Oh Ox-Bow, I miss you already.

Last month was my first time to the 113-year-old art school a couple hours outside Chicago in summery Saugatuck, Michigan. While there, I got to see LJ Roberts give an artist talk where they quipped “Ox-Bow is the queer summer camp I always wanted and never had.” This sums up my feelings about the place better than I ever could do. I hiked, read, marveled, thought, relaxed and shared meals with other artists over a beautiful week. It was healing. (There also may have been some recreational record shopping at the incomparable Vertigo Records in GR).

I taught a broom-making workshop for four days on the campus’ meadow alongside a lagoon. This ample time allowed for a breadth of forms and techniques to be covered (in both sunshine and rain) and for some experimentation to happen. Before I knew it, students were sculpting their corn, making brooms off of lamp stands, weaving in their hair, and creating glass broomsticks. It was a teaching highlight for sure.

I left most of demo pieces with the campus, with the schools maintenance team and in different studios, fit to purpose. I hope that they may be used to continue aiding this site of kinship and generation for years to come.

Soon you’ll be able to find brooms of mine at Ox-Bow House, in bright neons as a tribute to the school and the colors that my students gravitated toward during the workshop.

Til’ next time Ox-Bow. Thank you for the the space to do good work, and the friends alongside that work.

Holding Hoping, 2023 by Lisa Walcott
Glass handled broom by Rachel Brace
Broomcorn samples by Jo Cordasco

+ other works by Kristina, Sue, and Shannon