multidisciplinary approach will be well utilized as one of the course’s instructors. With much of the course centered in mold making, Baker will tap into her ceramic experiences that often centered around mold making. Prospective students can read more about this course in our 2024 Summer Course Catalog.

In the meantime, Baker—in collaboration with Ox-Bow Alumni Victoria Ahmadizadeh Melendez—is finishing a residency with She Bends and the Museum of Craft and Design. The residency will culminate with the exhibition Neon as Soulcraft at the Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco.

Christen Baker and Pricilla Kar Yee Lo at work together in the studio. Photo by Jamie Kelter Davis.

Christen Baker is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the complex relationship between attention, desire, and economies that emerge from it. Baker earned a BFA in Ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute and a MFA from Tyler School of Art and Architecture. She currently lives and works in Philadelphia, where she continues to explore the geographies of public spaces and objects, real and imagined.

This article was written by Shanley Poole and was based on interviews conducted with Christen Baker in August 2023 and May 2024.

Carousel images of The Hole Exhibition by Natia Ser (Summer Fellow, 2023).

Press Release: NEA Grant

Ox-Bow School of Art to Receive $50,000 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

Longform Artists-in-Residence (2023) at work in the Krehbiel Ceramics Studio. Photo by Natia Ser (Summer Fellow, 2023).

SAUGATUCK, MICHIGAN –  Ox-Bow School of Art & Artists Residency is pleased to announce it has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for a Grants for Arts Projects award of $50,000. These funds will support Ox-Bow’s Longform Artist Residency. 

This is the eleventh grant designated to Ox-Bow by the NEA and is to date the largest grant received from the institution. In total, the NEA will award 1,135 Grants for Arts, totalling to more than $37 million as part of its second round of fiscal year 2024 grants. It is through grants such as this that Ox-Bow is able to realize their mission to connect artists to a network of creative resources, people, and ideas; an energizing natural environment; and rich artistic history and vital future.

“Projects like Ox-Bow School of Art & Artists’ Residency exemplify the creativity and care with which communities are telling their stories, creating connection, and responding to challenges and opportunities in their communities—all through the arts,” said NEA Chair, Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “So many aspects of our communities such as cultural vitality, health and wellbeing, infrastructure, and the economy are advanced and improved through investments in art and design, and the National Endowment for the Arts is committed to ensuring people across the country benefit.”

The funded project, Longform, is a studio residency that seeks to provide an intensive, creative development experience, fostering deep connections amongst facilitators, visiting artists, and participants. One facilitator, three visiting artists, and a group of residents from any career stage, generation, and practicing any media shape the residency experience through a robust schedule of lectures, readings, studio visits, workshops, critical discussions, and studio time. In 2024 artist kg will return as the residency’s facilitator.

“Ox-Bow is so grateful to the NEA for this recognition and support,” says Executive Director, Shannon Stratton, “Ox-Bow is always looking for ways to evolve and strengthen our program to meet the needs of artists where they are at today and the NEA’s acknowledgement by way of this grant affirms that we are on the right track. We are so appreciative of this funding as it helps us to continue to establish Longform as a mainstay of our programming.”

Founded in 1910, Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency is an arts-based nonprofit with a rich legacy of empowering and investing in artists. Their year around programming welcomes degree-seeking students, professional artists, and those new to the arts. The 115 acre campus – located alongside and protected by the dunes, forests, and waters of Saugatuck – cultivates a space that does not simply host its residents but enhances their practice. Both its facilities and faculty edify their longstanding mission: to serve as a network of creative resources, people, and ideas amidst an energizing natural environment inspired by its rich artistic history and fueled by the potential of a vital future.

Banner photo by Natia Ser (Summer Fellow, 2023).

Press Release: Ox-Bow Announces Culinary Artists-in-Residence

Ox-Bow Announces Culinary Artists-in-Residence

SAUGATUCK, MICHIGAN (May 9, 2024) – Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency announces the inaugural cohort of a new Culinary Artists-in-Residence program. This year-long program intends to bridge artists, food, and community both on Ox-Bow’s campus and beyond through a unique annual residency program for artists working at the intersection of food and art. This year’s artists are Edward Cabral, Sara Clugage, Dan Fethke, Hyun Jung Jun, and MAGNET.

