By Natalie Swanson ’13, Staff Writer

The dress she created was loaded with meaning. She fashioned its bodice out of a shirt passed down to her from the generations of women in her family, including her mother and two sisters. She covered the skirt, made of a white fabric, with patches and mini-collages of the important things in her life. She connected the shirt and skirt with a band, where a story was written about her and her sisters. Liz Reisen ’12 chose to sew this dress for the self-portrait requirement for admittance to the Oxbow School.

A few Newark Academy students, along with students from all over the country, have had the privilege to study art at the Oxbow School in Napa Valley, California. The Oxbow School is a perfect match for those who want to focus on their artistic talents. A typical day at the school involves time in the art studio, where students can let their artistic abilities run free.

Patrick Lai ’13 took an entirely different approach for his self-portrait application piece. He molded it out of clay. A junior at Oxbow this semester, Lai said that he has already learned about many new materials to use in his art, such as high-density foam, film, and airbrush.

“My art has become more diverse in terms of the materials and process. I think it has gotten a lot better. I plan out what I am going to do a lot more than I did before.”

Lai is currently busy working on his final project. He has studio time every night to work on the piece. His favorite piece of artwork created at Oxbow is a “monster” Hershey bar made out of high-density foam. The fall issue of Prisms features a photo of this piece.

Liz Reisen also reflected on the artwork she created while at Oxbow. She decided that her favorite piece was created for an assignment called “Project X.” For the project, she was given a fortune cookie, with the word “rapture” inside. She was to create a piece of art inspired by the word. She tackled the project with creativity, explaining, “I thought rapture connects to the Bible, and to Adam and Eve, and eventually I came up with the idea to make a snake.”

The finished product was a 2ft x4ft wooden panel painted black, with dried pork sausage casing covered in gold leaf wrapped around to resemble snakeskin.

“My artistic talents have absolutely improved, but not in the typical art school way.”

Rather than only taking “typical” art classes such as how to do a still life, she said that she “learned about the process of art and how to make it personal to you.”

Patrick Lai agreed with Liz, saying, ”Our assignments have been about learning about ourselves. We have a lot of projects based around places or experiences from the past.”

The Oxbow School has greatly impacted the works of the students who have attended. Their artwork can be seen covering some of the walls of the NA’s McGraw Art Gallery, enticing students to stop walking and take a look at the exhibit.

            A painting of a creature made with streaks of pink, green, yellow, and many other colors on a milky white background stands out against the stark white wall of the hallway. Liz painted this when well-known artist Anne Applebee visited Oxbow for a lecture. Applebee often layers paint, and uses only primary colors. The only requirement Liz was given for the project was a restriction to use primary colored paints only. She was free to create anything that inspired her from there.

            Clearly, the Oxbow School has changed several of Newark Academy artists. Students have benefited from their time at the Oxbow School, and the Newark Academy has definitely benefited from the artwork that they have shared with the community.