Terra Brazier is in her second year at Hampshire College and works at the Eric Carle Museum. The Carle is the only picture book art museum of its kind in the country.
The art that goes on in most high schools is usually relatively skill-based. At Oxbow, there is more emphasis on looking and seeing and more critical thinking about what you are doing, the human connection, that personal element. Through art you can begin to understand yourself better. That may be the biggest eye-opener for students. It is almost a preview of college. Get out of the mechanical factory high school education and get into something open, new, and invigorating in a small environment.
— Bill Barrett, Former Oxbow Board Member, Former Executive Director of Association, College of Art and Design (AICAD)
If at any point Oxbow doubts the good it does, I just want to reassure you all that you’re changing the lives of young artists every semester.
— Colin Davis, Fall 2009
Oxbow opened me up to what was out there in the world to go out and grab, and gave me so much that I take with me everywhere I go, with everything I do.
— Nina Palomba, Spring 2008
A School Like No Other