“Artist residencies have always built community around food,” says Ox-Bow’s Executive Director, Shannon Stratton, “so naturally, it made sense to make food a bigger part of our programming. And in the studio, artists have been working with food and hospitality for years, so inviting a focused cohort together to experiment, collaborate with our kitchen, and produce some special programming was a natural fit for Ox-Bow.”

The residency invites the selected artists to campus in three installments during Summer 2024, Winter 2025, and Summer 2025. The artists will be supported with stipends, travel, and room and board at Ox-Bow. 

The yearlong program begins with individual one-week residencies during the summer and fall of 2024 that each culminate in a meal-based public event. The group will reassemble in winter 2025 for a 10-day residency and will conclude their tenure with a one or two day Art on the Meadow workshop, available for public enrollment in the summer of 2025. This first cohort will work with Ox-Bow’s team to help vision the program going forward, offering their insights and feedback.

Culinary Team Member Ren Rodriguez prepares a plate for the annual Field of Vision Benefit. Photo by Jamie Kelter Davis.

The new initiative plays upon many of Ox-Bow’s traditions, including their appreciation for the culinary arts and the organization's belief that quality food is central to fueling and inspiring artists.

“Ox-Bow is about building community,” Stratton continues, “so when we think about what new initiatives or programs to develop, we are always considering what we already are, what we already do, and what we already have that we can offer to more people. Food and shared meals have always been part of our legacy, so we are excited to invite more people to the table.”

Tickets for the public programs can be purchased at www.ox-bow.org/culinary-events.

About the artists:

Edward Cabral is an artist, baker, and maker. Born 1987 in Indiana, Cabral is currently based in New York. Cabral previously lived in Chicago, Illinois and has spent time throughout central Indiana, west Texas, and Kentucky. His work has been featured on Food Network, Disney+, and galleries through the midwest and New York.

Sara Clugage’s art practice focuses on economic and political issues in craft and food. She is Editor-in-Chief of Dilettante Army, an online magazine for visual culture and critical theory.

She has most recently been core faculty for the MA in Critical Craft Studies program at Warren Wilson College and her most recent publication is the 2021 monograph from the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, titled New Recipes: Cooking, Craft, and Performance. Sara is currently at work on a book project about Jell-O, animacy, and abstraction.

Daniel Pravit Fethke is an interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker, and educator from New York's Hudson Valley. Teaching is a central part of his practice, and he regularly facilitates workshops, cooking classes, and creative gatherings that center food and recipes as ways to explore identity, narrative, and culture. Daniel co-founded the mutual aid Thai+Chinese food pop-up Angry Papaya, and has hosted arts workshops at Dia:Beacon, Socrates Sculpture Park, and Ox-Bow School of Art & Artists’ Residency. He recently published an autobiographical Thai-American cookbook through Pratt Institute, where he also received his MFA in Fine Arts in 2023. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn.

Born in South Korea and based in Chicago, Hyun Jung Jun is an artist whose installations are measures and meditations which take up more time than they do space. Working with commonplace commodities such as candles, bread, wooden structures, Jun’s work borrows from familiar, domestic language to describe and search the ornate identities of our individuality and culture. In recent years, Jun has expanded her work to include edible forms in a cake project titled Dream Cake Test Kitchen. Jun received her BFA at SAIC and an MFA in Art Theory and Practice at Northwestern University. Her recent exhibitions include Goldfinch, LVL3, the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelly Foundation with Chicago Artists Coalition, No Place Gallery, Hans Gallery, The Drawing Room at Arts Club of Chicago and EXPO Chicago. Jun is one of Newcity’s breakout artists for 2021.

MAGNET (b. 1993) is an undisciplined artist, pastry chef, and disrupter working at the intersection of food and art anarchiving Black servitude and hospitality in the U.S. and the Caribbean. MAGNET creates works that embrace embodiment, play, and community collaborations. MAGNET's intention is to expand upon understandings of domesticity and carework using cake installations and food pop-ups, rugmaking, print, and painting. They have shared work and spoken on panels at the Museum of Contemporary Art: Chicago, Williams College Museum of Art, Women Made Gallery, Recess Art, Happy Gallery Chicago, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, Chicago Read/Write Library, and the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel. MAGNET is also the founder of THEIRS!, a variety performance night that highlighted queer and trans artists of color who are often overlooked and underrepresented.

