Art has been a part of Rose Ox’ life since she was a child. At the age of 4, she was using anything she could find around the house to create whatever she could think of. Despite growing up with creativity being a daily aspect of her life, Ox grew up believing the artistic stereotypes about artists being depressed, serious and dark, who only create artworks using certain mediums such as paint, charcoal, ink, etc. Ox was strongly influenced into believing that art was a hobby, not a career.

Around the age of 12, art and history classes in school, allowed her to remove herself from the stereotyping and see that art was not subjective and could not be put into a single box. Sadly, around that time she became physically ill and her mental health deteriorated. Due to this, Rose Ox decided to pursue an education in psychology, post secondary.

Ox saw the arts as being nothing but a hobby because she did not believe she could do more with her passion.

At the age of 14, Ox moved to a new town and there she was entered into a summer sewing class, where she developed a love for sewing. Throughout the next few years, sewing became another hobby and part of her creative passion, where she thought it had real possibility for a career. Her first part-time job was in that sewing shop, where she was able to sew patterns and teach courses to young children.  However, due to a worsening mental and physical health, she did not have the capabilities to pursue that career and it became another unattainable dream.

She continued to take art classes in high school, but also pursued psychology classes as part of her curriculum. Until her senior year in 2020, when covid-19 changed everything. Online learning was the new normal and due to a lack of communication, her workload piled up and her grades dropped. During the time of constantly being home, she began her YouTube channel, which ultimately led to reviving her passion for creativity and encouraged Ox to start her own small business selling art. However, this business failed in the first couple of months due to lack of planning and time management between her large workload and new vlog channel.

By the end of Ox’ senior year, she no longer held the necessary grade average for applying to psychology courses in the upcoming school year. In place of possibly losing momentum, as she was warned about by friends and family, Ox applied to Art programs at her chosen schools, with the intention of being accepted and changing programs in her second semester or second year. She applied to multiple schools, including a fashion college in BC, which she turned down due to the pandemic. Finally, she was accepted to the University of Ottawa, Bachelors of Fine Arts program.

Today, Rose Ox is a third year student in the Fine Arts Program, working on building a business with her art and continuing her YouTube Channel.

"Had I not fallen into the stereotyping and trusted myself. I believe my art career could possibly have been further than it is today. But that is not what happened and the past is the past, but today art is my passion, my life and I truly believe it will be a successful career.” -Rose Ox