Founded in 1910, Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency is an arts-based nonprofit with a rich legacy of empowering and investing in artists. Their year around programming welcomes degree-seeking students, professional artists, and those new to the arts. The 115 acre campus – located alongside and protected by the dunes, forests, and waters of Saugatuck – cultivates a space that does not simply host its residents but enhances their practice. Both its facilities and faculty edify their longstanding mission:to serve as a network of creative resources, people, and ideas amidst a energizing natural environment inspired by its rich artistic history and fueled by the potential of a vital future.

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 behind the bar at Winter Break 2023. 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.

Rooted in Ox-Bow

Operations Manager Aaron Cook shares his own history of life lived on Ox-Bow’s campus.

Aaron Cook first met Ox-Bow in the summer of 2011. What he remembers most about his initial visit was the way the summer light hit the campus. “The light was at its best… so warm and so inviting,” Aaron said. He initially came as a guest, visiting a friend who had landed a fellowship at Ox-Bow, but would eventually come to inhabit one of the most critical roles on Ox-Bow’s campus: Operations Manager. He described his connection with the campus as “an instant thing.” After encountering the campus, trails, and even a Friday night costume party, Aaron knew he’d be back someday. In the summer of 2015, he proved himself right when he returned as a volunteer. By that fall he became an official employee of “the heart of Ox-Bow,” a place more commonly known as the kitchen. 

Aaron Cook stands next to John Rossi in front of the freshly painted Tuck Shop while sun beams shine through the clouds. Photo by Claire Arctander.

Aaron acknowledged that it was the land and campus that initially drew him here, but it’s the people that have kept him here. There was one name in particular that Aaron gave credit… John Rossi. In 2016, Aaron assumed the role as Operations Manager, where he began working alongside John. Both mentor and friend, John has taught Aaron how to “hold the campus up.” John, who has been a part of Ox-Bow since the 90’s, works as Ox-Bow’s Facilities Manager–though Aaron proposed a more fitting title would be Master of Infrastructure and Magic. I asked Aaron if he could share any particularly memorable occasions with John and he recalled the infamous flood of 2019, citing that this crisis–which could’ve closed the campus down for the summer–was instead averted because of John’s clever work. “He’s the brains and the master of Ox-Bow,” Aaron said, “He’s one of the reasons I keep coming back.”

Like many of Ox-Bow’s staff members, Aaron doesn’t work on campus year around. In his words, Ox-Bow is a place that stays “in tune with the seasons.” During the winter and early spring, campus life and programming slows down. “Giving the natural landscape its credit is pretty important,” Aaron noted, elaborating that the pause allows staff to return to the campus with a renewed vibrancy year after year.

Another sense of renewal comes from the Tallmadge woods, which Aaron fondly calls “the perfect escape from the perfect escape.” Part of his job description includes maintaining the trails, but he has also spent a good amount of time walking the Crow’s Nest Trail for leisure. It’s clear that Aaron’s care for the natural landscape has only grown over the years. Shortly after the invasive hemlock wooly adelgid (HWA) was discovered near campus, Aaron set out with a crew to inspect the trees surrounding Ox-Bow. Spotting HWA takes a meticulous eye because of their small size, but Aaron vigilantly managed to spot the bugs on the underside of a hemlock tree. Once he found the first pocket, the crew noticed a number throughout the area. The monumental moment has led to fundraising efforts, which aim to combat the invasive species that preys upon the Tallmadge Wood’s dense collection of hemlock trees. Aaron noted that focusing on these efforts is a crucial part of maintaining the spirit of Ox-Bow.

Aaron holds his dog Juniper at the Crow’s Nest Trailhead as he stands between John Rossi and Mac Akin. Photo by Claire Arctander.

Throughout his time on campus, Aaron has worked in facilities, housekeeping, and the kitchen. These experiences have allowed him to intersect with almost every inch of campus. When asked if he had a favorite building on campus, he didn’t hesitate when he answered, “The Rob.” As the maintenance shop on campus, The Rob “is an amoeba of a place that is always changing and accepts anything.” Likewise, it is a place that’s always giving. A regular afternoon in the Rob for Aaron consists of offering advice and loaning tools to all who wander in. In many ways, it serves as a reflection of the entire campus. “Outside of the physical attributes, which we can’t take much credit for…” Aaron credits that the chemistry between the guests and residents of Ox-Bow is really what fuels the campus. Amidst meals, artist lectures, and even volleyball games, the traditional barriers dissolve and allow students, staff, and faculty to eat, learn, and play alongside one another. Simply put, there’s no other place like it. Aaron describes Ox-Bow as “its own community” and anyone who spends enough time on campus knows that he is one of its key forces. Aaron goes beyond just tending to Ox-Bow’s facilities, he carries traditions on, and lifts the community itself up.

This article was written by Shanley Poole and was initially published in the 2022 Experience Ox-Bow Catalog. The banner photo was taken by Jamie Kelter Davis.

Q&A with Dove Hornbuckle

In this Q&A from 2021, Ceramics Studio Manager Dove Hornbuckle shares about their intuitive and spiritual relationship with clay and the oasis of Ox-Bow.

1. Tell us about yourself.

To me, there feels like an infinite amount of ways to describe oneself as there are so many human perspectives to observe oneself from: it could be within a depression, or ego-based, nostalgic, full of pity or passion, self-lacerating or affirming, with great love and humility, etc.

I feel very empathetic to the roles of ‘maker’ and ‘artist’ - to me, they are romantic and robust, somewhat direct and full of self invention.

I aspire to be a maker and artist of my full potential, someone who has the courage and self knowledge to continue forward, despite the infinite varieties of ordinary human traumas and hiccups that greet us, and knock us slightly off course.

I was born in New York City, my deep rooted home, as it was there that I first relished in my queerness and authentic optimism as a young adult. I would like to travel broadly and know many many people, and feel at home more so in the greater pasture of our connected planet.

I first came to Ox-Bow as a summer fellow in 2018 after I graduated from Rhode Island School of Design’s (RISD) master’s program in ceramics. Finding home, queer connectivity, and artistic fulfillment at Ox-Bow has been one of the greatest gifts of my adult life.

Dove Hornbuckle, Self-Control, 2020, stoneware and glaze, 21 L x 13 W x 18 H inches,

 2: Describe Your Own Art Practice

I think of my art practice as putting ideas to form. It’s an intuitive, spiritual, mysterious, evasive and highly rewarding mutable experience. It is also a desire for communication. The process of creating art is a pathway to truly know myself. To do this I must be curious, open and present for the innumerable changes of self that occur throughout my life. In my thinking I continually come back to the Buddhist concept of Anattā, essentially that there is no permanent Self.

Making art is like creating a time capsule, the ‘object’ encapsulates the subtle nuances and autobiographical elements of myself when I make the work. I witness myself through the making of art. I can utilize the artworks that I create as a source of reflection to think back upon, remember, and reevaluate who I was when I made the work. Often, I have much more compassion for who I was in hindsight, which differs from the ordinary narratives of self-criticism that I have for who I am in the present.

This brings me further into a pathway of understanding myself also as a human ‘object’ of infinite relativity and thus I can become anything, transform myself infinitely, and can choose to take on more gentler, more affirming, more loving, more proactive aspects of my Being. If I didn’t love myself a moment ago then I can accept and acknowledge that. That moment has passed, and there is no going back, and that moment will never happen again. So, I am already moving forward and in that procession can choose to change, with informed intention and training of the mind, in order to bring new realizations into the future of my heart-centered wellbeing.

3: When and how did you first come to know Ox-Bow?

While I was finishing my undergraduate degree at SAIC I often heard fellow student’s experiences of a mysterious place called Ox-Bow. They seemingly came back from a separate planet, somewhere full of messy fun and connectivity. It wasn’t until I finished my graduate degree at RISD in 2018 that I did further research and applied to be a resident of Ox-Bow’s summer fellowship. I perceived the opportunity as this perfect post-degree oasis to recenter my practice: that Ox-Bow could be a space to rest and to engage with a new community of artists whom I could learn from and collaborate with as we experienced a magical summer together - and it was.

My fellowship summer truly changed the course of my life and intensely reinvigorated my working practice as an artist. This was, in part, due to the immense and multifaceted social atmospheres at Ox-Bow. Upon arriving I was immediately surrounded by the other fellows who had come from a similar background as a student, or recent alumni of an art school. I remember my first days at Ox-Bow vividly, particularly the enthusiastic invitations to celebrations, parties, gatherings, the sharing of zodiac signs, etc. It was such a joy-oriented and eventful summer that I knew I had to stay after my summer fellowship had ended.

(left to right) Dove Hornbuckle, Claire Arctander, and Eric May stand on stage at the 2023 Field of Vision Benefit as John Rossi DJs in the background. Image courtesy of Claire Arctander.

 4: Did you always work in ceramics?

I haphazardly stumbled into ceramics as an undergraduate student at SAIC, completely unaware that the medium would direct the course of my making so intensely over the next several years and into the present day. As an undergrad, I found that other students had experiences with ceramics as children or in high school, but this was not my experience, and, to my advantage, I found that I did not have many preconceived ideas of my abilities with ceramics when I first encountered the material. I found ceramics to be a refreshing and less neurotic connection to my previous work with painting, it gave me the ability to work with color in the 3d, to make color stand up. I felt less precious with clay, and more able to work in modular forms, finding curiosity and joy with its plasticity and unpredictability. Clay is a time-based material, and there is always a balancing act of artistic agency and material limitations.                                       

The mutable materiality of clay and particularly the glazing process creates an amicable union between color and form; there is a transfiguration within the firing process, and they essentially become the same thing. I continue to find myself opening warm kilns after they have been fired to become mesmerized and occasionally laugh at the results. I am in love with this connection between body, material, form, and color.

5. Tell us what being a studio manager at Ox-Bow means to you

Being the ceramics studio manager, to me, means that I take on the responsibility and service of a community member who acknowledges the importance of their cohabitational role at Ox-Bow. Many students, artists, instructors, mentors, fellows and staff members benefit from the ceramics studio and from its functional and operational wellbeing. I find this, at times, intimidating but mostly thrilling because I am actively embodying and participating within a role that allows for the development and pleasures and joys of making art.

Dove Hornbuckle (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist working within ceramic sculpture, queer community organizing, and radical faeries traditions. Previous solo exhibitions have been held in Chicago, at Goldfinch Gallery, To Hear a Call, To Answer a Call, 2023 and Roots & Culture, Earth, My Likeness, 2020. Past awards include a teaching fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center in 2020, and the LeRoy Neiman Fellowship from the Ox-Bow School of Art in 2018. Past teaching roles have been held as Adjunct Professor in the Art and Art History department at Hope College, lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Ceramics Department, and instructor at the Ox-Bow School of Art & Artists’ Residency. They have served as the Ceramics Studio Manager at the Ox-Bow School of Art & Artists’ Residency since 2019.

This interview was conducted by Ashley Freeby and originally published in Experience Ox-Bow 2021.

Header image features: Sleep, 2020, concrete and steel, 48 L, x 9 W x 46 H inches

Alumni in the News

The start of 2024 has been an exciting season for many Ox-Bow Artists and Alumni. Awards were received, interviews published, and exhibitions opened! Join us as we celebrate the following Alumni’s accomplishments:

(left) Headshot of jina valentine. Image courtesy of the artist. (right) Kelly Lloyd giving an artist talk at Ox-Bow. Photo by Hai-Wen Lin (Summer Fellow, 2022)

jina valentine & Kelly Lloyd

An interview conducted by Lloyd, featuring valentine was published in the Winter 2024 issue of BOMB Magazine.

The Ox-Bow Connection:

jina valentine has taught during three of Ox-Bow’s sessions since 2019, some of which she directly discusses in the interview with Kelly Lloyd.

Kelly Lloyd has spent time at Ox-Bow as both an Artist-in-Residence (2015) and as Faculty, leading the courses HAIR! HAIR! HAIR! (2017) and Party as Form (co-taught with Alex Chitty, 2022).

(left) Headshot of Salvador Jiménez-Flores. (right) Salvador Jiménez-Flores, A Hand Gesture to Systemic Racism: Al que le quede el saco que se lo ponga, 2022, earthenware, stoneware, black stain, underglaze, glaze, wood, steel, graphite, and latex paint, 96 x 60 x 20 inches. Images courtesy of the artist.

Salvador Jiménez-Flores

A feature published in New City Art celebrates Jiménez-Flores’s exhibition eagle, serpiente, nopalli.

The Ox-Bow Connection:

Jiménez-Flores first joined Ox-Bow as a TA for a screenprinting course in 2013 and has since taught at Ox-Bow as one of our Core Faculty in 2014, 2017, 2019, and 2020. During his sessions on campus he has taught everything from woodfire to a course on flora, fauna, and narrative.

Caption: (left) Helen Lee, Alphabit, 2018, glass murrine, low-iron float glass, stainless steel, aluminum, acrylic, LEDs, 36 x 18 x 48 inches; (right) Tammie Rubin, Unknow Ritual Mask, 2023, red stoneware, underglaze, 33h x 18w x 18w inches. Images courtesy of the artists.

Helen Lee (Faculty 2019) and Tammie Rubin (Visiting Artist 2024)

Appointed 2024 USA Fellows.

The Ox-Bow Connection: 

Helen Lee, a glass artist based in Madison, Wisconsin, taught A Body in Motion during the Summer of 2019 at Ox-Bow. 

Tammie Rubin will join us on campus this summer as a Visiting Artist. 

Headshot of Cate O’Connell-Richards. Image courtesy of the artist.

Cate O'Connell-Richards (Instructor 2023-2024) 

Recipient of the 2024 Craft Research Fund Project Grant at Center for Craft

The Ox-Bow Connection

O’Connell-Richards first came to campus as an Art on the Meadow Instructor in 2023. They return to teach the same workshop Broom Making Basics, June 4–7, 2024.

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Ox-Bow is proud to platform a range of voices, ideas, and perspectives through its Efroymson Family Fund Visiting Artist Program. Every week of summer session, a new artist comes to campus to participate in the community, most notably through an artist talk open to everyone on campus.

From the Studio to the Table

Corey Pemberton brings a new glassblowing course to campus, including a dinner from a fairytale.

During one of my earliest visits to Ox-Bow, I stepped into the Burke Glass Studio and experienced the art of glass blowing for the first time. I’d never seen the likes of it: the furnace, molten glass, and sheer precision of the artists had me rapt. That studio in particular still holds a special place in my heart, and I often seek out reasons to venture over there. The summer of 2022 was no exception.

Eager for an excuse to return to my favorite spot on campus, I volunteered to scope out the new glass course being offered. Nix, one of the students, kindly walked me over to the studio one morning and toured me around the space, re-introducing me to the furnace, kiln, and benches, as well as a collection of completed glasswork. Soon the other students arrived. For most of them, this was their first time working with glass. Corey Pemberton introduced himself, shaking my hand after he set down a bag full of trout, asparagus, cherries, and garlic shoots. He and a few of his students had just returned from the local farmers’ market.

Corey Pemberton showcases mushrooms fresh from the Farmer’s Market. Photo by Yeji Kim (Summer Fellow, 2022)

“Anyone have a plate for asparagus?” Pemberton asked his students. This is not the typical question one expects from their professor, but this was not a typical intro-to-glass course. One by one, students held up wares in response to Pemberton’s oddly specific requests: water pitcher, trout platter, cherry bowl, charcuterie board, and even an asparagus plate. Fifteen minutes later they had found the proper vessels for their final evening on campus. Like many courses at Ox-Bow, the two week long session culminates in an exhibition. But this was no ordinary exhibition. This was a farm-to-studio-to-table dinner.

“This idea was inspired by the many meals I've shared with friends and fellow makers using hand made objects,” Corey later shared, “and by the intense bonds that are formed in a glassblowing studio.”

Despite having only one day left, the students had a decent amount of production ahead of them and they were about to learn one of the most essential lessons of the course.

“Alright, today we’re doing an assembly line of cups,” Pemberton announced. Throughout the week students have been working on their own pieces, start to finish. But Pemberton was about to shake things up. Each student would take a small portion of the process. The glass studio is typically a place where artists must collaborate with one another: opening and closing furnace doors, grabbing instruments, and shielding each others’ arms from the heat. That day’s collaborative exercise took their chemistry and trust to a new level.

The 2022 Studio Manager Yashu Reddy said it’s a helpful process to learn, one that’s not often taught. “This is what it looks like in a lot of professional settings,” Reddy noted. In Pemberton’s words, through this method “emphasis [is] placed less on the individual objects, and more on the overall experience, as well as the power of collaboration.” When a student asked about another’s role in the process, Pemberton stopped them. “You don’t need to worry about what she’s doing.” In this style of glass making, each student is tasked to mind their own business, to focus on one small step in the process.

A well dressed table sits in the center of the Burke Glass Studio. Photo courtesy of Corey Pemberton.

Pemberton’s teaching style exists in the liminal space between critique and camaraderie. One moment you might witness him offering much needed criticism, but minutes later you’ll catch him dancing across the studio floor when a student queues up a particularly catchy song. In essence, Pemberton fits right in with the spirit of Ox-Bow. Intense learning surrounded by intentional community. “It was the summer solstice and Beyonce had just dropped her single ‘Break my Soul’ and it was pulsing through the studio,” Pemberton recalled, “We worked hard, but still managed to take time to go to the beach, get root beer floats, and mingle with students from other [courses] around the bonfire.”

By the end of my afternoon with Pemberton and the students, they had produced an additional 15 cups. Outside of a few casualties throughout the process, it seemed each glass turned out better than the last.

Pemberton’s students gather around a stuffed table. One student raises a glass vessel. Photo by Yeji Kim (Summer Fellow, 2022)

The next day the table was set for a feast at 9:00 p.m., just in time for the evening light to cozy in behind the lagoon – and late enough for the woodland faeries to make an appearance. The students, Pemberton, and a lucky few guests arrived in flower crowns and flowy garments. Two weeks in the studio had led to this celebration, as had a long day in the kitchen for the Hospitality Department. Culinary Director Nicholas Jirasek and his team helped prepare fresh bread, grilled asparagus, herb-adorned trout, and two towering cakes for the event.

Pemberton noted that what first drew him to glass was “the obvious sensory experience” of the art form. The dinner cultivated a kindred ambiance. The rustle of trees, the twinkle of lantern lights, a curated tablescape, and the scents of the Ox-Bow’s kitchen – they all coalesced into a moment best described by the name of the dinner exhibition itself: Summer Solstice Woodland Fairie Realness.

True to the nature of art, especially glass, the intricacies of this course are never to be repeated. The same group of students will not gather together nor will the pieces they created ever find their way to the same table again. It was a fleeting and charmed moment. But that’s not to say that Corey Pemberton won’t be back. During the summer of 2023, Pemberton will teach a similar course; one that is sure to attract another bunch of one-of-a-kind artists who will create their own wares and feast. The course, aptly named “The Dinner Party,” is destined for enchantment – and you can bet that I’ll somehow find an excuse to pay that class a visit.

Corey Pemberton returns to Ox-Bow in Summer 2024 to teach “The Dinner Party,” Pemberton’s third installment of this event-based, studio-practice course at Ox-Bow.

Corey (American b. Reston, VA 1990) received his BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2012. He has completed residencies at The Pittsburgh Glass Center (Pennsylvania), Bruket (Bodø, Norway), Alfred University (New York), as well as a Core Fellowship at the Penland School of Crafts (North Carolina). He has exhibited work at the Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art (California), The Contemporary Museum of Art in Raleigh (North Carolina), and has work in the permanent collections of The Museum of Art and Design (New York), The Boston Museum of Fine Art (Massachuesetts), and The Chrysler Museum of Art (Virginia). Pemberton currently resides in Los Angeles, California where he splits his time between the nonprofit arts organization Crafting the Future, painting, and his glass practice. He strives to bring together people of all backgrounds and identities, breaking down stereotypes and building bridges; not only through his work with Crafting The Future but with his personal artistic practice as well.

This article was written by Shanley Poole, Engagement Liaison & Storyteller. The article was originally published in our Summer 2023 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.